Politics – 150 pages - my copy a borrowed paperback
- 4 nods out of 5 -
Talk of your political, pen-welding assassinations: Hitchens’ portrait of the Bill Clinton administration ranks high in any list of those in modern times. No One Left to Lie To is an eye-opening critique of the supposed reformer and great pretender to the claim of leader of the free world; of the man who infamously declared to the world: ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman.’
Combining an incisive writing style with honed journalistic instincts, Hitchens puts his all into the cause of undermining the former U.S. President. Written in the late 1990s, at the height of anti-Clinton feeling, the former leader’s character is mercilessly ripped into: he is a liar, a draft dodger, a fake and a phoney, a pretend peace loving hippy, the wolf in lamb’s clothing.
Hitchens’ attacks are unrelenting; making a greater impact on the reader is his denouncing of Clinton’s supposed avoidance of proper welfare reform, the lining of his own pockets, supposed ‘war crimes’, before the climax of asking the question: ‘Is there a rapist in the Oval office?’ This last statement refers to Clinton’s numerous sexual liaisons with females in his past: Lewinsky was not the only bed companion.
Hitchens does a comprehensive job of pointing out to the reader Clinton’s sexual aggressiveness, clearing the females themselves of the White House’s claim that they are simply in it for a piece of gold and a slice of the spotlight (one of which declared her desperation to remain unnamed due to the shame it would bring on her middle-class, respectable suburban family). Further condemning is the waste of time the whole of his sexual escapades put on Presidential time and money – the claimed ‘cock-tax’; as well as the White House’s eagerness to cover foreign failures– such as bombs dropping in the Middle East – with the adultery crisis (Clinton’s ‘weapons of mass distraction’).
Equally effective is the chapter that concentrates on the woman ‘in the shadow of the conman’, the First Lady, Hiliary Clinton. These statements are a small sample: ‘She is a tyrant and a bully when she can dare to be, and an ingratiating populist when that will serve…and has never found that any of her numerous misfortunes or embarrassments are her own fault, because the fault invariably lies with others…[and] like him, she is not just a liar but a lie; a phoney construct of shreds and patches and hysterical, self-pitying, demagogic improvisations.’ Hard-hitting stuff, indeed. Firing in the humour, Hitchens devotes two pages to Hiliary’s supposed verbal cock-ups and publicity gaffs, of which include:
‘On a visit to New Zealand, she claimed to have been named for Sir Edmund Hillary’s ascent of Everest; a triumph that occurred some years after her birth and christening. I insert this true story partly for comic relief, as showing an especially fantastic sense of self-reinvention as well as a desperate, musterous willingness to pander for the Kiwi vote.’
Yet it is not all so light hearted. For the main part, Hitchens concentrates on how Hiliary made a name of using underhand tactics of urging investigative journalists to dig up dirt on fellow politicians and of Clinton’s former love partners.
Ultimately, this short read comprises one of the most effective pieces of political and character assassinations of recent times. Throughout all, Hitchens has assumed the mantle of truth-bearer for the masses, un-tiring and un-ending in his tirades and welding of the pen (or is it, rather, the axe?). At the book’s end, the Worm was left with the impression that William Clinton was not one of the trumpeted chief reformers of recent times, instead believing in the statement that he is rather ‘a scoundrel and a perjurer and disgrace to the office he has held.’ No One Left to Lie To is an explosive read for anyone interested in American politics.
Combining an incisive writing style with honed journalistic instincts, Hitchens puts his all into the cause of undermining the former U.S. President. Written in the late 1990s, at the height of anti-Clinton feeling, the former leader’s character is mercilessly ripped into: he is a liar, a draft dodger, a fake and a phoney, a pretend peace loving hippy, the wolf in lamb’s clothing.
Hitchens’ attacks are unrelenting; making a greater impact on the reader is his denouncing of Clinton’s supposed avoidance of proper welfare reform, the lining of his own pockets, supposed ‘war crimes’, before the climax of asking the question: ‘Is there a rapist in the Oval office?’ This last statement refers to Clinton’s numerous sexual liaisons with females in his past: Lewinsky was not the only bed companion.
Hitchens does a comprehensive job of pointing out to the reader Clinton’s sexual aggressiveness, clearing the females themselves of the White House’s claim that they are simply in it for a piece of gold and a slice of the spotlight (one of which declared her desperation to remain unnamed due to the shame it would bring on her middle-class, respectable suburban family). Further condemning is the waste of time the whole of his sexual escapades put on Presidential time and money – the claimed ‘cock-tax’; as well as the White House’s eagerness to cover foreign failures– such as bombs dropping in the Middle East – with the adultery crisis (Clinton’s ‘weapons of mass distraction’).
Equally effective is the chapter that concentrates on the woman ‘in the shadow of the conman’, the First Lady, Hiliary Clinton. These statements are a small sample: ‘She is a tyrant and a bully when she can dare to be, and an ingratiating populist when that will serve…and has never found that any of her numerous misfortunes or embarrassments are her own fault, because the fault invariably lies with others…[and] like him, she is not just a liar but a lie; a phoney construct of shreds and patches and hysterical, self-pitying, demagogic improvisations.’ Hard-hitting stuff, indeed. Firing in the humour, Hitchens devotes two pages to Hiliary’s supposed verbal cock-ups and publicity gaffs, of which include:
‘On a visit to New Zealand, she claimed to have been named for Sir Edmund Hillary’s ascent of Everest; a triumph that occurred some years after her birth and christening. I insert this true story partly for comic relief, as showing an especially fantastic sense of self-reinvention as well as a desperate, musterous willingness to pander for the Kiwi vote.’
Yet it is not all so light hearted. For the main part, Hitchens concentrates on how Hiliary made a name of using underhand tactics of urging investigative journalists to dig up dirt on fellow politicians and of Clinton’s former love partners.
Ultimately, this short read comprises one of the most effective pieces of political and character assassinations of recent times. Throughout all, Hitchens has assumed the mantle of truth-bearer for the masses, un-tiring and un-ending in his tirades and welding of the pen (or is it, rather, the axe?). At the book’s end, the Worm was left with the impression that William Clinton was not one of the trumpeted chief reformers of recent times, instead believing in the statement that he is rather ‘a scoundrel and a perjurer and disgrace to the office he has held.’ No One Left to Lie To is an explosive read for anyone interested in American politics.
