Rating: 
Summary: Great Nonfiction, Great Journalism
Review: The Hunting Of The President is everything I expect in a nonfiction book. The source data is pristine (27 pages of source documentation). It provides a running narrative of a historical event. It provides information I hadn't yet heard, nor would have the time to research myself. And it supplies just enough anecdotes to keep one entertained. It provides new information, based on pain staken research, such as going through the financial records of the Arkansas Project. It also condenses 10 years of current events into 373 pages, giving one a complete picture of the impeachment episode. Unlike many of the books coming from the right wing, The Hunting Of The President never speculates, and never asks one to connect the dots. This is not a conspiracy fantasy. It presents the facts, completely, including those which Clinton supporters might find troubling. Gene Lyons and Joe Conason are "journalists" in the finest sense. If evidence is presented, denials and explanations are included. Comparing this book to Jeff Toobin's "Vast Conspiracy" and Bob Woodward's "Shadow", I expect this one to be the best representation, written to date, of the a major historical event.
Rating:
Summary: The Hunting of the President
Review: "The most successful and long-running `dirty tricks' campaign in recent American history" is the theme of this book by two veteran journalists: Conason, columnist for the New York Observer and Salon, and Lyons (Fools for Scandal: How the Media Invented Whitewater, LJ 8/96) of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Their sprawling tale begins in Arkansas in 1989, as Governor Clinton prepared to run for reelection, and ends in Washington when the Lewinsky story broke in 1998. The authors say little about the Clintons themselves but instead set out to impeach their enemies, some of them unfamiliar names, others as familiar as Jones, Tripp, and Starr. Their reporting, thickly documented with citations to newspapers, books, Congressional and other official reports, trial records, archives, web sites, television broadcasts, videos, print and online magazines, and interviews with sources named and unnamed, makes a firm case that the President and his wife have been pursued by many scoundrels. Most public libraries will want the book, as will those academic libraries wishing to thoroughly document the Clinton years.
Rating:
Summary: A tour de force that enrages & enlightens
Review: This book is an incredible achievement, based on exhaustive reviews and footnotes. I don't automatically read something and believe it 100 percent, but if Conason and Lyons have documented HALF of their research and interviews accurately (and based on their reputations, I'd believe it's significantly higher than that), many, many Republicans have a great deal to apologize for. Conason and Lyons perform a devastating autopsy on the right's campaign to destroy Clinton before he even announced his candidacy for president in 1991, through both terms of his presidency. As someone who voted for Clinton twice (and would happily do so again), I knew Clinton had enemies, but I didn't know he had this many who were this menacing. The authors lay out in stunning detail the lies and half truths that were willingly perpetrated by the mainstream media, discussing topics like the Foster suicide (many were convinced/hoping that it was a Clinton-sponsored murder), Troopergate, Filegate, Ken Starr and the wanton abuse of his Independent Council powers and much, much more. The above topics have been discussed ad nauseum in other books and articles, but the authors go further, detailing the many right-wing backed publications such as The American Spectator, the wealthy right wing tycoon Richard Mellon Scaife and his backing of the Arkansas Project, William Renquist and his role in Whitewater and the Starr appointment, and most importantly in this reader's eyes, how the first independent council, Robert Fiske, was ousted after he couldn't find any wrongdoing on the part of the Clintons. This paved the way for Starr's appointment, who would stop at nothing to get something on the Clintons. Conason and Lyons also detail the highly unethical treatment of Monica Lewinsky at the hands of Starr and his deputies. Speaking of Monica, the authors gain credibility by not condoning or even trying to explain away Clinton's moral lapses with Monica and other women, but they also detail the credibility problems of many Clinton accusers, namely Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey and Paula Jones. This book simply must be read to be believed. The authors certainly got my partisan blood boiling all over again, 90s style, about what the Republicans did to try to bring down a good but imperfect man. This book makes one wonder where the "liberal media" was during the 1990s, when even the most incredibly idiotic rumors about Clinton, after being reported in a publication of ill repute, would be picked up by the mainstream media. The authors rightly conclude that publications like The Washington Post and the New York Times (the latter of which broke Whitewater and was perhaps eager to make up for getting scooped during Watergate) had too much invested in Whitewater as time went on for the stories to come up empty. Hence, the papers kept after a story that never was really there in the first place. Even more outrageous, during critical junctures during Starr's investigation, when information came to light that proved highly favorable to the Clintons, it went largely unreported by two of America's most "reputable" newspapers. My one minor complaint about the book is that it did not detail the impeachment proceedings at all, and the impeachment and the GOP's behavior during that show trial is every bit as outrageous as what led up to it. Had Conason and Lyons written the full story about the impeachment, this could be THE ultimate book from A to Z about the GOP's war on the Clintons. (Perhaps we'll see a part II?) But, this is still probably the best, most meticulously detailed book on the right's campaign to destroy Bill and Hillary. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: There Really Was a Conspiracy
Review: When Hillary Clinton revealed to the media her belief that there was a conspiracy to destroy her husband and topple him from the presidency there was collective laughter from so many of the self-described pundits. They concluded that Hillary had been in Washington too long and had been in too many political fights, prompting her to suffer from paranoia. The last laugh was on the pundits. As Joe Conason and Gene Lyons sharply delineate in "The Hunting of the President," the footprints of the far right Clinton-haters are clearly present for those willing to track them. Conason and Lyons prove to be perceptive trackers as they demonstrate the following: 1) The disgruntled Arkansas group consisting of corrupt politicians and state troopers willing to tell stories and sing as long as the money is forthcoming; 2) Wealthy bankroller and right wing extremist Richard Mellon Scaife of Pittsburgh, with a seemingly endless cash roll matched by a hatred as seething as it is irrational toward Clinton; 3) The media network controlled by Scaife and religious kook Reverend Moon, consisting of "The American Spectator" edited by zealot Robert Tyrell and "The Washington Times," which runs at steady losses which are absorbed by Moon while it spews right wing vitrol, led by its editor Wes Pruden, whose fundamentalist preacher father was leader of the White Citizens Council in Arkansas. 4) The pattern of feeding "hot" stories begun in the Spectator-Washington Times circuit to the mainstream media, focusing on certain cooperative reporters such as Michael Isikoff of Newsweek of Newsweek and counterfeit Democrats such as commentator Morton Kondracke. Once the pattern is completed the mainstream media's reporting of events begun up the grapevine take on an "urgent national significance." Conason and Lyons lay out the so-called "facts" of the Whitewater transaction, which was supposed to have revealed Bill and Hillary Clinton as crooks. It reveals the problem to have stemmed from the paranoia and illness of a formerly sound Jim McDougal, who sold the Clintons on an investment in which they were passively involved, losing on the proposition and regretting having paid out any money. The authors reveal that the first special prosecutor Robert Fisk found no wrongdoing, and that ultimately even the wildly partisan Kenneth Starr could find nothing. Yet the story persists of alleged Clinton crookedness. Conason and Lyons paint in fascinating hues some incredible characters, country con types out to make a buck any way they could, along with the vindictive Clinton-haters, often motivated by jealousy over the country boy's tremendous success culminating with the presidency. A particularly fascinating character is Judge Jim Johnson, a disgrace to the judiciary he once served. As a young man, after hearing a Johnson speech filled by racist diatribes, Clinton walked up to the older man and told him that listening to his speech made him feel ashamed to be from Arkansas. Johnson never forgot and became a spirited member of the Scaife-bankrolled "Arkansas Project" designed to ruin Clinton. Floyd Brown, author of "Slick Willy," is also depicted interestingly. Brown, it will be recalled, produced the infamous Willie Horton ad with shocking racial overtones, which helped George Bush I win the presidency in 1988. Brown is "appalled" by Clinton's lack of ethics. Do the likes of Scaife, Moon, Johnson, Tyrell, Pruden, Brown etc. have the moral standing to point fingers at Clinton or anybody else?
Rating:
Summary: Reads like a novel!
Review: First, for the record, I'm not a real big Clinton fan. To me he sold out by outsmarting the Republicans with a fairly conservative agenda. (In fact, that's something this book's authors point out was a threat, that Bill Clinton was capable of, in effect, out Republicanizing the Republicans). But after reading it, I have substantially more sympathy and compassion for Bill and Hillary. It all started quite a bit before Bill decided to run for president. The late Lee Atwater, some say Karl Rove's mentor, knew he could pull the "Eastern liberal establishment" line on many a Democrat running against Bush I. But he was threatned by some Southerners, notably a young, bright Arkansas governor. That's where the you-know-what began to hit the fan. Interesting that while reading this, I was also reading Al Francken's "Liars..." book and "Bush's Brain." Some of the same names came up in all three of them. One that comes to mind is Ann Coulter. But there are others too, many others. If you're as slow a reader as I, you might be turned off by a reasonably long book with small print. But this one I couldn't put down. It truly reads like a novel. The authors don't indicate a conspiracy per se, however the connections between, for example, Ken Starr and various other political hit squads are uncanny. There was an overlap of right wing activists who were really out to get the Clintons. (You'll find the same claim in David Brock's book "Blinded by the Right.") Many of them were funded by Scaife, another individual and foundation mentioned repeatedly by Brock. Some of the overlap, incidentally, included the likes of Jerry Falwell who pushed a videotape of more (and more and more) unverified nonsense. They pursued and found nothing, continued to pursue, found nothing still, went further and found a microgram of something they tried to make a mountain out of. It's almost funny except, if anyone attempts to do the same thing to Reagan, Bush I, or Dubya, they're called unpatriotic and other vitriol. Note that the authors don't free Bill Clinton of his responsibility for the relationship with Monica Lewinsky (though they point out that such a thing has never been terribly unusual in the halls of power, let alone in the White House.) In fact, that doesn't come up until the end of the book--and Linda Tripp is exposed as the one who pushed that envelope. And, Surprise, she had a political agenda, was a stalwart supporter of Bush I. The sexual harassment allegations, by people who apparently had fantasies of Clinton far more than he did of them, were part of Clinton's enemies' agendas long, long before Lewinsky hit the news (and Starr ran with it!) Another shock: Hold onto your seat, but many of those out to get the Clintons GOT RICH OFF THE GAME! Many were just two-bit crooks, and the press gave them more credibility than they deserved. Others used their "knowledge" of Clintons' alleged shennanigans to keep themselves out of jail. (That these facts were barely mentioned by the mainstream press reinforces my cynicism of that institution!)
I never had any faith that the Whitewater "scandal" would reveal anything. And this is the first book that details HOW it was nothing, never was anything, and despite the incredible amounts of tax-payers money that went into the "investigation," it still remained nothing. I wish there were an item or two that I could use as "hook" to attract others to this volume. But the only thing, aside from the nothingness of Whitewater, is the US press. We hear these days about a "liberal bias" in the press, which most of us know is a crock. This book puts that claim in context: there really are quite a few "reporters" out there more set on finding scandals than they are on reporting anything "objectively," even in "the newspaper of record" and other allegdly left-leaning media. Well, there's a lot here, and it's covered quite well. Be prepared to see names you've been seeing a lot these days, and be prepared to lose some respect for a few figures you thought had more integrity than this book indicates. And then ponder for a few minutes how much more effective Bill Clinton may have been if he hadn't been defending himself against nonsense, bogus charges year after year.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Finally, the truth be told...the truth hurts the hateful right wing idiots. They would nevr want you to read this book, but do. This is an excellent review of the "hunting of the Clintons" that never let up. Read this book! It will open your eyes to the fanatics that tried to malign and destroy the Clintons.
Rating:
Summary: FILM VERSION COMING JUNE 2004 !
Review: THE HUNTING OF THE PRESIDENT was a late addition to Austin's SXSW Film Festival last week, the film's second festival showing (after Sundance) before its formal New York premiere in June 2004. BUSH'S BRAIN, a documentary about evil Bush fetishist Karl Rove, had its world premiere in Austin the previous week at the same venue, Austin's beautifully restored 1930's era movie palace the Paramount Theater. As good as BRAIN was, THOTP was even better. This film has everything I ask for when it comes to documentaries about Democrats vs Republicans: heroes (Susan McDougal; the serene Clintons; Conason, Lyons, Begala, and James Carville); villains (Ken Starr, Paula Jones, Jerry Falwell, and various amateur crooks, liars, bimbos, racists, political opportunists, media whores, religious nuts, and the mentally ill); and in-between (David Brock, who wears a white hat these days). The evil that men do to the Clintons lives after them; the bastard child of Paula Jones and Ken Starr currently resides in the White House where he passes his waking time ruining the economy, shredding the Bill of Rights, and cozying up to a dictator in Pakistan who is for God knows what reason not listed as a terrorist for setting up a nuclear Wal-Mart. But I digress. Thomason has cleverly edited, mise-en-scene-like, into the talking-head segments footage from old films and newsreels that often hysterically complements what's being said. This is, so far as I know, unique to documentary filmmaking and WORKS here quite nicely. Unless you were unborn, undead, or living in Mousehole, Texas, during the 1990's, you were glued to the TV, wondering how the HELL a freak like Paula Jones could possibly be taken seriously; how Ken Starr could deny without laughing that the OIC (i.e., Ken Starr) was leaking to the press detailed info about his investigation into every corner of the Clintons' lives, in defiance of a federal judge's gag order; why the New York Times' story of the Clintons' failed Whitewater land investment deal would morph into a bizarre tale of fraud, bribery, rape, extortion, murder, and drug running by the Clintons--without any effort by the TIMES to correct the record they KNEW was bogus. Susan McDougal emerges from this film a bona fide hero, as she should. I thought I knew this story well, but there are chilling details about her treatment by Ken Starr that will blow your mind. Gene Lyons and Joe Conason's book THE HUNTING OF THE PRESIDENT had no photos of the major players, a real shame when you have a huge cast. Seeing the film brings some of the story's lesser-known personalities--in particular the Dogpatch types from Arkansas (such as the bait shop owner and the Arkansas troopers) and Richard Mellon Scaife--into the light of day. Skinny pundette Ann Theman Coulter, one of the "elves" who assisted Paula Jones in her lawsuit against Clinton, is mentioned but, thankfully, doesn't appear. It's a great book, one of the best books about politics I've ever read. Every night I sat reading it I kept thinking, why don't they make a ten-hour documentary about this story? Spend a whole hour examining Sam Donaldson or ABC's NIGHTLINE and the extremes to which these people worked with the right wing to bring down the last elected president of the USA in a coup d'etat. Show the scene in the Senate where the not-yet-dead Senator Strom Thurmond administers the oath to an uncomfortably poised Chief Justice Rehnquist before the impeachment proceedings began. Director Harry Thomason won't give me those 10 hours, but I'll happily settle for what's here. I laughed at the GOP all through the 90's because no matter how hard they tried, no matter how much they spent, no matter what extremes they went to, they couldn't bring down the Clintons. Now Bush is in the White House and I'm not laughing any more. READ THE BOOK! SEE THIS FILM!
Rating: 
Summary: Bill and Hillary are Destroying Themselves
Review: The title should be the first clue. This is not an "objective" piece of "journalism". Though that's what they want you to think. First, there is not now, nor was there ever, a "campaign" to "destroy" Bill Clinton. Despite the author's best attempt, nothing he brings forward can be classified as evidence. A campaign would imply an organization. Destruction would mean a no-holds-barred attempt at complete professional and character assassination. First, there never was an organization with the sole aim to attack Bill Clinton. Never. Supporters of Clinton point to the Republican Party as this organization, but that's specious nonsense. The GOP never hid the fact that they despised the Clintons, but, then again, the Clintons and the Democratic Party never hid their contempt for the GOP. Does this contempt automatically imply a campaign? No. Second, only someone as paranoid as Bill and Hillary Clinton could come up with the idea that their criics want more than just to oppose their policies - they want to "destroy" them. This is a narcissistic mind-game, played by Bill and his gang on those who don't know any better. It proves nothing except the utter self-absorption of the Clintons. No, this whole book is based on a faulty premise - intentionally so - that attempts to shift the blame for the Clintons' shady, illegal, and immoral behavior from Bill and Hillary to those who objected to that behavior. It's classic triangulation. Classic pass the buck. This is part of the Bill Clinton Legacy Rehabilitation Tour. Since he was a fairly poor president, he needs to point the light of public scrutiny away from himself and onto others. What better way to prop himself up than to blame a "vast right-wing conspiracy" for all his troubles? So, conservatives made him abuse his power, made him sexually harass all those women, made him purjer himself in front of a judge, made him deceive his supporters, made him lie, made him cheat, steal,.... Right. I am no longer saddened by the sorry moral state of Bill and Hillary Clinton. I AM saddened by the number of people who have fallen for the ruse, and who STILL support them. They still have scales over their eyes....... -
Rating:
Summary: What they want you to believe
Review: The conspiracy theory was just that. How gullible can one be?!
History will play this one out.
Rating:
Summary: The Truth is Wonderful
Review: I'm glad this book was written, because it shows that there are people in America who will protect us from liberal Democrat monosters such as Bill and Hilary who wanted nothing less than to turn this great country into a liberal wet dream. As a very junior member of the vast right wing conspiracy, who wasn't allowed in on any of the meetings, it's nice to see that all that time and money wasn't wasted. I just wish we'd done a better job - Clinton still has too many defenders. Kudos to the authors, and I hope they write another book like this - the truth must be exposed!
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