Smarm Among F(r)iends

If only Hillary was worth all this. From Media Matters:

A forthcoming book about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has received much free advance publicity, with several media outlets and figures speculating -- some five months before the book is to be available -- that it will damage Clinton's much-discussed, but undeclared, presidential campaign. But what do we really know about The Truth about Hillary? Only that a Sentinel publishing co. spokesperson admitted in a moment of candor that his "fondest hope" is that the book would smear Clinton as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth smeared Sen. John Kerry.

As I've mentioned (in the spirit of full disclosure), I would not like to see Senator Clinton in the 2008 presidential race. While I'd love to see a woman, I'd like to see this country begin to heal and think even more. Hillary is not Bill. She vacillates too much and this whole thing recently of her shifting to the right more than nauseates me.

But with that said, I'm never too happy when I see these bogus books come forth on either side. The funny thing about the Bush book Kitty Kelley did was that we all know what kind of book Kelley usually produces: salacious. But even with that, her book (which I did not buy but read parts of) was better documented than anything in the Swift Boat book (which I also looked at) and some of the other smear books but from the right. Kelley was held to a much different standard. Also, there used to be a time when a publisher vetted the authors and demanded for readers some understanding of why the authors feel moved to write the work. As a professional, I submit (submit - I just love the language of publishing) to vetting on a regular basis.

At the end of the day, books like Kelley's and books like the Swift Boat cock-and-bull and the Hillary-and-Bill Smear League do nothing to encourage anything useful. It's unfortunate how many publishers are choosing to play these games. One expects it of a Judith Regan; but this one did not expect it of some of the publishers who've engaged in it.