And, if you can get past the (BARF ALERT!) first part of this story, you got a GREAT plug for Free Republic in the local newspaper!From www.northjersey.com:
Flashing star power from cover to cover
Saturday, July 12, 2003
RIDGEWOOD - With its velvet ropes, tight schedule, and high-strung aides, Hillary Rodham Clinton's book signing at Bookends on Friday was shaping up to be an event devoid of actual human emotion.But that was before the author strode into the room.
Cameras flashed. Spines straightened, and hands clapped. The first few dozen of the hundreds of people in line at the bookstore leaned forward to look, and there was Clinton - Democratic New York senator, author, former first lady, famously humiliated spouse, and perhaps future presidential candidate - beaming her megawatt smile around the room.
"Thank you for coming!" she said, barely audible above the applause, her eyes as wide as her smile. "Thank you for coming!" She took a copy of her million-selling memoirs, "Living History," off the closest pile and posed for the cameras with it, just for a moment. Then she slid behind a table and started signing.
It was about 3:30 p.m.
The first person in line, Marty Kelly of Westwood, had been waiting more than eight hours, since 6:50 a.m. Clinton looked up at him, beamed, shook his hand, thanked him for coming, and got to work. It took a little while: Kelly, his wife, Sandra, and his two daughters each bought five books, the maximum allowed.
"Some people won't even take the time to shake your hand and such. She was very courteous," he said later. "I'm a big fan of her."
Sandra Kelly admitted later that they would sell some of the autographed copies on eBay. But the whole Kelly family said they were impressed with Clinton in their brief but dazzling encounter.
"I told her she was a lot prettier in person than on TV," Sandra Kelly said. "She said, 'Thank you very much.' " Outside Bookends, the line had swelled by the hundreds, down the block and around the corner and past the barbershop. Ridgewood police officers, Secret Service men in eerily crisp suits, and bookstore employees buzzed back and forth. Some of the people in the line, which was overwhelmingly female, had been there for hours, coming equipped with umbrellas and lawn chairs.
All of them were excited.
"The chance to get the book signed and actually see her for five seconds is pretty neat," said Ann Davis, who came from Highland Mills, N.Y. "It's a fascinating story, and I hope it's just started."
Like others in line, Davis said Clinton's story of pushing for professional success while struggling with society's expectations for women was the real heart of the book. Sure, they said, the book has that little section about how much Clinton was hurt when she learned her husband had lied to her about that woman, Monica Lewinsky. But that's not why they stood in line for hours.
"I respect and admire her," said Linda Marcus of Fort Lee. "I'm not interested in all that gossipy stuff. I'm more interested in her life. She's around the same age as I am, so I can relate to that."
She acknowledged that not everyone relates to Clinton - including some women.
"I was with some friends at the Jersey shore, female friends, and they all said that," Marcus said. "They didn't like the 'Hillary type.' They say she's too aggressive. But I respect that. Because how's she going to get to that point unless she is aggressive and she is pushy?"
Across the street, about a dozen protesters organized by the conservative Web site Free Republic.com hoisted signs and unfurled a banner that read "America can't trust Hillary." One of them, Mike Liebert of North Caldwell, held a handwritten sign referring to a decade-old scandal, calling her "the commodities scam queen."
"This is an evil person and needs to be stopped," Liebert said. "People need to see that there's opposition. It's important to me."
Back over at Bookends before the book-signing began, organizers were just as devoted to their plan. Soon after the protesters began to demonstrate outside, the Secret Service took journalists inside, downstairs to a velvet-roped pen.
Aides fussed over the red carpet and the enlarged book covers on the backdrop. They opened stacks of books to the title page, so Clinton wouldn't fumble when she signed. They hovered, ready, waiting.
Yet when Clinton arrived, the atmosphere seemed somehow more authentic. Her eyes twinkle as she looks each fan in the eye and thanks them; in a few moments of contact, she manages to shake a hand, hear a story of how they crossed paths two years ago, ask a child how old she is, and still sign a book with her black pen and slide it to her right.
At her left, aides stood ready with more books opened to the title page, poised to slide them in front of her.
Outside, Susan Coutant of Harriman, N.Y., stood waiting in a patch of shade. She said the wait was worth it.
"She's an intelligent, ambitious woman," Coutant said. "You never know. She might be president some day."
Way to go, Tri-state Chapter!
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