AIM Report: Character Counts for Hillary Clinton - August A
AIM Report | July 27, 2005
The implication of the Clinton-orchestrated campaign against the Klein book is that our media, including some on the conservative side, want to ignore the embarrassing truth about Hillary.
Some conservatives are saying that the new Ed Klein book on Hillary Clinton is "highly speculative" and "racy." Candice Jackson, a former attorney for Judicial Watch who has her own book out on the subject of Bill Clinton's women, warns that "Turning Hillary Clinton into a victim by publishing outrageous claims could backfire and strengthen her candidacy in 2008. This would be ironic given all the horrible things that Bill and Hillary have done over the years to the women who got in the way, including threats, smears, and intimidation. Hillary has shown that she'll stop at nothing to protect her political power—her real deeds are far more disturbing than the tawdry speculation Klein is spreading."
One of the "outrageous claims" is said to be that "Chelsea Clinton was conceived when Bill raped Hillary." Other alleged "outrageous claims" are said to concern "Hillary's sexuality."
But a serious reading of the book, The Truth About Hillary, makes it clear that Klein, a well-known journalist who edited the New York Times Magazine and was a foreign editor of Newsweek, wanted to put on the record everything that he could verify about the character of Senator Clinton. As such, it is bound to be personal in nature.
Anonymous Sources
Regarding his use of anonymous sources, Klein told WTNT-AM radio host Julian Tepper that he interviewed 96 people and every one of them who had gotten close to her "stated that they were afraid that she would wreak her vengeance against them. They all said that Hillary Clinton would kill them or see to it that they can't function in the Democratic Party, or that she would do anything to ruin their career."
Tepper, who interviewed Klein on his June 25, 2005, radio show, gave Klein a unique opportunity to discuss the contents of his book. Klein said about Hillary, "She believes that she's been ordained on high to tell everyone else how to conduct their lives and therefore any means is justified to achieve her ends. Her tendency to cut corners, lie and even wander into illegal matters demonstrate that she would be a disastrous President."
Klein said that associates of Hillary Clinton "went to NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN [and] the liberal mainstream networks, and told them that if you put Ed Klein on, you'll have to wait a long time before Hillary Clinton will appear on any of your programs."
Klein also said that he had been "disinvited" from several programs after having been booked for an interview. "I was disinvited by Paula Zahn, by Chris Matthews, the Today Show, ABC, CBS. This was the most amazing thing I've seen in my journalistic life," said Klein.
Klein said that he had been firmly booked by Zahn, Matthews, Joe Scarborough on MSNBC, and John Gibson and Fox & Friends on the Fox News Channel, all of whom disinvited him. He said that both ABC's Good Morning America and CNN's Aaron Brown expressed a positive interest in having him on, but disinvited him before a date was set.
Bill O'Reilly, host of the O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, has said he will not invite Klein to appear on his show.
Klein said that the "anonymous sources" criticism "has been used by the Clintons and their war room machine to try to denigrate me personally, and the book, and to undermine the book so that people will not read it. Hillary Clinton does not want people to read the book."
The Rape Charge
Regarding the rape charge, Klein reports that Bill Clinton joked about going to rape his wife during a vacation after he got drunk on beer. The incident, Klein reports, involved Clinton demanding sex from his wife, hardly an actual rape. Nevertheless, Klein reports that Clinton later told friends that Hillary got pregnant as a result of the incident. One doesn't know what to make of this reported incident. A reader doesn't know if it is true or not, only that Klein says that this is what was reported to him. Such a statement is not out of character for Clinton, who reportedly raped former campaign worker Juanita Broaddrick. His attitude toward women was to use and abuse them. Clinton's sex addiction is a matter of public record and cannot be disputed even by his most partisan defenders.
The other controversial matter, Hillary's sexuality, is related to how she was treated by her husband. Many have wondered how Mrs. Clinton could have stayed by her husband's side as he committed serial adultery, including the reported Broaddrick rape.
The Klein book argues that Hillary stayed with Bill because they had a political arrangement for mutual convenience. In other words, they used one another. "Hillary accepted Bill's womanizing as the price of political power," he writes. Publicly, she acted shocked by Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky, Klein says, but Hillary knew about it all along.
The implication of the Clinton-orchestrated campaign against the Klein book is that our media, including some on the conservative side, want to ignore the embarrassing truth about Hillary.
Klein told Tepper that while he did not know if Hillary is a lesbian, the subject is relevant because it has "dogged her for the last thirty years or more."
Lesbianism
Klein supplies no direct evidence of Hillary engaging in lesbian sex. The only evidence offered in this connection is when Hillary reportedly ran her hand over the butch cut of an old lesbian friend at a college reunion dinner. "Maybe," Hillary says, "I'll get a haircut like this and really shock everyone." On the other hand, Klein cites evidence that Hillary had a boyfriend in college and a close personal relationship with Vincent Foster, who came from the Rose Law firm in Arkansas, where Hillary worked, and became deputy White House counsel in the Clinton administration. Foster was later found dead of a gunshot wound in Ft. Marcy Park in Virginia in what Klein calls a suicide but which is still a subject of much dispute.
The shocking truth, according to Klein, is that Hillary became a believer in the lesbian political philosophy but that this doesn't necessarily imply actually being a lesbian physically. "To be a lesbian," writes Klein, "it was not necessary for a woman to have a physical relationship with other women." In other words, being a lesbian was a cultural and political statement. It was a form of striking out at the "system," which Hillary came to hate and despise in college.
Klein notes that Hillary became an avid reader of a far-left Methodist Church publication called motive, which featured articles by Marxists and radical lesbian feminists. One article called for the "complete destruction of the whole male supremacist system." Hillary would later say she never threw away any copies of the publication because they were so important to her. Hillary is described by Klein as someone who got involved in far-left causes such as the Black Panthers, but a more accurate description of this background would be Marxism. Klein quotes from Barbara Olson's book on Hillary, which goes into more detail about this.
Those panning the Klein book may be uncomfortable discussing Hillary's personal life. But a controversial personal life of a former First Lady who is now Senator and seems to be running for president should not be left immune from comment or criticism. What accounts for Hillary's strident pro-gay rights position? Is it because of her liberalism? Why does she seem to have so many lesbian friends? We can only speculate on the answers. Klein's repeated requests for an interview of Mrs. Clinton were rebuffed. And the major liberal media will certainly not raise them.
More Questions
But the questions deserve answers. How is it, for example, that Hillary changed from a Goldwater girl to a far-left feminist activist? Indoctrination in college is one explanation. But Klein sheds light on those years in Hillary's life, examining a culture of lesbianism at the college that Hillary attended, as well as marijuana smoking, and noting that she maintained personal relationships with lesbians as she grew older. One of them, Eleanor "Eldie" Acheson, became an Assistant Attorney General in the Clinton administration and then an official of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
These are difficult matters for liberals and some conservatives to deal with. Nobody wants to be accused of prying into someone's private life. But Klein is no conservative hatchet man determined to destroy Hillary personally. He was intent on examining her character, which is built on surviving in a marriage that is an obvious sham.
It is a troubling portrait. People in the book are quoted as calling Hillary "ice-cold" and even "soulless." Perhaps this is not entirely Hillary's fault. Living with someone like Bill Clinton could have produced her strange personality.
In the final analysis, her character counts because she is surrounded by powerful people who put her in the White House as First Lady and could put her in the White House as president. One, of course, is her husband. But Klein notes that Hillary played a key role in starting a think tank called the Center for American Progress, and that it is designed as her "instrument" for political power. It was funded largely by billionaire George Soros.
The Soros connection emerges in another context. Hillary "encouraged Harold Ickes to join with billionaire George Soros in setting up a group called Americans Coming Together," Klein reports. Its purpose was to replace the Democratic Party as the main support apparatus for candidates and causes.
"One way or another, Hillary was going to be ready for 2008," Klein says. But will the American people be ready for a candidate for president with such a radical and controversial background? Not if the major media refuse to interview Klein or explore the information in his book.
Klein noted that Howard Kurtz, the Washington Post media reporter, said on CNN that he was told by Hillary Clinton's staff that they discouraged the networks from having him on, with the clear implication that Hillary would be unhappy if those networks booked him.
Indeed, Kurtz said on the June 26 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources that "a spokesman for Senator Clinton told me that when news organizations call, they do make the argument, why give this guy airtime, because the book, in their view, is filled with unnamed sources and what they say are inaccuracies."
Klein also said that one of the MSNBC talk-show anchors told him that Rick Kaplan, the president of MSNBC and an old friend of the Clintons, gave orders that he was not to be booked on any of his shows.
The only TV shows on which Klein has appeared are Lou Dobbs on CNN and Hannity & Colmes, where Hannity stated on the air that in his entire career he never experienced more pressure to cancel a guest that he had with Klein.
Nevertheless, Klein's book has become number two on the New York Times nonfiction best seller list with virtually no TV. Klein told Tepper that the book's "success is entirely due to the internet and radio talk shows."
"She will ruin other peoples' lives if she wants to or if she feels it will get her what she wants," said Klein. "She's certainly out to ruin my life. I'm puzzled by some conservative leaders who want to cozy up to her. They have let me down—let their side down in my view."
One conservative who believes the Klein book is a must-read is John LeBoutillier, the former Congressman from Hillary's new home state of New York. He notes that the so-called mainstream media have treated the book like it was "radioactive," even though they did not even take the time to read it.
(Julian Tepper's radio show can be heard locally in Washington, D.C. on AM-570 from 8-10 p.m. EST on Saturday nights and over the Internet at www.wtntam570.com)
SPECIAL RIGHTS FOR JOURNALISTS?
Legislators led by Senator Richard Lugar in the Senate and Rep. Mike Pence in the House have introduced a bill called the Free Flow of Information Act. It is termed a "Media Shield Law" that will make it very difficult to compel journalists to appear in federal court cases and turn over information and identify confidential sources. AIM strongly opposes this bill. It should be called the "Special Rights for Journalists Act."
A press release about the bill stated that reporters deserve "the same protections that are afforded other professions such as clergy, attorneys and physicians." But why should journalists be compared to those categories of people? In an excellent article in the Wilson Quarterly, Terry Eastland noted that "…though journalists aspired to the status of professionals, they never acquired the self-regulatory mechanisms found in law, medicine, or even business." This point is made in the context of explaining how the media are changing before our very eyes, and how the definition of "journalist" is changing as well. In any case, calling oneself a journalist should not be a way to avoid responsibility under the law and report evidence of criminal activity.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on this matter, declaring in the Branzburg case that journalists, like other citizens, must "respond to relevant questions put to them in the course of a valid grand jury investigation."
The jailing of New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been cited as a reason to go forward with a media shield law. She was jailed when she wouldn't testify before a grand jury in a national security case involving the identification of CIA employee Valerie Plame. The case is being pursued by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.
Times Hypocrisy
Ironically, the Times had editorialized on December 31, 2003, in favor of Fitzgerald's investigation, on the grounds that it was imperative to find out "who violated federal law by giving the name of the undercover intelligence operative to [columnist Robert] Novak for publication in his column." In its editorial hailing the appointment of Fitzgerald, a "respected career prosecutor," the paper advocated that he exercise "true operational independence" and use the "full powers of a special counsel, including the ability to seek Congressional intervention if he finds his investigation blocked by a government official or agency."
But Fitzgerald found his investigation blocked by the Times. The Times' curious position is that the paper wanted a special counsel investigation but doesn't want to cooperate with it. This shows how the probe has boomeranged on the Times. Initially, the Times believed that an inquiry would reveal some plot involving administration officials using the Novak column to damage former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had written a Times column bashing the administration's Iraq policy, by identifying his wife, CIA employee Valerie Plame. This is what many on the liberal-left suspected, and that is why then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle called for a special-counsel investigation.
Miller refused to testify even though she had a waiver of confidentiality from her "source" in the case. Other journalists got the same waivers and testified. So why wouldn't she? Speculation was growing that she had something to hide and was not just protecting her "source." Perhaps she had provided the name of CIA employee Plame to Bush administration officials in the first place.
Pence has also cited the identification of former FBI official Mark Felt as Deep Throat in the Watergate scandal as a reason to go forward with the media shield law. "Deep Throat exposed corruption in high places because of his absolute confidence that his identity would be protected, and Deep Throat would not have that protection today," he said.
The Deep Throat Case
But that's not the case. There was no federal shield law back then, and there isn't one today. And why is it automatically the case that Felt should have had his identity protected? If we are to believe the Washington Post version of history, Felt had evidence of criminal activity but didn't go to the authorities. Instead, he gave the information to Post reporter Bob Woodward in a garage. He took the law into his own hands, violating the law in the process. Now Woodward and Felt's family are trying to cash in. Is that something we want to encourage?
It is tempting to go to the defense of the press as a guardian of the public's right to know. But Pence learned the wrong lesson from Felt being named as Deep Throat. Felt should have pursued other avenues for justice in that case. He could have gone to the Grand Jury or Watergate Judge John Sirica. Instead, he went to a reporter, who has earned millions of dollars and stands to earn millions more with another book, this one on "the man behind Deep Throat." Felt, assuming he was Deep Throat, decided to leak confidential information for various motives, including that he was passed over by Nixon for FBI director. Now he suffers from a stroke and dementia and babbles about making money as a celebrity. This is not something we should encourage.
The fact is that confidential sources can also be used to destroy innocent people. Consider the case of former government scientist Steven Hatfill, whose life was ruined because government officials leaked false information to the press about him. Hatfill was falsely linked to the post 9/11 anthrax attacks and was even labeled a "person of interest" by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. But he was never charged and there is still no evidence against him. Hatfill has filed suit, against the government and the press, and we hope he is successful. But if there were a federal shield law, Hatfill might not be able to force journalists to identify the anonymous government sources who damaged his reputation and destroyed his career. Journalists should not be able to hide behind a federal shield law in order to protect the government officials who smeared Hatfill.
It has now been over three years since the post-9/11 anthrax attacks. It is important for our national security and survival to find out why the case is unsolved and who in the government used the press to finger an innocent man. Members of the media must tell us what they know. They are citizens as well. They are not above the law.
What You Can Do
Send the enclosed cards or cards and letters of your own choosing to Roger Ailes of Fox News and Treasury Secretary John Snow. Also, please consider a special contribution to AIM.
CLIFF'S NOTES
by Cliff Kincaid
DEAR FELLOW MEDIA WATCHDOG: July 15, 2005
SOME HAVE COMMENTED ON THE "ODD COUPLE" ARRANGEMENT OF the first President Bush and former President Clinton acting like good buddies. Here's another odd couple for you—Bill Clinton and Rupert Murdoch, owner of the Fox News parent company, News Corporation. Murdoch is a participant in an upcoming Clinton-sponsored "global initiative" in New York City. And guess what? The event has been promoted by Murdoch's Fox News Channel. The arrangement is only "odd" to those who think of Murdoch as a Republican. In fact, he has been a major contributor to the Democrats. News Corp. is a forty-percent owner of the Staples Center, which was provided free to the Democrats for their convention in August, 2000—a value of $3.5 million. Murdoch was a vice chairman of an Al Gore fundraiser and gave his campaign $50,000. Murdoch's chief lieutenant, Peter Chernin, the president of News Corporation, is a major Democratic Party operative who raised a lot of money for John Kerry's campaign. He raised so much that he was known as a "bundler"—a fundraiser who collected individual contributions in "bundles" of $50,000 or $100,000. I have been on the Fox News Channel several times and it offers an alternative to the liberal media. But we cannot ignore how Murdoch has cozied up to Clinton.
ON JUNE 6, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST GRETA VAN SUSTEREN INTERVIEWED BILL CLINTON on the air. It began with her saying that "lots of interesting people," including Murdoch, were coming to his Global Initiative meeting. Talk about a shameless plug! Clinton proceeded to talk about how he's getting people to his "Clinton Global Initiative" in order to talk to the world leaders coming to New York for a U.N. world summit in September. Clinton specifically mentioned getting "leaders of the media" to his event. Now it just so happens that the Fox News Channel, in addition to giving Clinton a platform to talk about his Global Initiative, has done Senator Hillary Clinton a big favor by cancelling some interviews with the author of a new book critical of Hillary. This is the book, The Truth About Hillary, that we discuss in this AIM Report. The Washington Post quoted Fox News spokesman Paul Schur as saying, "The book is uninteresting to Fox News." This is the case even though the author, Ed Klein, has "solid journalistic credentials," to quote the Post. We suggest that you send the enclosed postcard to Fox News Channel President and CEO Roger Ailes about this matter. I fear that Murdoch and Fox News are trying to cozy up to the Clintons because of the possibility that she will run for and win the presidency in 2008.
JOHN LEBOUTILLIER, A FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN AND A NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED political commentator, says that Klein has been "relentlessly trashed by the Clinton Spin Machine" but has been vindicated by the success of his book. He adds, "A completely honorable man and a credible journalist, the pro-Hillary camp had tried to discredit him and his book. And even some prominent conservatives—with their own selfish agendas—aided this trashing. But getting to number 2 on the Times' list has vindicated Ed Klein." The book has become a best-seller because of publicity on the Internet and some talk-radio shows.
LACKING EVIDENCE OF CRIMINAL CONDUCT, DEMOCRATS ARE NEVERTHELESS URGING the resignation of White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove for talking to Time magazine staffer Matt Cooper about CIA employee Valerie Plame. But we issued a release stating that Rove "deserves a medal for trying to warn the media about the ulterior motives of Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, who became a Kerry campaign adviser."
THE MEDIA WERE IN A FEEDING FRENZY OVER THE FACT THAT ROVE TOLD COOPER THAT Wilson's wife "apparently" worked for the CIA. This showed that he wasn't even aware of her actual status at the agency and could not, therefore, have violated a law against knowingly disclosing the identity of an undercover CIA operative. Rove did, however, give Cooper a "big warning" not to "get too far out on Wilson," and Rove told Cooper that Wilson's wife "authorized" Wilson's trip to Africa to probe the Iraq-uranium link. Rove was telling the truth. It appeared that Rove was aware that Plame's role in her husband's mission may have violated federal nepotism laws and that it was a set-up to embarrass the administration. In his book, Wilson himself noted that the law against nepotism would forbid his wife from recommending him for the job, which may be why he adamantly insisted that she had nothing to do with it. However, a Senate Intelligence Committee report on this matter includes a memo from Plame to the CIA recommending her husband's involvement. Plame's role was disclosed to columnist Bob Novak because some official or officials knew that she was involved in the Wilson mission and found this objectionable. It would not be surprising to learn that Rove was a source for other journalists on this story because Wilson spewed false information about his mission and why it occurred. One critical fact is that, contrary to media reports, Wilson's report did confirm Iraqi interest in obtaining uranium from Niger.
ONE OF THE MOST DISTRESSING THINGS TO WATCH IN WASHINGTON IS THE SPECTACLE OF the news media going after conservatives for doing nothing wrong. Another example is Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. "Panel Puts Public Broadcasting Chair in Hot Seat" was the headline over a Los Angeles Times article about Tomlinson's appearance before the Senate. The third paragraph disclosed that "the CPB chairman maintained that he had simply sought to follow a federal law requiring the corporation to ensure objectivity and balance in public broadcasting programs." This is the way Washington works. Tomlinson was under fire for doing his job.
THE SOLUTION TO THE PUBLIC BROADCASTING PROBLEM IS TO DE-FUND IT. THAT IS WHAT we have been arguing on Capitol Hill in meetings with several members of Congress. Unfortunately, too many Republicans join with liberal Democrats in spending too much money on public broadcasting and other questionable programs.
THE SPENDING PROBLEM GOT WORSE WHEN THE PRESIDENT EMERGED FROM THE G8 summit in Scotland and committed our government to spending more on foreign aid. This pleased the New York Times. Rock star Bono, who appeared on NBC's Meet the Press as a foreign affairs expert, has convinced many people that the answer to global problems is to spend more of our money, even though the national debt of the U.S. now stands at almost $8 trillion. When the unfunded trusts of Social Security, Federal Employees Retirement, Military Retirement and Railroad Retirement are included, our national debt rises to $27 trillion. Yet the U.S. is said to be in a position to cancel the debts of foreign nations and provide more foreign aid. In a development ignored by the media, the final communiqué of the G8 summit included a commitment to study implementation of an international tax on airline travel. Treasury Secretary John Snow approved this in advance. At the U.N. "world summit" in September, the topic of massive global taxes on America will be on the table for the President to consider. We suggest sending the enclosed postcard to Snow about this matter. Please also consider sending AIM a special contribution at this time by using the other postcard. Only with your help will we be able to continue fighting many battles on many fronts, and hold the media's feet to the fire. Thank you for your support.
For Accuracy in Media
Cliff Kincaid
Editor
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