First stop the rock star treatment he will surely receive surrounding the release of his memoirs this month.
(CBS/AP) – Former President Bill Clinton’s memoir, “My Life,” will settle some scores, starting with the “supine” press, according to a report in the June issue of Vanity Fair.
“He feels severely misinterpreted by the media,” an unnamed friend told the magazine, and that his memoir is “an opportunity to set a lot of things straight.”
Booksellers expect huge sales for “My Life,” for which Mr. Clinton received a reported $10 million to $12 million advance. The book is due out in late June.
The book will include few mea culpas about Mr. Clinton’s role in the Monica Lewinsky scandal or other matters, Vanity Fair said.Next stop, the movie version of the Clinton’s case for the existence of a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
Little Rock (AP) – A film that claims to expose “the 10-year campaign to destroy Bill Clinton” is scheduled for its first public screening June 15 in Little Rock.
“The Hunting of the President,” a 90-minute documentary that re-creates interviews for the New York Times best-selling book by the same name, has already played at four film festivals and will premiere by invitation only in New York on June 9. The movie has a June 11 release date.
Director Harry Thomason, who is from Hampton, Ark., profiled Clinton in a glowing light in “The Man from Hope” for the then-Arkansas governor’s 1992 presidential campaign. He says the latest piece about his old friend seeks journalistic impartiality, acknowledging that some people would likely dismiss the film as more Clinton propaganda.
“Of course, the fact that I’m a friend of the Clinton’s will make a lot of people skeptical, but it was never see this film get made or have us do it,” Thomason said in a telephone interview from his Los Angeles home Tuesday.
“I knew we would have no validity if we didn’t tell about some of the president’s indiscretions, his lapses. And so we never intended to let him off the hook. We stuck to the facts.”
The film purports to uncover a right-wing manipulation of the media, which Thomason says began with President Nixon’s call to counter liberal messages in the 1970s. Thomason said the impact of Clinton’s ties to Hollywood pales in comparison to the reach of conservative radio.Next up is a full hour of Clinton on 60 Minutes II on June 20th. In it’s 36 year history 60 Minutes has NEVER offered a full hour to anyone. The interviewer? Clinton favorite Dan Rather. Sounds rather like a one hour infomercial for the book. His next scheduled interview infomercial is not on NBC or ABC, but on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
The Clinton media onslaught is sure to become part of the current presidential campaign. Newsweek’s Howard Fineman discusses President Clinton’s upcoming book in campaign terms:
60 Minutes will defend itself by saying it’s a book that Viacom isn’t publishing, even though that doesn’t address the fact that Rather is fawning over Clinton in a shameful and lewd manner.
Shameful and Lewd? That is funny. How would you describe how the press has treated Mr. Bush?
It amuses me that there are people who think rehabilitating Clinton is important enough to go to all this trouble.
Memo to Democrats: Clinton can’t be President anymore, and Hillary won’t be. Neither will Kerry. Y’all need to <ahem> MoveOn <ahem> and start grooming new leaders for the future — if your party is to have one.
I say let Clinton run around try to retroactively create a legacy. It’ll only make him look all the funnier in a few decades when historians “objectively” look back. With any luck he’ll get booted, allowing some sane individuals to bring the Democrats back into the real world (if for no other reason than I’d be bored without at least some competition).
Put me down as not being interested in that interview. I happened to catch Rather’s last one with Clinton and it was positively sickening.
I don’t think I’ll go out for that stupid movie, either. Why on earth would he make that anyway? What a waste of money.
At first I thought that Bill would suck all the oxygen out of the Kerry campaign by upping the release date for his book. On further thought it could actually help Kerry out.
I read somewhere that Kerry does best when he isn
does anyone know when bill clinton will be in NYC for a reading?