Fools for Scandal: How the Media Invented Whitewater

Lyons makes it depressingly clear how the contemporary media, particularly the New York Times and Washington Post, is owned by the Republican party. That fact became obvious to millions of previously naïve Americans in the aftermath of the stolen presidential election, and certainly explains reporter's fascination with Whitewater in the absence of public concern. At the time of Clinton's Presidency, I subscribed to the NY Times, and had no idea how corrupt and biased they were and are, but couldn't understand why they were latching onto the Whitewater story, when there didn't seem to be any substance. I now know better, thanks in part to this book. It's really quite chilling to read Lyons' account of how processed the NY Time's version of "news" was, how much of the truth they covered up, and how few of the inconvenient facts they allowed their readers to see. The Time's just prints all the news that fits the myth. It's very scary that most other newspapers follow the mighty Times like sheep and just accept their accounts. I really didn't have much sympathy for Hillary Clinton until I read this book, and now I have some insight into what she endured, and why she made certain decisions. It's a disturbing and uncomfortable truth that Lyons tells, but Americans need to know.

Lyons's first book on the fabrication of the Whitewater hoax by the New York Times is even more compelling reading now than it was when it was published. In 2000, it is easy to see how the impeachment became inevitable; it will soon enough become evident why it failed (because the President is a sinner, but not a lawbreaker); and Lyons, almost alone among the country's journalists, demolished Whitewater as a credible scandal in 1996. Lyons demonstrates that Governor Clinton was not guilty of any abuse of power, because no such abuse took place. The Times did not make a mountain out of a molehill, it made it out of nothing at all. After Lyons briskly explains the banking law and practice that governed the decline and takeover of Madison Guaranty, the facts of Beverly Bassett Schaffer's appointment and actions regarding the supervision of this bank, there is simply no case left at all for believing the Clintons violated any standard of ethics or broke any law. And it doesn't take long for Lyons to demonstrate this--what he moves on to is an explication of how the Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post soon began to make their own news. They could not, after all, report show trials in the U.S. Senate, or throw up their hands in shocked amazement at the findings of the Pillsbury Report without raising questions in their readers' minds as to why these trusted newspspers had been mongering this scandal for so long. Rather than admit their error, they simply hammered home, day after day, ever more nebulous accusations of the Clintons' character flaws and raised new "questions" about their behavior. In this climate, there was no voice of reason or justice to oppose Kenneth Starr's ever more desperate prosecutorial tactics in finding something to impeach the President for. Lyons also takes up the lesser "scandals" variously "reported" by the Times and others, including Mrs. Clinton's commodities trades, Governor Clinton's treatment of Tyson Foods and Stephens, Inc., and James B. Stewart's accusation of financial dishonesty on Mrs. Clinton's part in filling out a loan application (Stewart had neglected to check the back of a two-page form, on which Mrs. Clinton had given the information he accused her of hiding). Mr. Lyons got an awful lot of significant facts, and he got them first. He laid them out in damning order, and told the story in a tone of dry irony just this side of scathing. After reading this book, you will want to give it to any of your friends who are capable of distinguishing fact from propaganda. And your level of trust in the New York Times will drop precipitously. It is required reading for citizens with a sense of decency.

This book was written four years ago and has stood the test of time. When future Historians study our era they will be referring to this book to understand the massive hysteria that gripped the country for 6 years. After the biggest witchunt since Salem, countless Congressional investigation, 3 independent counsels, dozens of prosecutors, FBI agents......still not a shred of evidence of wrongdoing by the Clintons in Whitewater. So what happened? This book details the origins of the hysteria. When future Historians look at all the facts and pass judgment their harshest condemnation will be reserved for the New York Times for their journalistic malpractice. Not far behind will be the rest of the mainstream press for blindly following the newspaper of record.

Not since the late I. F. Stone debunked the Pentagon's PR campaign for Vietnam has a journalist so completely destoyed a popular myth perpetuated by a lazy press in service of the forces of reaction. In a year of searching, I have never found any reviewer who has rebuted a single factual claim or historical inference made in this book. The book reads like a great short story (just when you think the bad guys could not get away with anymore, they do) and the ending is better than any pulp fiction. After reading this you won't care about Monica. After all the perjury Starr and the GOP sponsored against him, Clinton still has a few more 'Get out of jail free' passes.

This book has stood the test of time. Despite all the carping of the Clinton Crazies, none have been able to factually refute what's in this expose. A pity more haven't read this, since Lyons' voice in the wilderness has accurately skewered the "accuracy" of one of America's icons, The New York Times. Had everyone been paying attention, the Starr investigation may have wound down much sooner, and Wen Ho Lee may have been spared being called a traitor based on the usual inaccurate, slanderous reporting of the Times' Jeff Gerth.The anti-Clinton comments in these reviews are, in hindsight, kind of funny. One writer couldn't wait for Ken Starr to tell us the real truth about Whitewater. Well, he has, and he was forced to admit that there was no scandal there after all. The other anti-Clinton comments are notably lightweight, since they in no way even attempt to factually refute this book.Because they can't.