The truth about Hillary Clinton, sort of

Humorist Joe Queenan has given Edward Klein’s new book on Hillary Clinton a close reading and panned for the gold: “Many a dubious revelation.” Queenan writes in tomorrow’s New York Times Book Review:

Even Klein’s harshest critics must concede that the book does occasionally break new ground. The lesbian rumors, the suspicion that the Clintons have not used the Ozzie-and-Harriet template in customizing their marriage, the belief that Hillary Clinton will do anything to advance her career are all twice-told tales. But to my knowledge, Klein is the only journalist who has shed meaningful light on the extent to which her career has been shaped by friends, roommates, short-haired colleagues or rivals with weight problems.
Monica Lewinsky is fat. Bill Clinton has long been a member of the clean-plate society. Evelyn Lieberman, the former White House deputy chief of staff, is reputed to be ”a little overweight.” Mrs. Clinton herself has long battled a tendency to beef up, but in perhaps the most astonishing revelation in the book, ”several of her Wellesley College classmates, who played sports with Hillary, described how she looked in a T-shirt and shorts,” and according to them, ”she had a tiny waist, slim legs and ankles, and small buttocks.” When coupled with the fact that the young Hillary Clinton was referred to by classmates as ”Sister Frigidaire,” and by White House staff as ”the Big Girl,” and that Hillary’s tubby husband Bill gave a high-level position to Janet Reno, the implication is clear. Hillary Clinton does not merely view the world through the asexual, unmaternal, left-leaning eyes of a poorly groomed woman who was surrounded in her youth by manipulative pinkos who were playing for the other team. At some level, Hillary Clinton feels most comfortable in the company of fat people.

PAUL asks: Is this book really necessary?
SCOTT adds: I think Queenan’s point is that the book is not only unnecessary, but that it is full of iron pyrite.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses