Hillary Attack preceded attack on her advisors per Kissweb

Courtesy of the Progressive.
Penguin has published a book by Edward Klein called "The Truth About Hillary" which, despite its title, is filled with false, defamatory and easily discredited allegations against the former First Lady. Predictably, Klein's sloppy attempt at character assassination has been championed by pillars of the right-wing media like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Robert Novak. Write Penguin and tell them their involvement in this kind of smear campaign is unacceptable.
BOOK LACKS BASIC FACT-CHECKING: On Page 94 of the book Klein, "introduces Nancy Pietrafesa, whose name he misspells throughout, as someone 'rumored to be Hillary's lesbian lover.'" (It's just one of many instances of "gay-baiting innuendo" that litter the book. In an interview about the book Klein asks rhetorically, "What kind of woman is purposefully surrounding herself as a public figure with women known to be lesbians?") Ms. Pietrafesa, who has been married 35 years and is the mother of three sons, calls the allegations "totally false and unsubstantiated." Moreover, Klein "did not even bother to contact her before repeating a false rumor as if it might be true." That the allegation made it into print anyway "suggests a serious lack of due diligence on the part of Mr. Klein" and Penguin. Now, even Klein won't stand behind the allegations he printed. In an interview, Klein said, "If she had had lesbian affairs, don't you think the right-wingers would have uncovered at least one lover?" It is not an isolated incident. Throughout the book, "the author repeats rumors and then footnotes them to a prior author who referenced the rumors."
KLEIN REPEATS LIES DISCREDITED BY KEN STARR: In an interview with the National Review, Klein claimed that "[l]ike Nixon, Hillary has used FBI files against her enemies." This allegation has been rejected by the Office of the Independent Counsel, which was led for many months by Ken Starr. In a 7/28/00 release, the OIC concluded "no senior White House official, or Mrs. Clinton, was involved in obtaining FBI background reports." But Klein, like Nixon, has little respect for the truth.
RIGHT-WING MEDIA PARROTS KLEIN'S LIES: No need to check the facts, the right-wing media knows what it wants to hear. Rush Limbaugh on his June 7 show said, "I've got some interesting, juicy details on this book on Hillary by Ed Klein, but I'm not going to be the first to mention them. I'm not going there. It will come out eventually. It has to do with sexual orientation, and I'm not going to be the one." Matt Drudge used the Klein's book as a source to claim that Bill Clinton raped Hillary to conceive Chelsea. (Klein now claims that Drudge took information in his book "out of context." Which makes one wonder: what is the appropriate context for a false rape allegation?) As noted by Media Matters, Sean Hannity has booked Klein for a spot on his show. And Robert Novak, the nationally-syndicated columnist, said on CNN that Klein's work "looks to me like a well-attributed book; it doesn't look like gossip to me." Meanwhile, several prominent conservative bloggers say the book doesn't meet their ethical standards.
KLEIN PROUD OF SWIFT BOAT COMPARISON: Last summer, John O'Neill - the leader of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth - printed a thinly-sourced, widely-discredited book full of unfounded allegations about John Kerry's military service. Klein welcomes the comparison. He told the National Review, "I intended my book to take a good hard look at Hillary's true character, and if the book is being compared to the Swift Boat Vets' book on that account, then I am proud of the comparison."