Kudos to Bill O'Reilly and some others in the right wing press...

Yes, you actually read the headline correctly. Kudos to Bill O'Reilly and some others in the right wing press. I never thought I'd see "kudos" and "right wing press" in the same sentence on my blog, but that's sometimes how life works out. You may have read (or not) that Ed Klein has recently released his "tell-all" biography on the life of one, Hillary Clinton. It's filled with playground gossip, third hand sourcing, and the kind of innuendo that will make Kitty Kelley blush. I refuse on this blog to repeat such garbage that he prints in the book. He has no first hand sources, and he himself has started to back off the more salacious details he prints. Much credit is due to Bill O'Reilly (won't have Klein on his show), Clinton hater Dick Morris (says the book doesn't belong in public dialogue), and others on "that side" of the political aisle have weighed in with their distaste and disgust for the book. The main reason for much of their reluctance in this case is the absolute lack of credible sources. From Yahoo news in response to the claim that Sen. Patrick Moynihan "despised" Hillary:

"The (Sen. Patrick) Moynihan example alone is a case study in journalistic fraud. Klein claims he spent "several hours interviewing Mrs. Moynihan" for the book. Yet Moynihan's daughter Maura reveals in the New York Observer that "my mother hasn't seen Mr. Klein in over 20 years." Klein, Maura Moynihan writes, "puts quotes around statements that were never uttered." Absent invented conversations, Klein's reliance on anonymous sources has raised more than a few eyebrows. USA Today and other mainstream newspapers have refused to print the numerous accounts that can't be independently verified. A Washington Post review notes that Klein "repeats rumors and then footnotes them to a prior author who references the rumors."

This type of thing not only proves he's a shoddy journalist but a liar as well. Unfortunately, there are others on the right who have called it "required reading" (Tony Blankley), and who will have no problem promoting the "book" on their show. I remember a few months back how "up in arms" theses same folks were about Dan Rather and the forged documents. Why are we not seeing the same outrage over these baseless charges? In this instance, they have proved themselves to be complete shills for the right wing. We always knew that though didn't we? These people, in my opinion, are blatant sexists who just can't stand a powerful woman and will go to disgusting lengths to try and discredit her. To close on a positive note though, this increases my respect for someone such as O'Reilly who refuses to give air time to this "yellow" journalist.

We also can't let the publisher off the hook for this libel. Here's their quotes on the the book:

Sentinel, the two-year-old conservative imprint of the Penguin Putnam publishing house that published Klein's book, has stated as its goal: "Just as the Swift Boat Veterans convinced millions of voters that John Kerry lacked the character to be president, Klein's book will influence everyone who is sizing up the character of Hillary Clinton." Similarly, the New York Post reported on April 12 that Sentinel spokesperson Will Weisser "said he hoped that The Truth About Hillary would do to Clinton what the Swift Boat Veterans bestseller did to Kerry. 'That would be our fondest wish,'

'Nuff said.

Tooting my own horn...

My original post from a couple weeks back:

"Now that I've proven I'm one of the best "pickers" in the land (proof would be that when EVERYONE was predicting a Suns championship, I knew they'd lose to a decent team at any point along the way)... Here's my prediction for the Finals. Spurs in seven. Take that to the sportsbook and tell 'em to run it 'til they run out of paper."

Congrats to the Spurs. An organization the Wolves can never even hope to be. Nuff said.

Hillary...

While she already has my vote, every once in a while I'm going to pass on little nuggets I come across in former First Lady Hillary Clintons speeches. Here's one I ran across today:

"We are living in a time when the other side doesn't want us to see the facts. Facts are inconvenient — facts about global warming, facts about mercury in the air, facts about people staying unemployed longer,"

"Whether it's the right to organize and be part of the American labor movement ... whether it's the right to be able to be have a choice when it comes to the most private and intimate decisions that a woman has to make, whether it is to protect the environment — whatever it is that we slowly but surely built up during the 20th century, this current administration and their allies in Congress want to turn the clock back on all of that," Clinton said.

More bad NBA picks...

Now that I've proven I'm one of the best "pickers" in the land (proof would be that when EVERYONE was predicting a Suns championship, I knew they'd lose to a decent team at any point along the way)... Here's my prediction for the Finals. Spurs in seven. Take that to the sportsbook and tell 'em to run it 'til they run out of paper.