No One Left To Lie To: The Values of the Worst Family

Rating:
Summary: Hitchens' petty outrage
Review: This is Christopher Hitchens' anti-Clinton book. It is presented, as he says from the start, as a "cheerful polemic." And that's just what it is. Hitchens clearly enjoys his contempt for Clinton the man, Clinton the president, and most of the people around him.

But the book is painfully weak. No matter what charges Hitchens levels against Clinton, nothing sticks. There are two reasons for this. (1) The left wing disliked Clinton for being too conservative. Clinton made a lot of promises, but when it was time to act he passed laws like a moderate Republican. (2) The right wing hated Clinton for just about every reason you could dream up. (Only the center of the spectrum --- basically, rich liberals --- genuinely supported the man.)

Somehow, his lack of support uplifted Clinton to a pedestal of sympathy. The attacks from left and right made him into an underdog, a man who spent most of his presidency fighting for his political life. You had to admire the guy, even if you hated nearly everything he did.

Hitchens wades into this swamp of contradictions without a clue. He has the facts, but he doesn't know what to do with them. His retelling of the execution of Rickey Ray Rector, for example, is devastating. But the Rector story is the story of Clinton as a candidate doing anything to get elected --- including using a mentally-retarded man's death to boost his poll numbers. Sure it's ugly, but no one except Hitchens would be surprised.

The rest of the allegations are all over the place: Clinton's bombing of a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan, allegations of rape, firing black friends like Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, lying under oath, the health care plan, the Lincoln bedroom, the secret half-black love child, getting rid of welfare, and soft money from foreigners. It's a mix of real faults and Drudge-style accusations.

In the end, none of it matters. Simply put, anyone who reads the newspaper can write a book like this about ANY president. Just scoop up the real and the imaginary, the truly despicable moments and the tall tales, and you can write your own cheerful polemic. But if you write that book, you'll make the same mistake Hitchens does. By drawing his arrows from the quivers of the left wing and the right wing, he misses the target --- he makes Clinton look like just another lying, ambitious politician.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: What a fantastic book. It's so refreshing to find someone who sees the reality of Clinton. Someone who doesn't shrug off criminal behavior because "the economy is doing well, and he's a Democrat." (Hey, under Mussollini, the trains ran on time. Does that mean he was a great leader, too??) Imagine Hitchens finding Clinton despicable because he raped Juanita Broaddrick? How can liberal supporters overlook that Clinton is a rapist, or so distort Broaddrick's story in their minds that they convince themselves that it can't at all be true (despite corroborating witnesses at the time of the rape). How can they overlook that Clinton had a Sudanese pharmaceutical company that had NO chemical warfare manufacturing going on--as evidence has since proved, as is shown in this book--just to distract people from the Monica Lewinsky scandle? People are upset at how much Ken Starr spent? How about how much bombing a Sudanese factory costs of your tax money! THANK GOD Christopher Hitchens doesn't overlook these things!! (I would suggest Clinton supporters read the book WITHOUT CONSCIENCE By a Dr. Hare about psychopaths, and how a common occurrence is people SUPPORTING them even after their criminal actions have been pointed out. And Clinton displays overt qualities of a psychopath.) And to those reviewers below who think Clinton's reputation will be a good one in the long run: Remember President Warren Harding? At the time of his corrupt adminstration--with its Teapot Dome scandle and all--HIS SUPPORTERS ACCUSED HIS ACCUSERS OF BEING A CONSPIRACY! Just like Clinton supporters today. But all historians agree NOW that the Harding administration was a corrupt and immoral one. That will be the ultimate legacy of the Clinton administration, too. Christopher Hitchens, however, realizes what Clinton is now, and to that I give him huge credit.

Rating:
Summary: Discovering the origin of the title a delightful moment
Review: When on a Miami Airport TV Christopher Hitchens views the House Judiciary majority counsel David Schippers, a "leathery Chicago law 'n' order Democrat," deliver the House Managers' case against Clinton, Hitchens' title reveals itself as a perfect indictment not only of the President's crimes, but also his character: "The President, then, has lied under oath in a civil deposition, lied under oath in a criminal grand jury. He lied to the people, he lied to his Cabinet, he lied to his top aides, and now he's lied under oath to the Congress of the United States. There's no one left to lie to." The only snag is, as CH observes, "Mr. Schippers was mistaken when he said that there was 'no one left to lie to'" because he "failed to account for those who WANTED to be lied to, and those who wished at all costs to believe." Sad that so many still do. Unfortunately, I had to special order this book from a major bookseller chain after watching CH on CSPAN's Book Notes. It deserves a prominent place on the New Books table in every store in the land.