Rating: Summary: A devastating portrait of Clinton, the man Review: Isikoff's book was my 5th book about the Clinton Administration, so I certainly didn't expect any new information. But this book was loaded with new details and surprises, e.g., who would have imagined that Mark Furhman would play a minor role in the DNA testing of Clinton's dress, and who would have suspected that Goldberg taped Tripp? The real strength of this book is that it pulls together all of the disparate elements of a complex story driven by complex people, each with their own agenda. This is the first time anyone has put all of the pieces of the puzzle together and it did help bring some closure to this sorry mess. Clinton is correctly portrayed as a pathologically disturbed individual, but there is no sermonizing or moralizing by the author. Clinton is "done in" by his own words and deeds and the recorded coversations and testimony of countless others. I strongly recommend this book, especially to female voters who want to make some sense of the past seven years, and anyone who would like to know what the boys and girls at the DNC knew about Clinton before they inflicted him on us. This is a must read if you want to understand Clinton and all of the players in Jones-Willey-Lewinsky-Brodderick (and countless others) scandals of the 1990s. Also, Isikoff's fruitless struggles to publish this information timely should give anyone pause when they examine the raw power our society has bestowed on the senior print editors, TV producers and their corporate handlers to decide what we know and when we know it.
Rating: Summary: Isikoff's legacy Review: In a smarmy attempt to be a Woodward/Bernstein, Isikoff shows himself to be a glory-hound. Instead of stumbling on a "plot to get the president" he stumbled on a plot to prop up and support a buffoonish administration that, through its executive orders, its supporting of judicial activism overturning legislation, and in myriad other ways, has become the closest we've come to tyranny outside of wartime. Isikoff should be ashamed for trying to make a name for himself as some great investigative reporter. An investigative reporter he may be, and a good one, but he's unable to put his own predilections on neutral. Unlike Christopher Hitchens, who brands himself a liberal then gets on with telling the truth about President Clinton, despite his constant sniping at the innocent right, Isikoff dons a moth-eaten mantle of impartiality, but we can see his stripes through the holes. Whether you're on the left or the right don't buy this book and make money for Isikoff. President Clinton has brought all his sorrows on himself. He has done everything short of martial law to make himself a tyrant, he's undermined national security, he's done his best to ruin respect for his office, and worse, for crass political purposes he has deliberately divided this country worse than any time since the Civil War, setting one group against another since the early days of his administration, so he can be a Benny Hennish healer and he's killed people in foreign countries and repeatedly mobilized the US military to cover his shenanigans. He's become a national joke, a national disgrace, he's lied to every single constituent he has, to his family, to his staff, to the country, he's violated his oath of office, he's become the international buffoon and P.T. Barnumesque showman depicted in Hitchens' book NO ONE LEFT TO LIE TO. But this book is nevertheless an attempt to prop up a flaccid legacy for a president who has done nothing but harm the country. Don't buy this book. If you're on the left and want a good read that tells the truth against Clinton, go for Christopher Hitchens. If you're on the right, you don't need to have your intelligence or integrity further insulted.
Rating: Summary: Scoop, stoop, and recoup...the real theme of this book Review: Isikoff, a veteran ace reporter, scooped by Matt Drudge, a smarmy, novice rumor monger (pooper scooper), tries to recoup his financial losses on the story of the decade by stooping low to write a book about the book that Tripp and Goldberg wanted to write. Isikoff is a good reporter, but use your time to read a classic.
Rating: Summary: Pretty Good Read...Mostly Old News.... Review: Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey seem no more credible to me than they initially did. I think both women concocted stories of encounters they wish had taken place. President Clinton still appears to be quite indiscriminately lascivious but not at all assaultive. I always thought Linda Tripp and Lucianne Goldberg wanted to see Clinton destroyed, but Isikoff's book revealed just how intricate their machinations were.
Rating: Summary: great investigative reporting Review: michael isakoff has written a great book on the type of sleazeball who currently occupies the white house.(not for much longer,thank god!)this is a well balanced,researched account of clinton's extracurricular activities.a must read for everyone!(p.s.ignore the other review posted earlier from vancouver,wash.he's an obvious liberal using the old "attack the messanger" stategy!)
Rating: Summary: Reads like fiction. Sadly it is a true and documented tale. Review: Isikoff does an excellent job of research and reporting. He starts out incredulous and builds on knowledge gleaned from the "insiders." It is easy to see why people of character left the administration early on! Those who live in a sewer begin to smell like a sewer. Thus he proved that not only the man himself cannot be trusted but those who work for him also cannot. Sad tale!
Rating: Summary: Isikoff re-hashes the bimbo stories- nothing new here. Review: Mr. Isikoff is miffed. Clinton gets more women in 30 seconds between meetings than Mr. Iskikoff gets in 20 years as a veteran reporter.His jealousy virtually seethes throug these pages. Imagine, Clinton actually pays people to control his bimbo eruptions! Ah, if only Mr. Isikoff *had* bimbos, he wouldn't have to put the leeches to Mr. Clinton. Clinton, that Nietzchean *Ubermensch*, clearly is not in Isikoff's lead, and Isikoff is mad. Well, too bad. If Clinton can't get his perks, than what's the point?
Rating: Summary: Absolutely remarkable that we endure such a tawdry president Review: Although it's hard not to feel slightly soiled while reading this, I believe Michael Isikoff and believe him to be a realiable journalist. This President is without shame and honor and, regrettably, without respect for the office that he occupies. What a pair he and Hillary must be!
Rating: Summary: Masterful chronicle of low life in high places Review: Isikoff's book provides a detailed blueprint to events we are all, regretfully, too familiar with, showing with great clarity the incestuous links and synergies between the known and lesser known players in all sides of this historical melodrama. Nobody looks good: yes, there was a right wing cabal squaring Chicago, Arkansas, Philadelphia and Washington DC; yes, in all probability Starr&staff had a political agenda in pursuing his loose legal mandate; yes, Paula Jones was probably telling the truth; yes, Paula Jones was used by the right wing and thoroughly betrayed by organized feminism; yes, Linda Tripp was every bit the Wicked Witch of the West, gossip and schemer long before Monica entered the picture; yes many of the "pundits" we would see on cableTV were in fact were players in the melodrama, with ties to one faction or another; yes, Clinton was manipulative and sleazy; yes Clinton was lucky in his choice of enemies, particularly in the House of Representatives, a pathetic bunch more interested in scoring political low-points than addressing an issue (which explains in some way how ineffective they were in persuading the American people of the appropriateness of their course); yes Clinton was lucky in his choice of friends who with enormous zeal would put their own reputations on the line and viciously attack that of others to defend allegations which they themselves, as most Americans at the time, probably believed to be more plausible than not; yes, organized feminists in particular behaved hypocritically in dealing with the women in this tale.....no allegation brought forth in the Anita Hill controversy came close to what happened here. During Watergate the villains were clearly villanous and their actions brought forth dignified and patriotic behavior in Congress. Clinton's scandals seem to have soiled everyone who has come in contact with them on all sides of the story. Indeed, the American people have a right to paraphrase Shakespeare and say "a plague to ALL their houses!!!" One of this book's several virtues is Isikoff's perspective as the prime investigative reporter so close to center of events as to feel, at times, drawn into the conflict as a participant. His struggle to maintain personal and professional integrity in the earnest pursuit of an ever tawdrier story provides a rich counterpoint to the telling of this sorry episode. I, like all Americans were indeed part of this tale, so I think it's unfair to finish without sharing where I find myself today: I am glad that Clinton was not convicted.....a conviction would have set a worse precedent than acquittal; I can hardly wait for his term to end. Both the White House and the House of Representatives are in dire need of thorough housecleaning.
Rating: Summary: Great Story, I enjoyed the book Review: Michael did a great job with this book, I could not put it down
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