false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170102020m/43371.jpg 43371 2 The most vocal critics of Bill Clinton's presidency tend to be conservatives--think, for example, of William J. Bennett's <I>The Death of Outrage</I>--but there are those on the Left who are fed up with Clinton as well. Among them is journalist Christopher Hitchens (most prominently associated with <I>The Nation</I> and <I>Vanity Fair</I>), who has produced a slim but vehement volume outlining how "Clinton's private vileness meshes exactly with his brutal and opportunistic public style." <I>No One Left to Lie To</I> is the story of a man who took the Democratic presidential nomination and, having achieved office, began enacting welfare reform and anticrime legislation that surpassed the ambitions of all but the most ideologically loyal Republicans--and routinely plundered the GOP platform for other policy ideas as well.<p> Hitchens is particularly damning on Clinton's tendency to resort to divisive racial politics when it suits his purposes, as when, in the course of the 1992 presidential campaign, he refused to lift a finger to save a mentally retarded African American from state execution so he could appear tough on crime, then shortly afterwards hijacked a Rainbow Coalition conference to criticize rap artist Sister Souljah for the benefit of the attendant press. When he needs the black vote, though, Clinton will allow himself to be trumpeted as the most racially sensitive president in American history--if not, in Toni Morrison's memorably ludicrous phrase, "our first black president." Furthermore, the man who once connived his way out of the draft has become a chief executive so willing to use military air strikes as a means of foreign policy that, in the author's view, the United States is now a "potential banana republic."<p> Of course, there is plenty of vitriol directed at Clinton's conduct with regard to Monica Lewinsky (the woman with whom he admitted, under duress, to having had an "inappropriate relationship" consisting of multiple incidences of oral sex) and Kathleen Willey (who alleges that the leader of the free world merely fondled her breasts and forced her to touch--albeit shielded under some layers of clothing--his tumescent penis). In Hitchens's view, however, the sexual controversies are only the most prominent aspect of Clinton's shameful character, a moral condition that must be considered in toto. The book is short, with an argument that runs only about a hundred pages, but that's still more than enough room for Hitchens to serve up a comprehensive, blistering indictment suffused throughout by his dark wit. He sums up the failure of those fixated on Clinton's adultery to fully investigate his cronyism and financial shenanigans: "It's not the lipstick traces, stupid," Hitchens warns, "it's the Revlon Connection." <I>--Ron Hogan</I> 919578 1999 No One Left To Lie To: The Values of the Worst Family total:139|5:15|4:48|3:52|2:20|1:4| 139 467 197 26 4 1 false false Tue Sep 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 30 12:42:04 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 06 13:31:33 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Oct 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 10:31:31 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 11:06:42 -0700 2009
very fun vitriol, though comes across as if it were written at the same speed at which i breezed through it. so heat-of-the-moment that it suffers now for ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Sep 26 18:53:35 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 26 18:53:35 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Mon Jan 19 10:23:11 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 10:34:23 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Dec 04 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 04 23:31:23 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 23:53:36 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Oct 07 20:35:58 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 07 20:36:03 -0700 2008
So says Christopher Hitchens in the preface. All though it may be the case that the boo...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Aug 21 06:23:44 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 21 06:57:06 -0700 2008
Perhap...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Feb 05 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 20:53:33 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 06 07:27:33 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 08 11:31:31 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 18 06:10:15 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Apr 08 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Apr 12 22:15:07 -0700 2007 Thu Apr 12 22:15:07 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 13 12:13:19 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 13 12:25:26 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jul 13 18:39:59 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 19:47:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Sep 05 23:12:41 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 06 11:49:05 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Apr 15 05:43:29 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 30 05:36:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Aug 13 21:49:54 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 21:51:47 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 16 11:45:22 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 17 17:57:17 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 21 12:53:31 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 22 07:20:37 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 07:24:41 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 08:37:10 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jul 16 09:53:13 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 16 09:54:37 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Wed Aug 22 00:32:14 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 12:36:37 -0700 2007
I dunno. I was convinced, though, to boycott Tyson chicken. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=43371