The decades-old Clinton strategy is to get out -- way, way out -- in front of bad (or even mildly unflattering) news. And that's just what they did with the Jeff Gerth/Don Van Natta and Carl Bernstein books. So when the Washington Post was leaked the two tomes last week (Full disclosure: we had Bernstein for a week, then got Gerth the day the Post story ran), the buzz was they got it from HRC's people -- who wanted it to die in the news Sahara that is the Memorial Day weekend.
That rumor seems to be gathering steam, oddly, in lefty circles: Bill Press was peddling it on Air America this morning and it's making the rounds of liberal Web sites.
The Clinton camp's five-bullet talking points pitch (that both books are yawners and contain only old news) has worked so far. But wait, that's not quite true. Both are pretty good reads (especially Bernstein's), both provide real insight into her evolution, and there's some new news, albeit none too earth-shaking: HRC didn't read the National Intel estimate on Iraq, Bill Clinton (sort of) asked for a divorce in '89 and HRC led the effort to squelch the draft-dodger story in '92.
Glenn Thrush
The Clintons' (alleged) leak-on-yourself strategy is aggravating to reporters, but it's hard to argue they don't have the right of self-defense. As to the timing of the Memorial Day massacre, well, both books are timed to coincide with the June 3 Democratic debate in New Hampshire, so didn't HRC have the right to choose the timing of her counterattack?
Whether it will work is another question. So far, so good, from their perspective.
It will be interesting to see if the cable networks start covering the story not as "Battle of the Tell-All Books" but break out some of the more interesting bits (it's a traditionally a slow news week). Maybe the public appetite for re-opening the Clinton closet is as weak as her people hope it is. The authors are also planning media appearances, we're told, Bernstein on NBC's "Today" show and Gerth/Van Natta on one of the other nets, probably ABC's "Good Morning America Show."