In the past six years, any time someone wrote a tell-all book about George W. Bush or a member of his administration, they were given the royal treatment by the press with lavish interviews offering them the perfect platform to market their work as well as their politically charged opinions.
Consider for example all the attention given to Valerie Plame Wilson just recently when her book "Fair Game" was released, or the focus on George Tenet and his "At the Center of the Storm" exposé back in April.
With this in mind, if a former female White House aide published a new book implicating a former president -- whose wife just so happens to be the frontrunner for the Democrat presidential nomination in 2008 -- in rape and other possible crimes, shouldn't she be welcomed with open arms by evening television magazines like "60 Minutes" and morning shows like "Today?"
After all, given Kathleen Willey's shocking statements about her new book "Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton" to WOR radio's Steve Malzberg Thursday, one would think such programs would be all over this like white on rice, assuming of course their goal was journalism and not political activism (audio in two parts available here and here, highlights of the interview follow):
- Michael Radutzky, who was a producer for [CBS's] Ed Bradley, had come to me with another story about intimidation of a friend of mine by the [Clinton] White House, and once they - and that's the reason, that was the original reason that I did the "60 Minutes" story [in March 1998 about having been sexually assaulted in the Oval Office by former President Clinton]. Once I did that, and told that story, they asked me about the Oval Office incident, they made the entire "60 Minutes" story about that...They told me that a former friend of mine had been intimidated with a supposedly illegal adoption of her child. And this woman had - Julie Steele, I don't know if you remember that name...Well, this woman had just gone out, I mean she, we were friends of 20 years and the day after my name came out on the Drudge Report, she sold me out to the National Enquirer for $15,000 and just started trying to make money off of everything, and saying that I had lied, asked her to lie for me about what happened in the Oval Office. So, when I was told that the reason that this was all happening was because the pressure was being brought to bear on her by the White House supposedly about her quote-unquote illegal adoption of a child from Romania, I thought, well, that explains it all. That's why this friend of 20 years has done this. And, I am outraged because no mother should be threatened with having her child taken away from her. And that's the original reason I went on "60 Minutes."...That's what I was told...[by]...the producers at "60 Minutes" that were doing all the research...They said they had information that she had been intimidated, threatened.
- [Talking about the break-in at her home on August 31] They took the manuscript [of her book]. They made it look like, a, just a burglary. My purse was missing. They had tampered with my, my computer, my, enter, my satellite, my television satellite. And I didn't realize for a while that my purse was missing. It was just a day that I didn't go out. And, then I realized that the manuscript was gone, and I knew that, that, I knew immediately what had happened...I'm sure the, the Clinton operatives were behind it. I think they were sending me a message that they were watching me, that they, that they wanted to see what's in the, I think one of the things was to try to terrify me. One purpose of the break-in. The other was to see what was in the manuscript so that they could be ready for the release date.
- I'm afraid if Hillary wins, I mean, that's one of the reasons that I write the book is, that I've written this book is, you know, for one reason to reclaim my life and to reclaim the things that were taken from me back then - my reputation, my character - you know, the attacks were brutal. Yes, am I afraid of Hillary Clinton becoming president? Absolutely.
- [On Bill and Hillary back in the White House] It would hearken back to the old days of the Clinton White House. Business as usual. He would, he would be in there. It would be just like it was before. I worked there. It was like living in Animal House. No respect for the office, no respect for the White House. It was not a pleasant experience. And I think having, having been subjected to this terror campaign and the Clintons' secret police, I think we could be looking at that all over again. I mean, this is not what our Forefathers had in mind.
- [Talking about if she thought Juanita Broaddrick was raped by Bill Clinton] 100 percent...Not one single doubt. I know her. I've talked to her. She's a friend of mine. She has told me what happened. A woman understands these things, and I have seen the fear in her eyes, and I have seen the reaction when she talks about it. You don't make these things up.
Pretty powerful stuff, wouldn't you agree? The kind that "60 Minutes," the "Today" show, and "Good Morning America" - to name a few - would normally be all over, right?
Yet, though this book release has been highly anticipated, and came out Tuesday, only Fox News has even mentioned it.
That's right. Not only hasn't Willey been interviewed by ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, or MSNBC, not one of these networks has even mentioned her book.
Not one.
By contrast, when Valerie Plame Wilson's "Fair Game" was released last month, CNN did six stories on it, MSNBC did two, NBC also did two, and CBS's "60 Minutes" did an entire segment on it with Katie Couric doing the much-publicized interview.
When George Tenet's "At the Center of the Storm" came out in April, CNN did an astonishing 24 segments about it, CBS did five including a "60 Minutes" piece, NBC also did five, MSNBC did three, and ABC did one.
Liberal media bias? What liberal media bias?
