Hillary, if you want our respect, you have to stop whining

Spartanburg Herald Journal ^ | July 20, 2003 | Winston Hardegree

[PhilSC]

Article published Jul 20, 2003
Hillary, if you want our respect, you have to stop whining

My daughter, Betsy Smith, and her husband, Paul, gave me Hillary Rodham Clinton's "Living History" for a Father's Day gift. I was going to buy this book, so, unlike the ties of olden times, it was a welcome gift.

"Living History" was perhaps one of the most awaited books of the year. It has also probably been perceived as one of the most controversial books of the year -- controversial both from Hillary Rodham Clinton's personal viewpoint and from her political point of view. "Living History" has first of all been looked forward to as the tell-it-like-it-is of Hillary's feelings about her husband's (William Jefferson Clinton, president of the United States) affair with Monica Lewinsky; and secondly, it has been looked forward to as an expression of Mrs. Clinton's feelings and her assessment of the political world in which she lived for eight years as First Lady of the United States.

Hillary Rodham Clinton has the reputation of being one of the most outspoken women in public life so I think the public was right to expect that she would speak her mind on the issues of the day. In "Living History" her forum is primarily women's rights and how to move women forward in our society and the societies of the countries of the world, her promotions of programs for child care and nurturing and her opinions of women and politics -- all good and worthwhile programs and goals for society. And she speaks her mind on these issues, and speaks her mind on these issues and speaks her mind on these issues. The degree of detail of her opinions, and the repetition upon repetition of stating these opinions, makes for less than interesting reading, as a matter of fact it makes for downright boring reading.

I would normally read a 528-page book easily in two days, but I struggled with "Living History" for about 10 days. My wife, Miss Beth, who, like Mrs. Clinton, is not shy about expressing her feelings and opinions, told me that if I wrote about this book that I might as well get ready to bunk out in the doghouse with Otis and Spanky, two of our dogs. Now Otis and Spanky have a very nice doghouse and it's plenty big enough for the three of us and -- well, pardon the pun -- they're doggone good company, but I don't really want to sleep out there with them, so I asked for and got Miss Beth's blessing before writing this column. And you will be correct if you deduce from this that Miss Beth is not one of Mrs. Clinton's fans. My purpose here is not to pro or con Mrs. Clinton nor to enter into a political discussion, but to view "Living History" as a literary work and to tell you a little about the book. As a literary work I find it uninteresting and self-serving. Some people ought to leave their autobiographies for others to write as biographies -- Mrs. Clinton is one of these people. The book is not so much a record of the facts, although she supplies plenty of facts, and Mrs. Clinton's interpretation of the facts, which she also supplies, but it seems to be more a justification of her feelings of martyrdom about the things history and life thrust upon her and Mr. Clinton while they were president and first lady.

The Clintons did have more than their share of troubles while in the White House -- Whitewatergate, filegate, travelgate, Monicagate, Paula Jonesgate and several other gates. These are things that come with the high profile public life of being first lady, but Mrs. Clinton in "Living History" comes across as taking them personally and feels put upon that they are happening to her. Hey, Hillary, it comes with the territory. And as Harry Truman said, "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen."

Her discussion of Bill and Monica's affair comes late in the book. I don't really know what I expected her to say about it except that she was angry and hurt. She does say both those things about the affair. And certainly a little "boy do I feel sorry for myself" is justified, but Mrs. Clinton seems to wallow in "boy do I fell sorry for myself." Whatever happened to "pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again" -- with or without Bill. Come on, make up your mind, but don't wallow in self-pity for months.

The book finishes with Mrs. Clinton wrestling with the decision of whether or not to run for senator from the state of New York and tells of her successful run for that Senate seat. Unfortunately, this part of the book, which in my opinion is the most interesting part, takes only a few of the total of 528 long, long pages. I can't wait till next year to read Bill's $8 million, in advance payment, rebuttal. Maybe he'll get some of the old Bill Clinton charisma in it, and I'll not have to feel sorry for myself about wading through it as I did with "Living History."

Winston Hardegree is a freelancer writer. He can be reached at winhardy@bellsouth.net.

[PhilSC]

A balanced review of Living History from our local paper.

[jocon307]

"And she speaks her mind on these issues, and speaks her mind on these issues and speaks her mind on these issues"

LOL, I didn't know what to think of our reviewer, until I read this sentance. The review IS balanced, the author on the other hand.....

[saluki_in_ohio]

One must remember that "whining" is one of the defining characteristics of liberals.

[gaspar]

I suppose that Hillary's book now ranks up there with Caesar's "Gallic Wars", the autombiography of Ulysses S. Grant, Henry Kissinger's "The White House Years", and the Bible. God help us if she ever writes another.

[Bob Eimiller]

Did Hillary leave "CHINAGATE? out of her SO CALLED "Biography"?

[prairiebreeze]

I find it uninteresting and self-serving.

Describes just a couple of the personality traits of the Hildabeest. This guys wife sounds like she has a good head on her shoulders though.

Prairie

[auntdot]

This is a put on, right?

Gosh, I hope so.

If the Spartanburg Herald Journal has an editor he must be at the beach. No self respecting 'Journal' would run such a puerile, poorly written commentary unless the editor was on a toot or the author was related to the publisher.

The writer of the piece is purported to be a freelancer.

My advice to him, keep your day job.

[SkyPilot]

He should get a purple heart for reading it all the way through.

Oh, by the way, I heard that someone put Hillary!'s book in the Occult section of a Barnes and Noble. That seemed appropriate.

[CIB-173RDABN]

I asked for and got Miss Beth's blessing before writing this column.

---

Wimp.

[WorkingClassFilth]

"A balanced review of Living History from our local paper."

While I might agree with you that this isn't your ordinary boot-licking rubber stamp of Clintonism so common among journalists, I would politely disagree that this is balanced.

For example, the author says:

"The Clintons did have more than their share of troubles while in the White House -- Whitewatergate, filegate, travelgate, Monicagate, Paula Jonesgate and several other gates. These are things that come with the high profile public life of being first lady, but Mrs. Clinton in "Living History" comes across as taking them personally and feels put upon that they are happening to her. Hey, Hillary, it comes with the territory. And as Harry Truman said, "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen."

Clearly, the author sees these incidents in the light of common problems associated with the rough-and-tumble of political life. In short, Mr. Hardegree lives in a world where the ups and downs in Washington are like leaves falling in Autumn - predictable and unalarming. If I may, I would suggest that Mr. Hardegree, like the dingy recluse in a Faulkner novel, has been shut in for too long and he has missed the civil war.

Hillary, of course, defaults to the premise that all of her life's hardships are inflicted, unjustly, upon her by enemies and those who would harm her. In fact, the greater her excesses and the more grievous her assaults on law, the more she clings to the 'victim' mythology. Where her greed and disregard for the law clash, she rails against conspiracies and unjust hatred from her opponents. Not being a board certified clinician, I can't say with legal authority that she has a disorder, but there is little doubt in the minds of the least informed out there that the Clinton's are at least grasping, low-life trash dressed in silks.

So, I guess I cannot subscribe to the inocuous view that any piece written about the Clintons that doesn't end with a sycophant's tongue-bath is balanced. At best, the article is like a chide from a school marm.

If balance is truly desired, then the ugly facts must be addressed. Since the author dutifully lists a few of the Clinton Hit Parade, let me dutifully remind the reader that the machinations of a pair of criminal minds was at the bottom of each scandal. For my money, real balanced reporting, in any mainstream sense, has yet to be engaged. From the bottom of my untutored (yet highly balanced) gut, this woman is mentally disordered on top of being a viscious criminal, Marxist and traitor to the nation.

[Cicero]

Let's see. Hillary's two claims for liberal admiration are her feminism and her concern for children.

As for feminism, the lesson her life teaches is that a woman CAN get ahead by marrying the right slob and letting him drag her into the White House.

As for the children, Hillary mostly helps them by aborting them. That way, they aren't around to whine and complain.

[Tacis]

"I don't care how much she doesn't wine. I'll NEVER respect that nasty BEAST!"

My initial thought, as well. But then, my natural liberalism and human good will kicked in. Hillie could gain my respect if she answered some basic questions honestly. Those questions include: (1) who fathered Chelsea, (2) who murdered Vince Foster and Ron Brown, (3) where are the rest of the financial records, (4) where are the FBI files and who has been updating them, (5) how much did Rich pay for his pardon, (6) how much is in all the secret bank accounts, (7) what was Sue McDougal so afraid of that she went to prison for safety, (8) why was it necessary to murder Jim McDougal, (9) why did the FBI confirm Willie's DNA on the blue dress, and (10) if elected President would you personally profit from the site selection for all the concentration camps for noncommunists?

I don't mean to sound superior, but us liberals can always find something about a person to respect.

[blackdog]

The cool thing to do with Hillary's book, is to write down and commit to memeory the statements of motive, reason, and action. Those such as why she ran for senate, why she did the things and felt the way she did during certain times worthy of prose.

Now fast forward a year and ask those same questions all over again. Just wait and see what answers she pulls out of her icy bum then.......

She should have never gone on record with that boooooookkkkkk.

[Slyfox]

I thought it was a fair opinion, not like one of those numerous fawning fluff pieces that were designed to kiss Hillary's fat rear end.

[lowbridge]

Some people ought to leave their autobiographies for others to write as biographies -- Mrs. Clinton is one of these people.

But thats exactly what she did. How many ghostwriters did she have?

[punster]

Some conclusions:

Hillary Rotten Clinton, aka Hitlery, is a whino.

The book, 'Lying History', is pure drivel.

The book is not autobiography, since Hellarewe had somebody else write it for her. It is a fraud being perpetrated on the purchaser.

[joesnuffy]

She also left out Mena the drug filled years
The commie years
The rape years
The murder years
The conspiracy years
The I hate American(s) years
I guess we really do deserve the govt. we get

[TC Rider]

Hillary is a Senator, a feminist and an author. Isn't that cute!

[boris]

"Hillary, if you want our respect, you have to stop whining"

Hillary, if you want our respect, you must first pass away and be reincarnated as an amoeba.

Then--possibly--as a slime mold, earthworm, bananna slug, possum, rat, orangutan, chimp, etc., until you have accumulated enough karma to once again take human form. This might take a while, as there is a copious list of species, sub-species, genera, phyla, and kingdoms which I have not listed due to a concern for wasting excessive bandwidth. How many reincarnations this would take--given your karmic burden(s)--is hard to estimate.

But keep trying; we'll get back to you.

--Boris