May 24, 2007 12:58
White House Kool-aid Patrol
Peter Wehner, the White House's intellectual-in-residence, is selling his usual brand of kool-aid regarding John Edwards' foreign policy speech yesterday. Some thoughts:
1. Edwards is precisely right. The "Global War on Terror" is a bumper sticker and a disastrous one at that. If this actually were a war, the President would have (a) raised taxes to pay for it, (b) instituted a military draft, (c) launched an all-out drive to eliminate dependence on middle eastern oil and (d) mobilized the populace to take action--collecting clothes for Iraqi children, whatever--in order to maintain public and military morale. All he has done is make speeches, using the most extravagant, messianic and bellicose rhetoric imaginable. He also told us to go shopping. The purpose of all this hoo-hah has been to win elections by broad-brushing Democrats as weak and unpatriotic and, after a while, divert attention from the wild stupidity of his Iraq invasion.
2. Most every member of the uniformed military and intelligence community I speak with now believes the war in Iraq was a tragic diversion from the real conflict--and yes there is a real conflict--against violent Islamist extremists. The proper course of action was the one prescribed by John Kerry and ridiculed by Bush in 2004: After taking out the Taliban and eliminated Al Qaeda's safe havens in Afghanistan, all attention should have been focused on a Global Police Action Against Terrorists using multinational intelligence services and covert operators to hunt down, capture and sometimes use lethal force against the bad guys. This constant, low-intensity struggle lacked the Big Bang that tough guys Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted, but it would have had the support of the world.
Bush first puffed Osama Bin Laden--a monster who needed to be eliminated, to be sure--into a global threat, then pretty much forgot about him and is now using Al Qaeda (inaccurately) as his latest casus belli in Iraq. No wonder the CIA assumed--as reported by Ron Suskind in his book The 1% Doctrine--that Osama verbally attacked Bush on the eve of the 2004 election because he wanted to help Bush get reelected! No terrorist could dream of a better p.r. man than George W. has been for Osama.
3. Wehner is right in saying that Edwards doesn't spend much time talking about the bad guys. It's important that something rational be said about this threat. The Bush Administration certainly hasn't done so. It tends to buy utopian neoconservative fantasies or quasi-racist musings of elderly scholars like Bernard Lewis: The Arabs only understand strength. Edwards certainly isn't nearly as knowledgeable as, say, Hillary Clinton on national security matters. The question is, is George W. Bush any more knowledgeable, even after six plus years in office?
4. Wehner doesn't mention much about the lives lost and shattered, the vast damage that has been done to America's reputation in the world and the credibility given to the very worst Salafists and mullahs, by the calamity he has supported without a second thought for so long. Soon he'll be back in the job market and while I'm sure that the American Enterprise Institute has a chair all warmed up for him, I have two pieces of career advice: Stop writing this swill and think about penance. Take some time to clear your head, a lot of time, and pay for your sins by emptying bedpans at Walter Reed.
Revised slightly at 1:40 pm.
About Swampland
Ana Marie Cox is the founding editor of Wonkette and the author of the novel Dog Days. Read more
Joe Klein is TIME's political columnist and author of six books, most recently Politics Lost. Read more
Karen Tumulty is TIME's National Political Correspondent and has also covered the White House and Congress. Read more
Jay Carney is TIME's Washington bureau chief. He has covered the Clinton and Bush 43 White Houses as well as Congress. Read more
Jay Newton-Small has covered the Bush 43 White House and Congress since the DeLay era. Read more
Michael Scherer is a TIME Washington bureau correspondent covering the 2008 presidential campaign. Read more
Mike Murphy is a GOP consultant and was a senior strategist for John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign. Read more
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Reader Comments (51)
Come on, who really wrote this?
Posted by Anonymous | May 24, 2007 1:31 PM
"Stop writing this swill and think about penance."
What penance?
Where was the penance for Charles Krauthammer and Bill Kristol, the new "star columnists" at Time magazine? Are they tossing and turning at night, unable to sleep, feeling remorse for the tens of thousands of innocent dead? Hell, no. They have paid no price for their lies, character assassination and being wrong on pretty much everything.
It is the free market at work. No matter how discredited you are as a pundit there will be a nice cushy job waiting for you. Provided you are a right wing pundit.
Posted by DonB | May 24, 2007 1:34 PM
Hey, Joe! You been reading some blogs lately, huh?
Now are you going to put this in the print Time, replacing that column where you quoted other anonymous sources about the good news in Iraq? Or are your anti-Iraq-war sentiments for us bathrobe-wearers alone? If so, thanks! But you know, even those who read the print Time might be interested in your thoughts.
Posted by petra | May 24, 2007 1:35 PM
"Stop writing this swill and think about penance. Take some time to clear your head, a lot of time, and pay for your sins by emptying bedpans at Walter Reed."
Why Mr Klein! You come close to showing some of that passion you so dismissively and condescendingly--and overall just MSM'ly-- sneered at Olbermann for displaying only yesterday.
Keep it up and I may just have to send you that bottle of Grey Goose.
Posted by Jim | May 24, 2007 1:35 PM
Joe, talking about Kool-Aid patrol, Glenn Greenwald asks you a great question about your good news in Iraq piece:
Why would you grant anonymity to a government source who is making pro-government claims?
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/05/24/klein/index.html
Posted by Crust | May 24, 2007 1:35 PM
Crust,
I wonder if Klein will even acknowledge Glenn anymore. Klein doesn't take too well to being critiqued. On another note, have you read the comments about Bob Shrum's new book? It's not very nice to Klein. I wonder when we'll see Klein comment on that.
Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | May 24, 2007 1:40 PM
Joe-hoo-hah no longer means what you think it means ;)
Posted by MissusB | May 24, 2007 1:43 PM
And Joe, have you read any of Bernard Lewis' books? I've read several and I find the descriptions "utopian neoconservative fantasies" and "quasi-racist musings" to be indefensible. Yes he did regrettably support the Iraq War at least initially. And yes he does sometimes take an overly essentialist view of Islam (though not of race) at the expense of other factors. And yes he even advised the Bush administration. But "racist" (or "quasi-racist")? And whatever else he is, he is surely not a utopian.
Posted by Crust | May 24, 2007 1:47 PM
"and yes there is a real conflict--against violent Islamist extremists."
Your drinking Kool-aid, Joe, if believe that right wing propaganda. We need to cut funding of the military, CIA and FBI, right now!
Posted by Tim | May 24, 2007 1:49 PM
"Joe Klein's conscience", Joe actually did reply to that:
http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/may/23/joe_klein_responds_to_bob_shrums_broadside
I'm not a fan of much of Klein's work, but in all honesty I think he comes out looking fine here (at least on his own account).
Posted by Crust | May 24, 2007 1:51 PM
Joe and Karen, take a lesson from Kieth Olbermann as to what you should be saying about our boy King.
"Any other president from any other moment in the panorama of our history would have, at the outset of this tawdry game of political chicken, declared that no matter what the other political side did, he would insure personally-first, last and always-that the troops would not suffer.
A President, Mr. Bush, uses the carte blanche he has already, not to manipulate an overlap of arriving and departing brigades into a ‘second surge,' but to say in unequivocal terms that if it takes every last dime of the monies already allocated, if it takes reneging on government contracts with Halliburton, he will make sure the troops are safe-even if the only safety to be found, is in getting them the hell out of there.
Well, any true President would have done that, sir."
Simply saying he is stubborn, so of course the Dems had to cave is ridiculous. They still haven't voted, so you have time to rescind your previous analysis.
For full transcript or video:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/23/special-comment-the-only-things-truly-compromised-are-the-trust-of-the-votersfriends-and-family-in-iraq/
Posted by Anonymous | May 24, 2007 1:54 PM
"Edwards certainly isn't nearly as knowledgeable as, say, Hillary Clinton on national security matters. The question is, is George W. Bush any more knowledgeable, even after six plus years in office?"
Joe, why is Edwards 'certainly' not knowledgeable, but Bush's lack of national security knowledge is phrased as a rhetorical question. It's obvious Bush knows nothing about protecting anything other than the Republican party. That was demonstrated clearly multiple times: 9/11, Katrina, Iraq, Iraq, Iraq.......
Posted by Anonymous | May 24, 2007 2:01 PM
Joe, now that I've cleared my head after explaining why I saw red on a couple of specific points, let me say this is actually a pretty good post. I probably should have started with that.
Posted by Crust | May 24, 2007 2:06 PM
"And Joe, have you read any of Bernard Lewis' books? I've read several and I find the descriptions "utopian neoconservative fantasies" and "quasi-racist musings" to be indefensible. Yes he did regrettably support the Iraq War at least initially. And yes he does sometimes take an overly essentialist view of Islam (though not of race) at the expense of other factors. And yes he even advised the Bush administration. But "racist" (or "quasi-racist")? And whatever else he is, he is surely not a utopian."
Crust, I think Bernard Lewis is generally categorized as an Orientalists, which is a squirrel’s whisker from a straight-up racist. Never mind his horrific scholarship. Dude needs a fact checker as badly as Klein...
Posted by pva | May 24, 2007 2:15 PM
Trenchant and to the point. Saw the Leader today. Still shovelling the same s***.
Posted by nfox | May 24, 2007 2:19 PM
Did anyone else notice that Joe posted something and then took it down very, very quickly?
Posted by pva | May 24, 2007 2:27 PM
Credit where credit is due.
Bravo.
Posted by Brautigan | May 24, 2007 2:35 PM
Well said, Mr. Klein.
I know you get a lot of grief from readers here, but I think this was an excellent and balanced post.
"The Global War on Terror" is a propagandist fraud that both distracts from the real fight and covers for diastrous White House policies.
Thanks for calling it as it is.
Posted by cal | May 24, 2007 2:42 PM
Glad to see you quoting Suskind. That's a great book--more of your colleagues ought to be referencing it...
Posted by JJ | May 24, 2007 2:52 PM
pva: "I think Bernard Lewis is generally categorized as an [Orientalist], which is a squirrel’s whisker from a straight-up racist. Never mind his horrific scholarship. Dude needs a fact checker as badly as Klein..."
I don't want to get into a big debate on Lewis, but some quick comments.
Yes Lewis was one of the principal targets of Edward Said's book "Orientalism", which is presumably where your "Orientalist" bit comes from. I personally think Lewis is far more credible than Said, but that's obviously a big debate.
As for "horrific scholarship", I dunno. He is Professor Emeritus at Princeton and his books have been published e.g. by Oxford University Press. He's frequently described as the most influential postwar historian of Islam and the Middle East or words to that effect.
Needs a fact checker? I'm not sure where you're coming from here. That sounds more like Said's reputation.
If you want to read more on this, a good place to start is this exchange between Said and Lewis in the NY Review of Books:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/6517
Posted by Crust | May 24, 2007 3:03 PM
A great quote from *One Percent Doctrine* is from William Sloane Coffin: "I never thought I'd live to see the day when old fashioned journalism would be a form of civil disobedience."
http://tinyurl.com/2ussaw
Posted by JJ | May 24, 2007 3:03 PM
PS unfortunately you need to be a subscriber to read more than the first paragraph of the first part of that exchange between Lewis and Said:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=6547
Posted by Crust | May 24, 2007 3:06 PM
Holy cow.
This is a super post.
Congrats.
Also, you wrote, "This constant, low-intensity struggle lacked the Big Bang that tough guys Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted, but it would have had the support of the world."
As you point out, but as needs to be stressed over and over because Republicans like to take things out of context and lie about the speaker's intent (ie, Kerry's "global test"), that approach would have had the added benefit of being productive, not counterproductive.
Posted by Elvis Elvisberg | May 24, 2007 3:09 PM
"2. Most every member of the uniformed military and intelligence community I speak with now believes the war in Iraq was a tragic diversion from the real conflict--and yes there is a real conflict--against violent Islamist extremists. The proper course of action was the one prescribed by John Kerry and ridiculed by Bush in 2004: After taking out the Taliban and eliminated Al Qaeda's safe havens in Afghanistan, all attention should have been focused on a Global Police Action Against Terrorists using multinational intelligence services and covert operators to hunt down, capture and sometimes use lethal force against the bad guys. This constant, low-intensity struggle lacked the Big Bang that tough guys Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted, but it would have had the support of the world."
The question is Joe, where were you in 2004? Oh, thats right, helping to put Bush back in the White House. Adivsing Kerry, and then turning around and bashing him for not taking your advice.
Posted by Roger | May 24, 2007 3:23 PM
On the subject of anonymous sources, read the page after that William Sloan Coffin quote in Suskind's book:
***"During my two years writing this book, I found my self more and more concerned about my sources, and protecting them, than I ever had in my twenty years as a journalist. None of them, not one, had done anything improper--legally or ethically. But they had... committed modest acts of civil disobedience."***
In other words, they risked their careers in very real ways.
Similarly, Joe is not quoting "high administration officials" here, he's quoting people who are risking their careers (a very tangible risk when you consider how this administration has behaved).
Posted by JJ | May 24, 2007 3:27 PM
Crust,
I mean if you read his books - specifically, Crisis of Islam and What Went Wrong - they are rife with factual errors. Really basic sort of things, that was what I meant by needing a fact checker. I disagree with his conclusions, generally, but in terms of scholarship, accolades (I admit he has many) aside, his arguments are predicated on rather discomforting and questionable bases.
Of course, I’m just a reader and haven’t achieved Dr. Lewis’ success or notoriety so what do I know?
Posted by pva | May 24, 2007 3:48 PM
Our Great Leaders aren't tripping on kool-aid, they're high on Power Trip Bars...
Following the First Gulf War, the Pentagon sent Major Rokke to the AO to lead its depleted uranium assessment team. Rokke concluded that DU munitions pose a very dangerous health risk...
But a Sandia National Laboratories study concluded that only the few soldiers in vehicles accidentally hit by DU shells have inhaled sufficient quantities of DU particulate to incur any significant health risk.
In fact, Dr. Baverstock (the WHO's top expert on radiation and health for 11 years) says that, while he was a member of staff, WHO refused to give him permission to publish his study (co-authored by Prof. Mothersill and Dr. Thorne), which warned that the long-term health of Iraq's civilian population is endangered by DU weapons. "I believe our study was censored and supppressed by the WHO because they didn't like its conclusions. Previous experience suggests that WHO officials were bowing to pressure from the IAEA, whose remit is to promote nuclear power."
Indeed, the chairman of the UN Environment Programme's Post-Conflict Assessment Unit agrees with Baverstock, "It is certainly a concern in Iraq, there is no doubt about that."
And the price of oil isn't the only thing on the rise: "Black-market weapons prices surge in Iraq (International Herald Tribune, 12/10/06), "Rising prices, in turn, have encouraged an insidious form of Iraq corruption--the migration of army and police weapons from Iraqi state armories to black-market sales."
I don't see that Hillary is so knowledgeable here, even in the days of yore, everyone and his brother knew you don't sell (much less give) guns to the natives...
Posted by Michael L. Wagner | May 24, 2007 4:06 PM
This is the best peice Joe has written yet.
Posted by Derek | May 24, 2007 4:13 PM
Thanks for covering Edwards' speech. I thought it was good yesterday, but since Willard and Rudeeee are screeeeeeeeeching it must have been than I thought.
Posted by linda | May 24, 2007 4:35 PM
I've read Judith Miller's "God has 99 Names" and Michael Field's "Inside the Arab World." I've also read a couple of Bernard Lewis's books: "What went Wrong?" and "From Babel to Dragomans." I'm not a scholar, but I don't think I'm completely clueless either.
"From Babel to Dragomans" is an arresting read, ranging as it does over so many topics that I'm inclined to believe Lewis has forgotten more about the Middle East than Klein will ever know.
IMHO, that "quasi-racist" bit is a cheap shot, and utterly wrong. How cheap and how wrong? Well, let's remember OBL from December 2001: "When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse."
You know, that whole strength thing. From the horse's mouth, as it were.
Posted by Patrick carroll | May 24, 2007 5:13 PM
Joe,
'Edwards certainly isn't nearly as knowledgeable as, say, Hillary Clinton on national security matters'
Are you an adviser to Hillary's campaign? After reading what's written in Bob Shrum's book that you were an adviser to Kerry in 04 elections, I think the least you need to do is disclose if you are an adviser to any current presidential campaign, formally or informally.
Posted by SK | May 24, 2007 5:33 PM
I can see it from here. Joe Klein, the all-knowing undercover Democratic operative, wringing his hands, writing fiery columns about Bush the Cowboy and Darth Vader Cheney blithely violating the sovereignty of all those countries by sending in, illegaly it would be argued, those semi-Nazi special ops soldiers.
Imagine arresting and killing people without due process!!!
The New York Times, led by the traitor James Risen, would have plastered every detail the day after!
Editorials would be written urging impeachment.
What an hypocrite!
Posted by Jean Arrache | May 24, 2007 5:36 PM
Calling Bernard Lewis a "quasi racist" is a smear, Mr. Klein.
I understand the netroots have your thinking all fouled up; but even in such a state, such libels shouldn't be permitted.
Shame.
S.M. Galbraith
Posted by SteveMGalbraith | May 24, 2007 5:40 PM
pva, I've read What Went Wrong and skimmed the other book you mentioned (Crisis in Islam). Now admittedly I'm no expert in the history of Islam, but I don't remember them being "rife with factual errors".
Posted by Crust | May 24, 2007 5:41 PM
Would the great middle eastern scholar Joe Klein care to enlighten us with what the "Arabs" (as he so carefully referred to the millions of inhabitants of a world region, many of whom are not of Arabian descent) do understand? Perhaps he is suggesting we should we ignore what they themselves have to say on the subject (when it inconveniently coincides with the opinions of "quasi-racist" emeritus professor Bernard Lewis). That would demonstrate a greater understanding of Islam than I had previously given Klein credit for, since it would show his familiarity with taqqiya.
Posted by Carla | May 24, 2007 5:42 PM
Klein, nice. Calling Lewis names really furthers the debate.
And how is it that you people have all this time to make long-winded postings? Do you work?
Posted by F. Lee | May 24, 2007 5:50 PM
Joe,
I'm NOT familiar with Mr. Wehner or any of his previous writings, but I enjoyed your "rant" regarding his article, and I say stick it to the neocons. I don't know whether Bernard Lewis is a quasi-racist or not, but many of the Right-Wing bloggers seem to exhibit that unfortunate trait.
**************
"And how is it that you people have all this time to make long-winded postings? Do you work?"
Is it any of your business how "you people have all this time to make long-winded postings"? Is it any of your business whether the people work or not?
Hmmmmmm
I didn't think so.
Posted by ama | May 24, 2007 7:20 PM
"let's remember OBL from December 2001: "When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse." You know, that whole strength thing. From the horse's mouth, as it were."
Osama bin Laden does not speak for all Muslims.
He's analogous to Randy Weaver or David Koresh-- a fanatic who draws support and sympathy from people who perceive themselves to be under siege.
It is unsound to gear US policy toward responding to the taunts of fanatics.
Posted by Elvis Elvisberg | May 24, 2007 7:45 PM
Crust,
I suggest you read them again. Crisis in Islam is worse than What Went Wrong, but they both contain numerous errors, small ones like dates and larger ones like the chronological order of events.
Posted by pva | May 24, 2007 8:12 PM
Wow, this is a great piece, though I think his penance will be a seat at Time magazine.
Posted by Hillrod | May 24, 2007 8:13 PM
Does anyone know anything about this "caging" thing?
If even one person was denied the right to vote, somebody should be going to jail!!
Posted by Bryan from Houston | May 24, 2007 9:48 PM
Joe wrote:
"2. Most every member of the uniformed military and intelligence community I speak with now believes the war in Iraq was a tragic diversion from the real conflict--and yes there is a real conflict--against violent Islamist extremists. The proper course of action was the one prescribed by John Kerry and ridiculed by Bush in 2004: After taking out the Taliban and eliminated Al Qaeda's safe havens in Afghanistan, all attention should have been focused on a Global Police Action Against Terrorists using multinational intelligence services and covert operators to hunt down, capture and sometimes use lethal force against the bad guys. This constant, low-intensity struggle lacked the Big Bang that tough guys Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted, but it would have had the support of the world."
Joe needs to talk to more members of the "uniformed military and intelligence community." The opinions and the qualification "most" smack of cherry-picking, or maybe it's just the characterization that they all somehow support Kerry's policy.
The "constant, low-intensity struggle" always had two things going against it. Number one is the growing suspicion that it would be the equivalent of the Clinton Administration's constant, low-intensity struggle. Feel free to replace the words "constant" and "low-intensity" with "intermittent" and "near-invisible." Other than a few missle launches, does anyone recall the specific terrorists Clinton's peeps captured or took off the map?
Second was that it was/is a reactive policy that would never have meaningfully changed the face of the Middle East in a way that would eliminate the dangers of radical Islamic terrorists in an age where nuclear terror remains a viable possiblity. Kerry's policy would maintain a status quo that was always going to be a losing equation for the West. Iran would still be pursuing nuclear weapons, and the Iraq that Kerry would have settled for would be potentially every bit as chaotic or more, minus a stabilizing US presence that Iraqis say is vitally important. Oh, and Kerry voted for the frickin war anyway. (Yeah, I know... he was "misled." Maybe by the pollsters...)
Joe also wrote:
"Bush first puffed Osama Bin Laden--a monster who needed to be eliminated, to be sure--into a global threat, then pretty much forgot about him and is now using Al Qaeda (inaccurately) as his latest casus belli in Iraq. No wonder the CIA assumed--as reported by Ron Suskind in his book The 1% Doctrine--that Osama verbally attacked Bush on the eve of the 2004 election because he wanted to help Bush get reelected! No terrorist could dream of a better p.r. man than George W. has been for Osama."
Bush puffed Bin Laden? Funny Joe, I thought it was those planes flying into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Flight 93. I thought it was the African bombings and the U.S.S. Cole. If Bin Laden wasn't a global threat, he sure as hell had a global reach.
I have no idea what Joe's playing at when he writes that Bush is using Al Queda inaccurately. Is Al-Queda in Iraq? Yes. The locals say so. Many of the Sunni tribes say they've been fighting Al-Queda fighters. Intercepted communications between Al-Queda leadership in Iraq and Al-Zawahiri have indicated real links. So, the only thing giving Joe any cover is the word "inaccurately" but I for one don't know what the hell he's talking about. Oversimplifying Lewis and the White House on the Arab value of strength, especially when the White House's critics have often promoted "realist" solutions on the basis of the same principles, doesn't exactly bolster Joe's case.
To me, Joe sounds like the one drinking an awful lot of kool-aid right now. I recommend switching to some refreshing Surge.
Posted by Who | May 24, 2007 11:25 PM
Excellent post, Joe.
Posted by squid696 | May 25, 2007 12:25 AM
Well, Klein was sane for 5 minutes yesterday at least.
Oh well.
HILLARY HAPPENS.
Posted by Question Authority? QUESTION HILLARY. | May 25, 2007 5:16 AM
"If this actually were a war, the President would have (a) raised taxes to pay for it, (b) instituted a military draft, (c) launched an all-out drive to eliminate dependence on middle eastern oil and (d) mobilized the populace to take action..."
Oh right, Bubby Clinton did that for Kosovo, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Nepal, Tibet, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Waco, and South Beach, eh?
I must have missed that while reading Primary Kooklas.
Posted by Bows and Flows of Leftist Crap | May 25, 2007 5:24 AM
Say Joe thinks the terrorists should be chased by unionized cops and longshoremen, and ordered to attend grand jury hearings, and possibly do social rehab in Cali?
That'll fix those murdering mullahs!
Posted by NO OVERRIDE, NO RETREAT, NO REID COWARDS | May 25, 2007 5:31 AM
When Serbia goes down the tubes in October, what then, Joe?
Another UN-avoided carpet bombing of Belgrade?
Posted by Air Hillary | May 25, 2007 5:53 AM
Meanwhile, back in Cheataqua...
"...In the works for eight years, Bernstein's 640-page book is the more extensive biography and, while not unsympathetic, includes some damning observations from people once close to the senator.
Bob Boorstin, who worked for Clinton when she was pushing her plan to restructure the nation's health-care system in the early days of her husband's presidency, blamed her for its collapse. "I find her to be among the most self-righteous people I've ever known in my life," he told Bernstein. "And it's her great flaw, it's what killed health care," along with other factors.
Mark Fabiani, who as White House special counsel played a key role in defending the Clintons, said she was "so tortured by the way she's been treated that she would do anything to get out of the situation. . . . And if that involved not being fully forthcoming, she herself would say, 'I have a reason for not being forthcoming.' " Her logic, he said, was: "If we do this, they're going to do this to me. If we say this, then they're going to say this. You know, [expletive] 'em, let's just not do that."
Fabiani said Clinton personally directed the White House defense, telling Bernstein that private attorney David E. Kendall dealt mainly with the first lady and met only rarely with the president until the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal. "He was easy to deal with compared to her," Fabiani said of the first couple. The only time he saw Bill Clinton lose his temper, Fabiani said, was when the president saw his Whitewater partner, Susan McDougal, taken to jail in an orange jumpsuit and shackles for refusing to testify.
At one point, Hillary Clinton was convinced she would be next, worried that Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr would indict her for perjury or obstruction of justice arising from statements she made under oath about her work for Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan, the Whitewater investment or long-missing billing records. "When I say there was a serious fear she would be indicted, I can't overstate that," Fabiani told Bernstein.
Bernstein reexamines the most sensational aspects of Clinton's life -- and to his subject the most painful -- namely her decisions to marry and remain married to Bill Clinton. She waited two years before deciding to become his wife and move to Arkansas, and Bernstein points to a little-known factor that may have contributed. Hillary Clinton failed the D.C. bar exam after law school, something she hid from her best friends for 30 years until disclosing it in passing in her autobiography, "Living History." Bernstein suggests that blow to her ego may have played a role in her decision to move to Arkansas, where she had passed the bar.
The women who also figured in Bill Clinton's life in Arkansas make a return appearance in the book, most notably Marilyn Jo Jenkins, a power company executive he fell in love with and almost left his wife over, according to Bernstein. Jenkins has been linked to Clinton before -- she was spirited into the governor's mansion at 5:15 a.m. for a final, furtive meeting with him the day he left for Washington to assume the presidency -- but Bernstein's account makes clear her pivotal role.
Bill Clinton wanted to divorce his wife to be with Jenkins in 1989, Bernstein reports, but Hillary Clinton refused. "There are worse things than infidelity," she told Betsey Wright, the governor's chief of staff. The crisis frayed Wright's relationship with Bill Clinton too, and she told Bernstein that she arranged for the two of them, Wright and Clinton, to see a therapist together.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, turned to her best friend, Diane Blair, obliquely raising the prospect of divorce during a long walk. "She was thinking that they had not made much money," Blair told Bernstein before her death in 2000, and she was concerned about her daughter. "Chelsea was there now. What if she were on her own? She didn't own a house. She was concerned that if she were to become a single parent, how would she make it work in a way that would be good for Chelsea."
The Clintons stayed together, but out of "anger and hurt" she considered running for governor in 1990, when he presumably would step down to prepare his 1992 presidential campaign. The idea ended after consultant Dick Morris conducted two polls showing she had no independent identity with Arkansas voters and compared her to George Wallace's wife, who ran to succeed him in Alabama -- an analogy that offended her.
By the time Bill Clinton was running for president, Hillary Clinton suggested to Blair that victory would be good for the marriage because her husband's sexual compulsions would be tempered by the White House and the ever-present press corps, Bernstein reports -- a flawed assumption, as it would turn out.
In Bernstein's account, both Clintons went to great lengths to keep the lid on his infidelities. At the behest of Wright and Hillary Clinton, two partners with Hillary Clinton at the Rose Law Firm, Webster L. Hubbell and Vincent W. Foster Jr., were hired to represent women named in a lawsuit as having secret affairs with the governor. Hubbell and Foster questioned the women, then obtained signed statements that they never had sex with Bill Clinton. On one occasion, Bernstein reports, Hillary Clinton was present for the questioning.
Bernstein also reports that Bill Clinton, with Morris's help, pressured Wright to issue a false statement denying comments she had made to David Maraniss, a Post reporter, for his book "First in His Class," in which she said Arkansas state troopers had procured women for the governor..."
JUDGE KENNETH STARR, AMERICA NEEDS YOU AGAIN, SIR.
LET THE HEARINGS, TAKE 2, COMMENCE.
Posted by NEWT 2008 | May 25, 2007 7:12 AM
Sure, if we only did ____ (fill in the blank with the opposite of actual events) things would be great right now. What a load of garbage. Klein has no substance. Edwards is right? LMAO. Please remember Klein is at his core just another literary hack. All the hoopla about "Who wrote Primary Colors"? Sure let it percolate in the media until enough books were sold. Imagine, knowing what a POSBJ Clinton was and doing nothing. And before anyone gets all nostalgic about BJ, more members of the armed forces died under his watch, in peacetime, than have died under the current administration while fighting.
Posted by Larry | May 25, 2007 8:23 AM
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Posted by adel | August 2, 2008 3:14 PM
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الرياض
كول
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كول كول
قياس
سرعة الاتصال
منتدى الرياض
جنس ثقافه
جنسية
بنات كول شباب كول
الطب
بالاعشاب
منتديات عامة
وظائف
التوظيف
وظائف حكوميه
وظائف شركات
وظائف
بالسعودية
حوادث
جرائم
الاسره والطفل
العنايه
بالاطفال
ازياء
ميك اب
فساتين
العناية بالشعر
مكياج
ثقافه جنسيه
سكس
اداب الجماع
ليلة الدخله
وصفات للاكل
اكلات مغربيه
اكلات سعوديه
وصفات عربيه لبنانيه سوريه خليجيه
طريقة اعداد الطعام
منتدى الصحة
الحفاظ على الصحه
صحة الاطفال
الامراض والوقايه منها
منتدى الشعر
خواطر
قصص
صور حصرية
صور
مقاطع صوتيه style="text-decoration: underline;">
بلوتوث
فيديو
مقاطع
صور سياحية
معلومات سياحيه
الرياضه
السيارات
برامج
توبيكات
برنامج الماسنجر
صور ماسنجر
تصاميم
صور للتصاميم
برامج التصميم
تصاميم جاهزة
الاتصالات
جوالات
رسائل
مسجات
العاب جوال
ثيمات
برامج جوالات
Posted by adel | August 2, 2008 3:14 PM