Rating: 
Summary: EEK! It's the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy!
Review: A lively read, but the authors don't seem to realize that there are no heroes and villains in this sordid case. When may we have book that effectively plagues both houses?
Rating: 
Summary: the attempted unmaking of the president
Review: This book tells us the rest of the story -- that Clinton's political opposition tried to "unmake his presidency" by thowing...and throwing and throwing and throwing...mud at him, his wife and his administration. The book is well researched and documented and causes one to ask why the newsmedia did not report these facts at or near the time the mud was thrown. The subtitle of this book should be "how the newsmedia missed the rest of the story."
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book of the Year 2000
Review: Unlike the suck-up books of the right wing, Conason and Lyons make no apologies for Clinton's lapses of judgment. But their hard-hitting, strictly factual accounts of the egregious lies and insane jealousy of Clinton's detractors should make everyone who has ever believed those detractors ashamed of themselves.
Rating:
Summary: Classic: Investigative Reporting at its Best
Review: The scope of this book is truly panoramic--from the bait shop crowd in Arkansas, to the stately offices of the big city lawyers---all connected in passionate pursuit of anybody and anything who could or would offer scandalous information about the Clintons--for a price. Lyons and Conason heroically report, meticulously document, the real scandal: the prostitution of the mainstream media.
Rating:
Summary: Deserves a Pulitzer!
Review: This book is terrific, because it finally proves how New York Times' journalists and other "Northeastern" journalists have tried to destroy Bill and Hillary, simply because the Clintons have not kissed up enough to Israel and the powerful Israeli lobby in Congress. Mr. Conason and Mr. Lyons brilliantly expose how this secretly-funded Right Wing Conspiracy almost succeeded in impeaching a great President and a great Man. Bravo, gentleman!
Rating:
Summary: Unimpeachable
Review: Gene Lyons' "Fools For Scandal" uncovered the journalistic misconduct committed by the New York Times and other news organizations. In Lyons' and Conason's new book, they uncover the major players in what turned out to be a plot to overturn not one but two presidential elections. The unsavory alliances between anti-Clinton billionaires, embezzlers, journalists and lawyers are laid out in this book in detail. This is an important story.
Rating:
Summary: And, now... the rest of the story
Review: The natural, but naive, reaction of the American people to the myriad Clinton 'scandals' was that surely, where there was so much smoke, there had to be a fire. Little did they consider that there just might be a smoke machine out there, and no fire whatsoever.The American people at least have an excuse-- the press and other media, who are relied on to sort out the true from the false, were ALSO gullibly taken in by the various Arkansan anti-Clinton hucksters (that is, when they weren't themselves deliberately misreporting the facts out of CYA impulses, political biases, or their own monetary interests). The authors definitively prove the incredibly tawdry performance of the so-called 4th Estate, and especially those of the 'papers of record,' the NY Times and the Washington Post. Oddly enough, over and over again, only the Wall Street Journal's fine reporting staff (entirely distinct from its rabid op-ed pages) covered critical matters exculpatory to the Clintons, such as the Pilsbury Report for the RTC clearing the Clintons with regard to Whitewater. This book hooked me over the weekend until I finished it, and it will serve to inform and delight (or dismay) anyone who reads it.
Rating:
Summary: The truth shall set you free!
Review: What an incredibly clearheaded and factual account of the dark forces that conspired to search and destroy the Clintons! The press gets the criticism they deserve as the one of the most judgemental and hypocritical players in this sad saga. But his book now!
Rating:
Summary: From someone who actually read the book...
Review: This book will surely enrage those who want to believe that no wrongdoing was done by those who went after the Clintons. Conason and Lyons sure seem to make the case that there was, if not a "vast" right-wing conspiracy, then certainly a well-financed, legally-questionable effort to destroy Bill and Hillary. And unlike most other books about Clinton, this one is thoroughly annotated with most of its sources identified, so one can get a little better grasp of what can be believed. (They also discuss a lot of questionable "facts" from other reporters, Michael Isikoff especially.) Especially interesting is Chapter 9, detailing how Jerry Falwell profited financially off anti-Clinton crusades, including cash inputs from Reverend Sun Myung Moon...and Chapter 7, which lists all the many investigations -- many clearly in the "nutcase" category -- that Richard Mellon Scaife was willing to finance in order to get something on the Clintons. The book makes little attempt to defend the Clintons, except to list a stunning array of charges and accusations that later proved bogus. If you're one of those folks who believe that any story of Clinton wrongdoing must be true, regardless of the evidence...or if you believe (or want to believe) that it's inconceivable or forgiveable that laws were trampled to try and bring down this president...well, you probably won't like this book much. Personally, I think both sides in the whole sordid affair did some seedy, unethical things. We've heard plenty about Bill and Monica; it's about time we heard about the other factions.
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: It is curious that, the Californian and the Connecticut reader who have posted negative reviews did not derive their conclusions from the book. Their inablity to refute the basic premises of the book, mainly that a loose cabal of Clinton's politicial enemies conducted a large-scale disinformation campaign that hoodwinked the press and others, speaks volumes about how will the authors researched and sourced the details of the book. Conason and Lyons present an exhausting and comprehensive review of the campaign waged against the Clintons. While political dirty tricks and election chicanery have been around for a long time, and it would be foolhardy not to allow at least some license for venting the passions of the electorate, the question then becomes at what point does such activity become destructive to the democratic process. The authors, correctly, make no attempt to answer this question. Yet it is one that informed citizens need ask. What the book reminds us that when the hardcore zealots start believing disinformation that is one thing, when those who are suppose to have a more critical view start being influenced by questional conclusions from dubious and usually nonexistant sources that is quite another. The is still truth to the adage that "eternal vigilance is the price of democracy". This book is a good place to start paying that price.
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