“The President’s attackers are a motley band, consisting primarily of perjuring partisan politicians, strumpets, hags, bitter old segregationists, hired guns for cigarette companies, felons, judges who traded favors for jobs, bitter, defeated, pathetic former political rivals, Hillary-hating misogynists, wacko billionaires, gay-bashers, hate radio hucksters, mother-subpoenaing prosecutors, and mother-suing nutcases, all feeding an endless line of lies and half-truths to jealous journalists, envious editorialists, curmudgeonly columnists, and cranky commentators more concerned with their own self-importance and trashing the good name of a great President than the truth.”
Those words were written by James Carville back in 1998 and it seems like little has changed. …And the Horse He Rode In On was Carville’s “defense” of Bill Clinton against the accusations and charges of Kenneth Starr’s investigation. Starr went on to have a checkered career. On May 26, 2016, following an investigation into the mishandling by Starr of several sexual assaults at the school, Baylor University’s Board of Regents announced that Starr’s tenure as university President would end on May 31, 2016. It seems like Starr was just not a very good investigator.
If you’re in the mood for a blistering defense of Bill Clinton by a true political professional, James Carville’s classic little book still resonates in our divided country. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: I Meet the Independent Counsel — 9
He Crawled from the Deep: Ken Starr and Whitewater — 21
Follow the Money: Whitewater and the Right Wing Payola — 51
Follow the Money 2: Arkansas Troopers and Right-Wing Payola — 61
Starr Wars: The Independent Counsel’s Abuses of Power — 66
Just Following Orders: Ken Starr’s Underlings — 82
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?: Ken Starr’s Chronic Media Leaks — 86
The Rabid Watchdog: What Happened to Our Media? — 109
The President’s Character — 113
Conclusion: The People v. Ken Starr — 123
Appendix A: Who Got Paid by Whom to Say and Do What — 128
Appendix B: More Opinions on Ken Starr — 134
Appendix C: Sixty Reasons Why I Don’t Trust Ken Starr’s Investigation — 143
Appendix D: Star Gets Both Feet in His Mouth — 148
Appendix E: Help Make Ken Starr’s Life Easier — 151
Appendix F: Questions for Ken Starr — 152
Appendix G: Where There’s Smoke There’s Smoke — 154
Afterward: The Starr Report — 156
And Finally…. — 165
Notes — 171