Rating: 
Summary: Unmistakeably Barbara - we miss you
Review: You cannot read this book without thinking of the evil terrorists who murdered Barbara Olson and thousands of others on 9/11. Nor should you. "The Final Days" serves in part as prologue to what happened that day. During the prior administration we let our guard down, our defenses were weakened and a terrible message was sent: for the right price or for political expediency, anyone - even terrorists - could get a seat at Bill Clinton's table. Olson's mention of Osama bin Laden and the impotent manner in which the Clinton administration responded to his earlier acts of terror against us, is both prescient and chilling."The Final Days" gets into the pardons, the executive orders, the gifts - the whole flurry of last-minute "activity" by the Clintons on their way out of the White House. As Barbara Olson points out, even chronic Clinton defenders found their exit odious. But why were they surprised? When Hillary Clinton needed to shore up votes in New York's Puerto Rican community for her Senate campaign, Bill freed unrepentant FALN terrorists (in September 1999). Was it surprising that on the way out of the White House he pardoned scam artists from New Square after they delivered a practically unanimous vote in their community for his wife? Marc Rich employed an effective strategy by deploying his flashy ex-wife, with loads of money to lavish on the DNC, his library, her Senate campaign, even furnishings for their new home, armed with a sob story about how her ex was unfairly persecuted by ruthless and overzealous prosecutors - a tale sure to pull on Bill Clinton's self-absorbed and self-pitying heart strings, especially as he was negotiating his own plea bargain. He didn't care what the DOJ said, didn't try to find out the prosecutors' side of things. He didn't care that Rich and his partner dealt with terrorist states. From drug kingpins to carnie folk, for the right price or with the right lawyer, as Olson quotes the pardoned Carlos Vignali, "word around prison was that it was the right time to approach the President." How fitting. Although the subject matter is infuriating, I absolutely loved this book. You can hear Barbara Olson's voice as you read her words, remember her mischievous smile when you laugh at her witty digs at the Clintons. I must admit, I laughed a lot. Barbara Olson was fiesty, smart, fervent in her beliefs and very funny. An example that made me laugh out loud, about the Rodham brothers: "Hillary's two brothers seemed to have a nose for trouble. Like the pigs in France who hunt for truffles, they were constantly digging up something that smelled." (p.154) If you enjoyed watching Barbara Olson on the talk shows, you'll love this book. If you didn't always agree with her, read it anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Barbara : Taken Too Soon
Review: It just breaks my heart that Barbara was taken from us so soon. Just as she was getting over her unhealthy obsession with the Clintons, her life was ended by fanatical terrorists who hijacked her plane and crashed it into the Pentagon on September 11. Fortunately for us, she was able to get this worthy tome completed, if not fact-checked, so that we could read her breathless prose one last time. Because of her untimely demise, we will never see her planned books on the 138 convictions of former Reagan officials, or the companion book to The Final Days where she reveals in-depth knowledge of the last minute pardons by George HW Bush of Caspar Weinberger before he spilled the beans on Iran-Contra. In the Final Days, Barbara reveals all of the abuses of power and crimes by the Clinton family that ultimately resulted in no convictions. There are the gifts that the Clinton's received from well wishers which were so tacky in comparison to the house in Bel Air and the million dollar speaking fee's that were forced upon Ronald Reagan. But more importantly she provides us with many quotes from such notables as Bareback Andrew Sullivan who refers to Clinton as a "psychologically sick man" in a moment of supreme irony. Or there is noted historian, Forrest McDonald who asks what Clinton did during his administration other than give us "eight years of peace and prosperity". Indeed. More importantly, Barbara goes after Hillary Clinton for having the gall to run for an elected office and actually win, whereas the true path to power is to marry a well connected lawyer who gets appointed to all of his positions in goverment. We will all miss Barbara Olson (I'm sure Larry King, more than others!). She provided a valuable service in ways she never understood, and now, obviously, never will.
Rating: 
Summary: Barbara would be proud of her accomplishment
Review: Some readers would accuse her of hate. Barbara simply exposed truth that we as a people are often too busy or careless to look into. Is it hate to expose that so many were released from prison on the last days of a Presidency? To keep our people free we need to care about what happens in our government. This book has a lot of sources, and quotes are usually without right wing invective. I think Barbara's book hit the mark on information we needed to know about for our future. But alas, America tends to forget. May we remember Barbara and her life, she died on 9-11, she was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
Rating:
Summary: Incriminating Indictment on the Clinton "Presidency"
Review: Barbara Olson left behind as part of her legacy a truly engrossing account of the greed driven Clinton administration, particularly in its last months. Barbara's literary style is breezy but compelling. When I completed reading this book I was paradoxically filled with admiration for the author, who presented a detailed and damning story on the subject matter, and at the same time I was filled with revulsion toward both Bill and Hillary Clinton. Such greed and abuse of power on both their parts likened them to me in my mind to the Marcos regime in the Phillipines during their reign of power in the 70's and 80's. Their collective attitudes could be summed up with the following: Do the right thing? What's in it for me? Do the wrong thing? Grease my palm and I'll consider it. Those who value history should consider Ms. Olson's book for their personal library. It's a keeper and a call to vigilance to voters when they again consider questionable characters for high office.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT criticize unscrupulous liberals...
Review: Why is it that reading reviews is such an interesting passtime? Because you can spot a Blind Liberal review a mile away. They seem to have only one pattern for reviews of their beloveds- like Bill & Hilary. That pattern is pointing out Republicans who have also abused power as the justification for ALL in the future to not only repeat that, but to improve on it. I would like to know how liberals got the label of being the open-minded crafters of a better society. Look at America's state of affairs since WWII and whose leadership precipitated our great declines. At least Clinton has a loyal, ugly, and equally greedy co-dependent wife to enable him to carry on his lifestyle with no fear of repercussion! Certainly not from his loyally BLIND constituency anyway!
Rating: 
Summary: Can people collect royalties from hell?
Review: Amazon: Why can't you give a book NO stars? Because that's what this one deserves. Barbara Olson is gone, but her hate and smear-mongering live on. This book could have used a good fact-checker, as most of it has been proven false. The things that do have a kernel of truth are exaggerated wildly, while of course Olson never troubled her bleached-blonde head with the terrible abuses of power of Presidents Reagan and Bush Sr., the latter of whom used his pardon powers to pardon his fellow co-conspirators in Iran-Contragate, to cover his own hide. This is yet another one-sided, ill-researched, vicious smear campaign against a President that the rich and privileged types in Washington, including Babs and her husband Ted, couldn't bear to see occupying the White House and actually fighting for working Americans. Clinton created 22 million jobs and brought two terms of peace and prosperity; what, exactly, have the Olsons ever done for this country? As for the Clintons "values," I believe Babs was Ted's third wife. So much for family values. The only thing the Olson family valued was a quick buck, through muckraking stuff like this.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Pleading, Bad Reading
Review: I'll say right off the bat that I liked Barbara Olson. Whether she was making a point, confronting a "neutral" interviewer or debating with the Left she was always passionate and polite. But this book is not well written. It is more in the style and tone of a polemic. Nobody needs to be told that the Clintons are political animals first, last and always. There is an element of smarminess, scheming and politics surrounding every public utterance. Who can forget the tales of those closest to them - his obscenity-laced tirades every morning, her railing at unknown enemies, the politicizing of every event in the nation? One can safely state that no two people have had more (former) friends write bad things about them than this pair. The mythology is still there - he was good for the Democratic Party (under his "leadership" they lost the House, Senate, most the governors, the Presidency), she was co-President (they did not talk over long periods of time) and that Clinton was some kind of ideologue on the Left (he was an opportunist who ruled
according to polls). The author is torn between reporting the outrages of the final days and the chance to hit at Hillary who she has consigned to a lower rung of Hell than Bill. This could have been an important book if handled differently but now it will be judged solely on one's ideological viewpoint - the Right will like it, the Left will despise it.
Rating:
Summary: No Time for Hate
Review: If you are considering buying this book, you might want to first fill your heart with hate (if you haven't already done so) and stop by for that brainpickling appointment that you have put off for so long. Otherwise you might find it difficult to understand how someone writing such an obviously biased attack could actually get published. Nobody's saying Bill and Hillary are sqeaky clean here, but if Ronald Reagan receiving a multimillion dollar house in Bel Air and million dollar speaking engagements just post presidency doesn't set off alarm bells, why should we worry about amateurs like the Clintons?
Rating:
Summary: "He's not Gone, He's NEVER Gone." useful in 20 years
Review: It is a Shame that Barbara's Olsen's final effort has to be decribed by me this way but there is no way to avoid it. In two decades or so when people don't understand the type of people in the White House at the end of the century it might be a useful and important historical document. To a person who has never heard of the Clintons it will be almost unbelieveable. (At least in two decades I hope that a president acting in the way would be unbelieveable.) However with the Clintons still hovering all I feel is exaustion. We don't expect any better from them. Barbara's tome describing the pardons, the gifts the book advance and the dodging of this stuff just can't get out of the box. We know who and what these people are, of COURSE they acted this way. I've seen it for 10 years and just want them to go away. Only they won't go away. It is WHAT ABOUT BOB without Bill Murray's good qualities. Reading about this years later just leaves me tired. Unlike Chris Hitchens who's words are so passionate and his insights so unique that I kept reading, Barbara just can't generate the STORY. It is just another book detailing what we already know. The Clintons aren't worth my interest and the late Mrs. Olsen (who was very engaging in life from her apperences on the tube) can't generate it with this book. A dollar book
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Line Between Acting Lawfully and Testifying Falsely
Review: In the final days of their co-presidency, the Clintons flipped off the American people one last time. After two terms of lies, corruption, slander, and immorality that were their trademark, was another book about the Clintons really needed? If only to reveal their contempt for the nation and Constitution, if only to see that eventually even Democrats had had enough-- yes, this book was tremendously necessary.
The Clinton presidency was like none other. The man who called late at night to proposition Cyd Dunlop in the hotel room where she stayed with her husband, who was forced to confess on national television to his affair with Gennifer Flowers, brought a New Republic editor to conclude that his persistent adulterizing revealed "a frightening lack of self-control." Arkansas troopers admitted that they had procured more than a hundred women for Clinton.
One of those women refused to be cowed and became the bane of his presidency: Paula Corbin Jones would pay dearly at the hand of the savage Clinton slander machine. Eight years later, in return for immunity from prosecution, Clinton landed a sweetheart deal in which he admitted knowingly violating a judge's order to tell the truth. A federal court held him in contempt for making false statements in a federal proceeding, and Arkansas disbarred him for five years.
Upon leaving the White House, they rather unsubtly opened gift registries with luxury retailers, and Clinton acolytes took the hint. Expensive White House art was shipped to the Clinton Library, and furniture to their new upstate New York home. Terry McAuliffe financed that home and was rewarded with the leadership of the Democratic National Committee.
When Newt Gingrich accepted a $4.5 million book advance, Democrats howled in protest, so he returned the advance and settled symbolically for one dollar. When Mr and Mrs Clinton accepted $8 and $10 million respectively for their ghostwritten books, there was no outcry. Senator Hillary refused to have her deal vetted by the Ethics Committee.
Hillary is one tough cookie. Author Michael Tomasky: "With Hillary, there was something about the way she answered questions that only raised other questions." In 1991 she reportedly chewed out an Arkansas state trooper: "Where is the [g-dm] [f-ing] flag? I want the [g-dm] [f-ing] flag up every [f-ing] morning at [f-ing] sunrise." Did she really once claim her husband and daughters's used underwear as a tax deduction? She interned for Communist Party lawyer and Stalinist Robert Treuhaft and later admitted to a journalist that "I want to run something."
She demonstrated her respect for New York taxpayers by renting her Manhattan offices at more than half a million dollars per year, more than double the amount paid by her co-Senator Charles Schumer. Bill billed the government $830,000 for the entire 56th floor of the Carnegie Hall Towers, almost three times more than any other president.
But most flagrant was the spasm of executive orders and pardons issued on the very last day of his presidency:
* Drug offenders, including one money launderer for the Colombian Cali cartel.
* Major cocaine dealers: one made a $200,000 payment to Hillary's brother, and another $200,000 went to his law firm one day after convicted swindler Braswell was pardoned. A $175,000 donation from this same crook to the Republican campaign was returned when they learned of his felony record.
* An automobile dealer convicted of fraud was pardoned two weeks after his friend made a $500,000 pledge to the Clinton Library.
* Symbionese Liberation Army guerilla Patty Hearst, and hard-Left celebrity Susan Rosenberg of the Weather Underground who had killed a guard and two police officers.
* In return for votes for Hillary's campaign, FALN terrorists (who hadn't even petitioned for a pardon) and four ultra-orthodox New Square fraudsters.
* Whitewater partner Susan McDougal, three of his Cabinet-level appointees (Espy, Cisneros, and Deutch), and the first ever presidential pardon of a family member (his half-brother Roger).
* Billionaire Marc Rich, who sold oil to South Africa (then a pariah nation), traded with Iran after Carter had embargoed it for holding the American Embassy staff hostage, terrorist Libya in contradiction of an embargo, the Soviet Union, and Cuba. He tried to buy oil from Iraq during its embargo after invading Kuwait, and committed the largest tax fraud in American history. Having fled to Switzerland and living in luxury, his wife donated $15 million to Clinton causes. Rudolph Giuliani was so incredulous that he asked an aide to recheck the news, and still refused to believe that Clinton would have pardoned this fugitive who had avoided a trial and never spent a day in prison.
Seeminly unruffled during the preceding eight years of perfidy, this last orgy of abuse was too much even for fellow Democrats and liberals.
A DNC official: "Mr Clinton didn't just take the White House china; he took its soul and flushed it down the toilet." Chief of Staff under Carter, Hamilton Jordan declared that if he had petitioned a pardon of a contributor to his library "he would [...] probably have fired me on the spot." New York Times columnist Bob Herbert: "With Mr Clinton at the controls, the party won the White House twice. But in the process it lost its bearings and maybe even its soul." Dick Morris, who helped his 1996 reelection, opined that history would judge Clinton as "one of the most corrupt US presidents."
And New Republic columnist Andrew Sullivan: "We asked for it. We elected him."
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