Rating: 
Summary: An eye-opening page turner
Review: I just got this book the other day and couldn't put it down. I cannot reccomend it enough. What a strange --and darkly amusing-- story of a small cabal of people from Little Rock to Washington who almost succeeded in undermining our democratic system. A great read even for those who think they know this story-- you don't!
Rating:
Summary: Superb Investigative Reporting
Review: THE HUNTING OF THE PRESIDENT details, in shattering and infuriating detail, how the Republican Party spent more than $70,000,000 of our tax money in a ten year crusade to bring down Bill and Hillary Clinton. The fact that the campaign ultimately failed does not make the attempt any less odious. A remarkably well funded cabal of Clinton-hating obsessives (many of them with strictly personal grudges against the man) utilized intensely hate-filled and slanderous smear techniques that had never before been seen in such a widely organized manner. This book makes a strong case that there was indeed a vast right-wing conspiracy behind it all. But, as authors Joe Conason and Gene Lyons reveal, the smear attack would have gone nowhere without the full culpability of the media. Magazines, newspapers and TV/Radio stations quickly jumped on and promoted every deliberately planted innuendo, rumor, and false allegation, happily spreading each juicy and slanderous tidbit to a gullible public. When the great majority of these wild tales were proven to be devoid of any semblance of truth, few of these media outlets could be bothered to offer retractions. Even today, "journalists" still try to use the long-ago destroyed myth of Whitewater as some kind of indicator/proof of Clinton's alleged evil.Conason and Lyons have given us one of the great works of modern investigative reporting, fully revealing all the major players who funded and/or assisted the campaign, including Richard Mellon Scaife, Reverend Moon, and the odious Ann Coulter, as well as a slew of corrupt politicians, state troopers, and women with shady pasts who, rather predictably, all ended up much richer for their time and efforts. THE HUNTING OF THE PRESIDENT has recently been adapted into a much praised documentary film. However excellent the cinematic version could very well turn out to be, nothing can beat this amazingly powerful book. It's a gripping and downright frightening glimpse into the twisted minds of a small but powerful group of men and women who were willing to do just about anything to bring about the downfall of one of our finest presidents. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry I didn't read it Sooner
Review: I always thought there was some truth to Hillary's contention that someone was "out to get" them, but after reading this well-documented historical tome, I am more convinced than ever that President and Mrs. Clinton were like deer in the forest on the first day of hunting season. For the record, I really don't care about how much he philandered.... that has never stopped any president before him from making progress, and it was no reason to stop him. I may not want to be married to the guy, but I still say that my paycheck went farther and my economy was better when he was in charge. If only George Dubya had such a libido, perhaps we would all be better off now. The ultra-conservative right-wing machine ("The Arkansas Project") designed to bring Clinton to his knees gives new meaning to the term "axis of evil." To h*ll with Iraq, let's bomb the "Council of National Policy." Somebody PLEASE impeach Jerry Falwell, that lousy fat piece of hypocritical (...) matter (my opinion, which I am entitled to) who proclaims to be a "man of God." Just read the book, if you haven't already. It's a fantastic journey that will make you rethink a lot of what you heard in the press during the past 14-15 years.
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: George "Duh-Buh-Ya" Bush
Review: I always like to read some of the cute reviews from the conservative "cool-aid" drinkers, and how Bill and Hillary wanted to take our guns away! Yee-Haa!!!! Now we got ourselves a ree-pub-nican president!!!! Did you hear that Elli Mae??? We can now buy 50 caliper armor piercing rounds to shoot that big kill!!!! Or how the "sex obsessed" repug-nicans (MMMM SEX BAD!!), who never have sex or affairs with other women, end up somehow sticking their nose into someone else's little escapades. (A.K.A. Rudi Guliani) and his extra marital affairs with multiple women. Or how "George Of Arabia" sent otherwise good kids to war based on a lie. Or is it how that republicans have that moral high ground over liberals, especially when Newt Gingerich served divorce papers on his wife the day after she was recovering from cancer surgery. I think what is sick and disgusting about the whole Clinton thing, is how the republican controlled congress throughout the late 90's had spent millions of dollars investigating everything of the "Clinton matters", from Whitewater to Lewinsky. I read somewhere that over two-hundred FBI agents were assigned to investigate such matters. What if those two-hundred FBI agents had been doing their real job, like returning phone calls from flight training schools, and protecting the American public??? And I think Mr. Gingerich, and Mr. Lott, and the Republican party, owe the American people, and the families of those 3,000 dead; A HUGE F***ing APOLIGY!!!!! For wasting... for wasting the time of our law enforcement, who should have been protecting the American people, instead of looking at stains on blue dresses!!!!! It was the most disgusting period, and lost time.
Rating: 
Summary: to S. Crowe- real name
Review: If you're going to submit a review filled with vitriol and allegations of stupidity, you may want to try using spellcheck.
Rating: 
Summary: All You Really Need To Know
Review: I lived in Arkansas from 1993 through 1997. Gene Lyons - who was known far and wide as Gene Liars just within the city of Little Rock - has less credibility than Jose Canseco. All anyone needs to know is this: Lyons is the guy who went on "Meet The Press" during the Lewinsky scandal and said that Clinton had 'NEVER' had an extramarital affair with Lewinsky - and he, in essence, blamed the women in a sort of 'reverse Clarence Thomas' defense.
I read the book and it was even less credible than I thought it would be given Lyons' name on it. The conspiracy is incredibly similar to the movie "JFK" where everyone in America EXCEPT for Lee Harvey Oswald was involved in the attempt to kill him. Arkla, Jerry Jones, Richard Mellon Scaife, Fox News Channel - probably even Jimmy Hoffa - were involved in 'destroying Clinton.'
The problems with the notion of a 'vast right-wing' conspiracy - which sounds like something taken out of Pat Robertson's book, "The New World Order" or its predecessor written by an anti-Semitic author, are numerous.
For starters, the opening scandal of Clinton's administration - and what really caused the problems - was Whitewater. Had the media been 'frothing at the mouth' as is often assumed, the NY Times would have destroyed Clinton in April 1992 when Jerry Brown first brought it up in the NY primary. Yet let's consider the FACTS of the entire thing:
1. The original Independent Counsel, Robert Fiske, was appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno in January 1994 - or an entire year before the GOP took over the Congress.
2. His replacement, Kenneth Starr, was appointed by Reno - also in 1994. How this can possibly be the result of a party out of power is beyond my ability to comprehend.
3. Clinton signed on an extension of the Independent Counsel law after it expired. Do you blame Clinton for keeping it going?
4. In the final analysis, it was the President who lied under oath and then did everything possible including attempting to bribe the Senate for an acquittal. Even if we concede that the GOP hired Monica to perform her only obvious talent, they didn't make him take the stand and they didn't make him lie.
5. If this right-wing conspiracy was so strong why could they not:
a. beat Clinton in 1992?
b. beat Clinton in 1996?
c. remove Clinton from office?
At some point a reality check is due - and this book hardly qualifies as one. Lyons and Conason had NO PROBLEM when it was Presidents Nixon and Reagan - and even the first Bush - who were being investigated by Indpendent Counsels. What did Nixon do? Cover up what we all know parties do to one another anyway. What did Reagan do? Violated an unconstitutional law (the Boland amendments).
I'm not advocating what the GOP 'did' to Clinton; but don't ever forget that it would have been impossible with Clinton's self-indulgent help. Just think: the only reason Clinton met Monica in the first place was because he shut down the government in late 1995 and the White House needed free help.
Rating:
Summary: PROUD MEMBER OF THE VAST RIGHT CONSPIRACY
Review: One more time for you slow-witted twinks......
"BILL-ARY" CLINTON SCREWED THINGS UP HIMSELF/THEMSELVES SO BADLY THAT US "CONSPIRATORS" DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO LIFT A FINGER TO DISCREDIT THE LOOSER(S).....
Thanks to his weak leadership skills and totally ignoring the multi-terrorist attacks during his/her 8 lousey years (not to mention his endorsement for the release an imprisoned Al-Quieda
member who thanked us by flying a jet into the W.T.C), 9-11 was the direct result of the "Slick-one(s)".
GET A CLUE, LIBBIES !!!! "BILL-ARY" WAS ONLY GOOD AT ONE THING;
REPRESENTING THE IGNORANT-WHINEY FEFT....
(CHECK OUT TO 70 PLUS MYSTERIOUS DEATHS THAT HAPPENED DURING THEIR REGIME, STARTING WITH VINCE FOSTER)
BOY.....ARE YOU LIBBIES STUPID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: I was addicted to this expose
Review: I just finished the intricately written and detailed book of reportage, THE HUNTING OF THE PRESIDENT: THE TEN-YEAR CAMPAIGN TO DESTROY BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON by Joe Conason, a national correspondent for the New York Observer, and Gene Lyons, political columnist for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, national magazine writer and author. From the early days when Lee Atwater looked ahead and saw that Bill Clinton was a political threat to George H.W. Bush, the book follows the thread of the "vast right-wing conspiracy" credited by Hillary Clinton with the constant mudslinging and desparagement of the Clinton administration.
While "vast" might have been exaggerated, this book certainly follows a loosely tied network of individuals and groups who sought to bring down the president, first to end his candidacy for president, then to end his re-election effort, and finally to replace a twice elected president with an impeachment process. (In fact, when potential donors responded to a fund-raising call from "Citizens for Honest Government" for impeachment support dollars with the question, "What about Al Gore," the script called for the telemarketers to espond, "Right now, we are in the process of impeaching Bill Clinton. We are planning the same process for Al Gore" (p. 309).
The activists in the process include people from Little Rock and Conway, Ark., to a billionaire (Richard Mellon Sciafe) in Pittsburgh and a literary agent in New York (Lucianne Goldberg). While they often had somewhat different reasons for hating Bill Clinton, their paths crossed in the efforts to maim his residency and finally to get him convicted in his impeachment. This book also traces the convoluted process of the Office of the Independent Council -- first Fiske, who found nothing impeachable in the president's past, and then Starr, whose ever
wider-ranging and most desperate investigation seemed to find no problem with the collateral damage it caused in the "walkin' around folks" if he could just get a charge to stick.
This book is intricately reported, and because of the detailed and careful research it is definitely recommended for both people interested in the political process and the media. The writers take special exception to the New York Times and the Washington Post's determined inability to report the whole story of first the "bimbo eruptions" the Whitewater brouhaha and then the Lewinsky scandal. The authors do not condone the president's behavior with Lewinsky, but as members of the media they are particularly distressed by the continuous complicity of the media with the right-wing of American political life, when facts to the contrary that at least deserved equal time were right there.
I heard Gene Lyons talk at an event in Conway, and he said that it is as if the right tells the press not to look in a certain direction, and it doesn't. Incident after incident in this book is provided as an example of that.
One of the most interesting aspects of this book is that while Bill and Hillary Clinton originally agreed to give interviews for the project, they decided later not to. And I think this book is better for it, because even while they are the focus of activity for all these people, they are not the main characters in the story. The main players emerge and fade, emerge and fade as those involved in the goal of bringing down the president. The main character is the goal to destroy the Clintons.
This is an incredibly engaging and informative book, to which I was addicted for about two weeks, and even though I'm outraged by what I learned here, I categorically recommend this as the authority on this topic.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading
Review: I recently finished this book and, while the campaign to destroy President Clinton and his administration may be over, the major players are still active in tossing mud at Democrats. The tricks they used then are the tricks they use today. If you ever want to know what the Republicans have done to manipulate the media, the government and the American people, read this book. It's painful sometimes and Conason and Lyons are critical of Bill Clinton's weakness for the ladies, but I think it's absolutely essential reading.
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