Ed Klein

When the New York Times warned it had been handed a “super PAC” memo suggesting someone, somewhere might plot to make a “hardline attack on Obama” with Wright sermon soundbites, MSNBC expressed outrage hour after hour.  But scandalized liberal journalists had no appetite for a different behind-the-scenes Reverend Wright narrative. In Ed Klein’s new book “The Amateur,” he interviewed Rev. Wright on tape for three hours. The most shocking revelation: suggestions that Friends of Barack were trying to suggest Wright take some “hush money” to shut up for the rest of the 2008 campaign. Media interest? Pretty much zero. 

Let’s imagine for two seconds what would happen if a friend of George W. Bush – even a disgruntled ex-friend of Bush – gave an interview to an author charging that Team Bush offered him money to shut up and go away during the 2000 campaign. Who would not expect that would have been screaming-siren top news? 

Democratic political operatives have been furious in their denunciations of author Ed Klein and his new book The Amateur, a biography of President Obama which relies heavily (although not entirely) on anonymous sources to paint a highly unflattering picture of its subject.

That is to be expected but surely Klein’s tales might make for good television. Supposedly, journalists care primarily about a good story more than anything else. And Klein’s book certainly has them, including secret feuds between First Lady Michelle Obama and TV billionaire Oprah Winfrey as well as tales of former president Bill Clinton privately bashing Barack Obama as an “amateur.” Unfortunately for Klein, however, he is being almost totally ignored by the elite media.

Kennedy biographer Ed Klein on Wednesday refuted the absurd claim made earlier in the morning by MSNBC's Chris Matthews that with Teddy's passing "Barack [Obama] is now the last brother."

In fact, when WOR radio's Steve Malzberg addressed what Matthews said on the "Today" show, Klein responded, "Makes me want to puke."

Contrary to media depictions of a strong relationship between the two, Klein claimed Obama and Kennedy "weren't that close...[A] lot of the backing for Obama was Kennedy's paying the Clintons back for stealing the Democratic Party and bringing it to the center rather than to the left" (audio available here, relevant section at 5:45):