Rating: 
Summary: Whose Dereliction of Duty?
Review: In Dereliction of Duty we have yet another chronicle of the Clinton Administration's supposed excesses, shortcomings, and treasonous activities. One would suppose that the subject would be worn thin by this time, but the appetites and wallets of the Clinton-haters among us must be limitless, even for so slight a volume as this one. The tone of the book is set by the cover photograph showing President Clinton with a golf tee in his mouth, apparently to suggest he fiddled while Rome burned. (As if Republican Presidents never play golf?) Inside the book the reader is regaled with episode after episode of supposed miscreances by President and Mrs. Clinton and other officials. These include another biased description of "Chinagate," a non-scandal which has been investigated over and over again by some of the most rabid of the President's enemies, without result. We also hear of such shocking crimes as Mrs Clinton's profanity (of course Republicans are never profane) and that she actually carried files with her on trips to Camp David. (How did she ever escape indictment on that one?) Also, President Clinton was sometimes too busy to see or phone people the author thought he should have! We are left with the impression that the author is one of those happy people who have never encountered people with priorities different from his own. Most of the rest of us will shrug our shoulders in bemusement at his discomfiture. The heart of this book deals with the ways in which the author feels that President Clinton endangered national security. Again, the author does not seem to understand that not everyone shares his viewpoints. Certainly he is entitled to his opinion, and he is certainly entitled to criticize the President's actions, but to claim that those actions jeopardized the nation because they were not the actions the author himself would have taken is hubristic in the extreme. If the contents I have described thus far were all that were in this book, I could dismiss it as quaint but amusing. However, I find it disturbing, to say the least, that the author makes insulting statements about the great majority of US service men and women, for whom I, and most Americans, have enormous respect. I do not for a moment believe the author when he implies that our military as a whole forgot that President Clinton was their commander in chief to whom they owed full allegiance, nor that they were willing to ignore the time honored tradition of civilian control of the military. I am shocked that a military officer who rose to work in the White House would regard the actions of the few misguided officers and men who were less than respectful to President Clinton as symbolic of the attitude of the entire armed forces. If there is any dereliction of duty detailed in this book, it lies with those who would foster the perception that our armed forces have been anything other than unswervingly loyal to any commander in chief, and they should be ashamed.
Rating:
Summary: Bore fest
Review: Bill Clinton is a living legend. So to all you far-righties out there, wanting to read this book :go for it. For everyone else, those who love a strong economy and guiding leadership: Skip the book and the ridiculous accusations within it.
Rating:
Summary: attempt to deflect investigation of W
Review: Bush was vacationing for a month in Texas as qaeda planned 9/11. Bush ignored warnings that illegal Arabs were planning to fly planes into buildings. Bush won't allow an investigation on what really happened. This book deflects attention from the real culprit - GWB! Any questions?
Rating:
Summary: Shameful
Review: As the review states: "failure to lead our country with responsibility and honor." George W Bush anybody? That other Bush, Regan, Nixon (who knows what carter did?) the list could go on and on. Developing nuclear warheads and leading the country to war time and time again is neither responsible or honorable. Neither is sticking you noses into everyone elses business and trying to have other countries run in a way that suits the wants of the select few at the top of the power chain ie. oilers. No, this book is a shameful attemp to make money out of dumb americans facination with a scandal. Mr Army guy Patterson you are a disgrace to your disgraceful nation.
Rating: 
Summary: Well its just an opinion
Review: This book like all the others that are cashing in on the brilliant suduction of a rather loathsome mind of a republican, shares one man's opinion about what seemed to be an already dislike for President Clinton. They way the author described such troublesome ordeals of the Clinton administration, brings in mind thoughts of republican leaders, like Reagoon and Nixon the Cheat, and what went on behind the scenes of their adminstrations. Let's not forget the tiring accomplishments of the republican congress, who through much loyality for each other, drove hard into the public mind, where their agenda laid in the pants of Clinton instead of the American agenda.
The author obviously knew he could makes some bucks off this bias tale of eyewitness acounts, and I'm sure he is a happy guy for it. However, when one speaks of one's account, or the spin to win routine our fellow republicans so do, one will find one's foot in mouth, just like the republican congress did. Too bad the author wasn't able to write about how the republican congress derailed Clinton on important issues such as terrorism, accounting fraud and their persistance to act as the true American terrorist that deep down we know the republicans are.
Rating: 
Summary: Pointing out the facts and teaching an old lesson.
Review: Are you a Conservative? Do you think the previous administration was completely out of touch? Are you glad to see a change in Commander's-In-Chief? Or are you tired of the same old re-hashing of the Clinton misuse of power stories? Well either way you may want to check out this book to see what did or didn't happen and maybe you views may be readjusted. Written by someone on the inside, I found the book compelling, easy to follow and hard to put down. I also found that some of the stories a little hard to believe as they seem to stretch the line of reality. Does the book bash Clinton - not as much as I thought it would. I did see the author makes persuasive arguments to show how the administration failed to live up to the oaths they took, but again some of the arguments seem a little too far over line. The author is well documented and well explained as well as well informed. He shares his views with a nation in this book and does a great job articulating his point of view(s). I think that the more conservative reader would finds this book enjoyable, however anyone with an objective look would find it a great read as well. Overall the author has written a convincing piece and with a little work this has the "movie" just waiting to come out.
Rating:
Summary: Another Indictment
Review: This author provides yet another indictment of the Clinton Administration. However, unlike some books, this was written by one who observed first hand much of that which he relates to the reader. The writer details a lack of action by the President in some critical situations. It is somewhat frightening in retrospect as you think of what the consequences could have been. The author emphasizes the lack of respect that the President displayed to the military and his apparent lack of concern for maintaining a strong military preparedness.
I found it to be easy reading and to me a confirmation of the concerns expressed in other books about this President and his administration.
Rating:
Summary: Supports everything I have ever been told
Review: Very quick read, worth giving a few hours for. This book reinforces everything about the Clintons that I have ever been told from friends who had personal experiences with the. Now we need a book like this based on Hillary, that would be a better read. I can't believe that I voted fo this guy. Oh well as Churchill said "A young man who is not liberal has no heart and an old man who is not conservative has no brain." I was young!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but breaks little new ground
Review: Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson's summation of his years of service in the Clinton White House won't likely move many from the columns of either Clinton-lovers or Clinton-bashers. Nonetheless, it is an undemanding and concisely stated account of one patriotic soldier's profound disappointment with the manner in which affairs of state were conducted for eight years. Mrs. Clinton comes off in a particularly poor light, not for the insinuations regarding the likely contents of the files she insisted be carried with her, but for the arrogance and disdain with which she treated White House staff and the military. Similarly, there is less focus on Mr. Clinton's misdeeds than on the general attitude he took - anti-military, focused on his own image to the detriment of the country. If one is looking for hard and fast evidence to indict Mr. Clinton for endangering U.S. security through missile technology transfer to the Chinese, or inept/weak responses to terror, this is not the place to find it. Rather, the book reads more like a court brief filed in support of someone else's prosecutorial effort. Two of the most interesting elements, in fact, come in the appendices, namely an excerpt from Caspar Weinberger's book comparing the Reagan and Clinton administration approaches to the military, and a chronology of terror acts against the U.S. and its overseas interests during the Clinton years. The style is simple and straightforward, the book makes few demands on the reader, and there are a number of interesting footnotes that direct the reader to newspaper articles or reports to back up the arguments. Taken as a whole, Mr. Patterson effectively raises a number of troubling issues regarding the Clintons, but, aside from a few colorful eyewitness incidents, there isn't a whole lot here that hasn't been said before and better. Those, however, still enamoured of the Clintons, particularly those who believe that Mrs. Clinton has a political future as a candidate for president, might want to read this book with a highlighter in hand, direct its criticisms to her office, and satisfy themselves that she is not, in fact, the devil incarnate. For me, that's still an open question.
Rating: 
Summary: Confirmation!
Review: As I retired military officer (I retired in 1998) this book just confirms all that I suspected about Bill Clinton and his view of the military. Lt.Col. Patterson lays out how Bill Clinton treated the military and had such little concern for its welfare. I can relate much of what he says to incidents I observed during my own military career. A must read book for anyone interested in national security.
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