Rating: 
Summary: shenanigans and evildoers on the right finally outed!
Review: I have been waiting so long for this book to be published. After eight years of reading recycled rumors and right-wing paranoia masquerading as journalism in the mainstream press, I came to disbelieve nearly everything written about Whitewater. Conason and Lyons methodically and with documentation take apart the bizarre network of loony operatives, grudge-holders, racists, religious fanatics, Christian Reconstructionists, Birch Society members, and other conspiracy theorists who peopled the attempt to take down Clinton's presidency. Finally, a book we can trust! And what a saistfying tale it weaves.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Eye Opener
Review: The best thing about this book is that it is not written by a "Washington Insider"(someone like Bob Woodward) with a vested interest in protecting the Establishment. Gene Lyons and Joe Conason are not interested in dinner invitations from Sally Quinn.People who have read Fools for Scandal already know a great deal about the origins of the Whitewater "scandal", especially the role of the New York Times in this travesty. This book will most likely be savaged by the Ruling Class in Washington because it challenges the perceived wisdom of that class. But the book will be required reading for future historians who will be studying the events and the players. It connects all the dots the mainstream media deliberately ignored. Surprise, suprise. Starr was not an "independent" counsel. He was an honorary member of various right wing think tanks and Clinton hate groups. Various "objective journalists" were nothing more than stenographers for Kenneth Starr, taking notes from the illegal leaks for their future book deals(hello Michael Isikoff and Susan Schmidt!). Starr had been colluding with the Jones team all along, most likely using Michael Isikoff and various evles as go between. The book is required reading for anyone who wants to know how the country came close to a coup d'etat.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive Account of the So-Called Clinton Scandals
Review: When historians 50 or 100 years from now look back at the Clinton presidency, they will turn to this book in order to make sense of how such a barrage of "scandals" about the administration were suddenly foisted upon the public. While Hillary Clinton was ridiculed for her remarks on the Today Show about there being a "vast conspiracy," Conason and Lyons prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that a loose confederation of right wing interests were indeed bent on crippling and destroying the Clinton presidency. They also show the reader these interests were targeting Bill Clinton as early as 1989. While many readers are familiar with these various groups and individuals, the authors connect the dots and provide insight as to how and why they were so successful in their long-running smear against the Clintons. All the well-known and not so well-known characters are here: from Lee Atwater to Monica Lewinsky, from Richard Mellon Scaife to Kenneth Starr, from Parker Dozier to David Hale. Nobody is spared from criticism, including Clinton in his unbelievable stupidity in being involved with Lewinsky. However, after reading this book, you will become convinced Clinton had to be the luckiest person in the world to have such an oddball assortment of enemies. It was inevitable Clinton would be the target by those (especially in the GOP) who were afraid of his considerable appeal to so many groups of people; it was equally inevitable that the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight would fail miserably to oust him. Some of the best parts of the book have to do with the media's gullibility in swallowing every scandalous tidbit with regard to Clinton, no matter how dubious the source. Because both authors have previously criticized the media's coverage of the Clinton "scandals," especially Gene Lyons, they are not very welcome in the Georgetown snob culture where Sally Quinn and David Broder are the arbiters of who truly belongs in that clique. It is also likely Conason and Lyons will not be invited to very many talk shows discussing their book. For these reasons and many more, this book deserves the highest recommendation. Unlike Jeffrey Toobin in his recent book "A Vast Conspiracy," Conason and Lyons are more comprehensive in their focus on the scandals, and less concerned about what the Beltway mob thinks.
Rating:
Summary: Negating the "Shooting the Messengers" review
Review: I haven't read this book yet, but I will. Just thought I'd add five stars to negate the review from the biased right-winger from California, who obviously posted his negative review without reading the book. I mean COME ON, guy...who do you think you're kidding? When I do get the book and read it, I'll post my honest opinion about it.
Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Insight
Review: We read about the tip of this iceberg in the newspapers but this fantastic piece of writing and research reads like a novel and makes us think very hard about our political process and the lengths that people will go to achieve their ends. Read it, of course, Your view of the world may change.
Rating:
Summary: The Hunting of the President
Review: These two writers were my salvation during the impeachment when I thought the world was collapsing. Their columns were factually loaded. I was provided with the outline and detail of the inter-connectedness of the motives and players behind the assault. Their words were the only ones I read that presented the real story behind the findings of the Federal and State investigations into Watergate with dates, sequence, relationships, and financial findings, findings which had been mis-represented by major papers and echoed by the media. Their columns and statements on infrequent appearances were barely challenged by the predominantly conservative network hosts, paid commentators, and guests who aided in the television assault. This book gave me the sequential and cohesive story behind what I feel was a finely orchestrated, transparently vile campaign. This is the book the world can read for centuries to come to get the story behind the attempt to destroy a President of the United States.
Rating:
Summary: The Truth at Last
Review: Finally, the definitive work on the Clinton "scandals." This makes the Toobin and Isikoff books look like comics. I thought I was well-informed about the Clintons' travails, but Conason and Lyons demonstrate with sources and specifics just how badly the national media distorted the story. Despite the saga's innumerable permutations and large cast of characters ranging from the colorful to the grim, the authors' narrative is never less than lucid and always vastly entertaining. Many books on contemporary politics sacrifice facts for a point of view; it is the singular achievement of The Hunting of the President that it returns journalism to its honored function: ferreting out the truth and presenting it in a compelling manner. Much of the book reads like fiction, but no imagination could be so creative as to conjure such a collection of antagonists and provide them with so perfect a target as the Clintons with their particular mix of virtues and vices. The authors examine each branch of the right-wing conspiracy, demonstrating conclusively that, while their origins and motives differed and premeditated collusion was not ever present, their goal was the same--the destruction of the Clinton presidency. How these self-appointed avengers came so close to achieving their aim and how they did with the not always unwitting assistance of a sheep-like Washington press corps is a story that must trouble any thoughtful citizen. Its significance was nearly lost in the oft-repeated salacious details; Conason and Lyons have rescued it for us.
Rating:
Summary: The Other Side Of The Clinton Scandals
Review: This book is the best resource of the inside of political dirty tricks since John Dean's "Blind Ambition". Jeffery Toobin, move over.
Rating:
Summary: What a pleasure...
Review: ...to finally get a fact-based account of why the Clintons have been under such an unrelenting attack for the last decade. The documentation that Conason and Lyons provide is, to say the least, refreshing in this era of sensationalistic so-called journalism. Not only that -- the book is a great read, with a real-life cast of characters who range from the simply sordid to the truly laughable. Truth is undoubtedly stranger than fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, the truth!
Review: Conason and Lyons are two of the best journalists working today. Unlike most of the previous books on the Clintons, this one is not put out by someone with a vested interest in trashing the Clintons. Conason and Lyons are committed to telling the truth about Clinton foes such as Sheffield Nelson and Richard Mellon Scaife (whose financial support of hundreds of right-wing groups has funded many of the previous anti-Clinton trashjobs by such "luminaries" as Barbara Olson and Gary Aldrich). This will be the book that future historians use when writing the definitive portraits of Bill and Hillary.... and their enemies.
| 
