P. J. O'Rourke reviews Hillary's book in the Weekly Standard, and as always, he's got more good lines than the Navy's got marines.
Here's an excerpt from the initial section on how "a mere ream of paper could not contain the padding that has gone into this tome":
Hillary--with the help of at least six ghostwriters--nails the goose of a manuscript to the barn floor and force-feeds it with lint.Much of the humor results from simply producing quotes, letting them stand there for awhile and waiting for the laughs to bubble up. "I don't think Jiang... was being quite straight with me on Tibet." "Thus began my lifelong hair struggles."We are informed, for instance, that Jackie Onassis was once, herself, a first lady and later married a Greek shipping magnate. We learn how a chief executive walks to the podium to deliver a State of the Union speech: "The president greets members of both parties who, by tradition, sit on opposite sides of the aisle." Even Hillary's grief over the death of her dad is padded: "My father would not be at the table vying with Hugh and Tony for one of the drumsticks or asking for more cranberries and water-melon pickle, two of his favorites from childhood." And then there are the fulsome tales of official junkets--unimportant, uninteresting, uneventful, and unending. "I had given a lot of thought to how Chelsea and I should dress on the trip. We wanted to be comfortable, and, under the sun's heat, I was glad for the hats and cotton clothes I had packed." And I was glad for the scopolamine transdermal patch.
Sometimes this method is augmented by framing the quotes with inspired, deadpan introductions:
We must recognize Hillary's principled outspoken feminism as elucidated in her U.N. Conference on Women speech: "It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small."Read it. You will laugh. Posted by Dr. Frank at July 1, 2003 09:00 PM | TrackBackWe must understand her ability to commune with the strong, intelligent women of past generations: "So, what would Mrs. Roosevelt have to say about my present predicament? Not much, I thought."
...Are...those...real quotes? From Hillary's...book?
Whoooah.
Posted by: Matt from Vegas at July 1, 2003 09:22 PMIt takes a Greenwich Village to write a bio.
Posted by: JB at July 1, 2003 10:06 PMThe only thing I could possibly find laughable about Hillary is those who would support her bid for the Presidency. It would be funny except that this woman and her husband are dangerous for this country. Bill (not so dangerous as much as an embarrasing fool) made a mockery of the presidency and Hillary is so money and power hungry that granting her any office higher than what she currently holds in New York can only cause her to get drunk on the perceived power and destroy the very principles that this county was founded on. Look no further than husband Bill trying to ammend the constitution so that he may serve more than his two term limit. Not only that, but the common man and woman would be taxed into starvation for self serving ecological and socialistic medical plans. If such a travesty as Hillary winning the Presidency were to ever take place, then one could only hope for an extremely strong Republican House and Senate or assassination. I hate to say that about anyone but the only thing worse for this country than Hillary being in office would be Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson.
Posted by: Channon at July 2, 2003 12:18 AMI wouldn't worry too much about it, Channon.
Posted by: Dr. Frank at July 2, 2003 12:21 AMThanks Frank. I sometimes get too carried away when it comes to the Clintons.
Posted by: Channon at July 2, 2003 03:22 AMGood to see PJ back near Parliament of Whores/Republican Party Reptile, i.e. funny, form. CEO Of The Sofa, except for the drunken wine-tasting stuff, was a cheap imitation.
Posted by: spacetoast at July 2, 2003 08:23 PMSpacetoast, you are so right it's scary.
Posted by: Dr. Frank at July 3, 2003 02:38 AM