Though the former Newsweek and New York Times Magazine editor’s book, “The Truth About Hillary” has yet to be released, it has already reached number one on Amazon. Does that make it a good book? Hardly, but the debate that has grown around the release of this book is interesting, to say the least.

Liberal critics have already begun to call this book, “a right wing hit piece.” But is it? If you look at Mr. Klein’s credentials, you see that he’s worked for two of the biggest left-leaning media establishments in the country, Newsweek, and the NY Times.

Is it a left wing hit piece then? Perhaps an example of liberals killing their own wounded?

I think the whole argument is ridiculous actually. This is, plain and simple, a hit piece. It doesn’t matter WHO it is hitting, really, what matters is that it’s really just full of sleaze.

Yes, sleaze. A low but popular form of the media that I like to call, “the main-sleaze media.” These books are, as Bill O’Reilly accurately pointed out on his Fox News show last night, easy to write:

Writing a book or article that slams somebody is simple. Just line up the person’s enemies and let fly. They do that stuff to me all the time and to every other successful person in the media or politics.

Exactly right. Unfortunately, sleaze often sells even better than sex. In some ways, this kind of sleaze, the kind you’ve seen hurled at people like Mr. O’Reilly, President Bush, President Clinton, Rush Limbaugh, and now Senator Clinton, is a form of pornography. It’s chock full of lurid details, and salacious rumors. Stuff that, unfortunately, people love to read.

Is any of this garbage uplifting in any way? Does it teach us anything of value? These kinds of books are the fast food of literature; they are fun to consume, but you feel less healthy rather than more at the end of it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love fast food. I went out today and had a Big Mac and fries and I loved every bite! But, as one of my high school Social Studies teachers often said, “the things are nothing more than death balls.”

Here’s the difference; when I eat one of my “death balls,” I’m only hurting myself. When people go out and buy books like “The Truth About Hillary,” in which Mr. Klein reportedly makes the outrageous claim that Chelsea Clinton was conceived through an act of intra-marital rape, the damage is far broader.

If you read through my archives, you’ll find numerous articles critiquing former President Clinton and Senator Clinton, but one thing I’ve respected about them is the pains they’ve always taken to give Chelsea as normal a life as possible. Have Bill and Hillary shown any greater unity than when it comes to protecting their daughter and giving her a chance at her own future?

Which means, if the rumor is true regarding Mr. Klein’s book, that this particular piece of sleaze is all the more despicable.

And the fact that this man’s book is number one on the Amazon list disturbs me. What does that say about us? The book is not yet even available for purchase!

Those of you who would call yourselves conservative, as I call myself; you do understand, don’t you, that this kind of book is a form of theft, don’t you? Mr. Klein, no doubt a very accomplished journalist, has abandoned his own talent, and has chosen instead to feed off of the notoriety of the Clintons.

It is, in a sense, a form of wealth redistribution.

And we avidly consume this stuff… No wonder mainstream journalists look down on us.

David Flanagan
Viewpointjournal.com