Excerpt from Gregg Easterbrook’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback column, June 10 2003:
It Takes a Village to Write a Hillary Book: Last year, TMQ pointed out that Hillary Rodham Clinton was lying when she claimed to be the author of “It Takes a Village,” which was actually penned by a ghostwriter named Barbara Feinman Todd. Specifically, TMQ noted last year, “Hillary’s official U.S. Senate biography states, ‘In 1997, she wrote the best-selling book It Takes a Village.’ This is an outright lie. Wouldn’t it be a nice gesture if official Senate biographies did not contain lies?” Clinton’s current Senate biography repeats the lie that she wrote “It Takes a Village,” while going on to assert that Clinton “also wrote ‘Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids Letters to the First Pets.’ Her latest book, ‘An Invitation to the White House’ was an immediate best seller & in addition, the Senator has authored numerous magazine and journal articles as well as op-ed pieces.” All these statements are outright lies, as the other Hillary books were also ghosted, while staff members penned the “numerous magazine and journal articles” for which Clinton now claims authorship.
Comes now “Living History,” another book “by” Hillary Clinton. Set aside whether this much-hyped marketing vehicle contains so much as a single sentence that rises above the level of statements of the obvious regarding events that have already been reported in excruciating detail. Once again, Clinton is presented as the author of what is actually a ghosted book. The world learned that Barbara Feinman Todd wrote “It Takes a Village,” because the publisher inadvertently issued a press release announcing the true author; Hillary threw an ego fit and demanded that all reference to Todd’s existence be removed from the book and its press materials, which was presented to the world as if it were the product solely of Clinton’s late-night labors. This time around, the pages of “Living History” thank three people — the much-admired former White House speech writer Alison Muscatine, veteran ghost Maryanne Vollers and researcher Ruby Shamir — who are assumed to be the actual authors. But the cover and the frontispiece still boldly state, “by Hillary Rodham Clinton.”
“Living History” is a 562-page book. A work of that length would take an average writer perhaps four years to produce; a highly proficient writer might finish in two years, if working on nothing else. Clinton signed the contract to “write” the book about two years ago. About the same time, she also was sworn in as a member of the United States Senate. Clinton took an oath to protect the Constitution and to serve the citizens of New York. So in the last two years Clinton has either been neglecting her duties as a United States Senator — that is, violating her oath — in order to be the true author of “Living History,” or she is claiming authorship of someone else’s work. Considering that Clinton has made almost daily public appearances during the period when she was supposedly feverishly “writing” her book, let’s make a wild guess which explanation pertains.
If you didn’t write something, and claimed to the world that you did, what you would be doing is lying. Wouldn’t it be a nice gesture if United States senators did not lie?
Perhaps you’re thinking, “But all people who reach the limelight lie about being authors.” No, they don’t. Consider that the previous book project of Maryanne Vollers, one of Hillary’s ghosts, was about Jerri Nielsen, the doctor who had to be airlifted out of Antarctica. How was that book presented? As “Ice Bound: A Doctor’s Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole” by Jerri Nielsen with Maryanne Vollers. No lying about the true author.
Consider that John McCain’s autobiographical work, “Faith of My Fathers,” proclaims on its cover “by Mark Salter, with John McCain.” The true author’s name is there for everyone to see, and this neither detracts from sales (“Faith of My Fathers” was a commercial success) nor causes anyone to think any less of McCain. Famous people who care about their honor, like McCain, freely acknowledge using ghostwriters — this is called “honesty.” Famous people with serious ego problems, or who don’t care about their honor, lie about being authors.
Now suppose you were a college student, hired someone to write a thesis paper for you, then submitted the work as your own. Suppose, when caught, rather than confess, you indignantly insisted you were the true author. What would happen to you is that you’d be expelled. For you to lie about having written something would be considered inexcusable.
As for Hillary’s presidential aspirations, voters have on occasion elected presidents who turned out to be liars, such as Richard Nixon, and lived to regret it. If voters choose a president whom they know in advance to be liar, woe onto the voters. And what is it that the jacket of Hillary Clinton’s new book proclaims to all the world?
Her Exact Words Were, “Tonight I Am Having Dinner With You Exclusively”: One reason the establishment press won’t point out Hillary’s lies about authorship is that it is engaged in a symbiotic relationship with her. Sunday, the senator gave a prime-time “exclusive” interview about her book to Barbara Walters of ABC; Monday, the cover of Time magazine was an interview with Hillary; Tuesday, she gives a prime-time “exclusive” interview to Larry King of CNN; “exclusives” with NBC, CBS, Fox, UPN, MSNBC, CNBC, ESPN/2 and the Food Channel can’t be far behind. Any news organizations that noted Clinton is lying when she claims to be an author would be frozen out of this game.
And didn’t “exclusive” once mean, “to this news organization only?” Now “exclusive” seems to mean, “I am only talking to this news organization at this particular moment.” By such a definition, virtually all interviews are exclusives.
