Customer Reviews

...and the Horse He Rode In On: The People V. Kenneth Starr

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Like many people, I was not intially aware just how bad Ken Starr really was. Although I was a Clinton Loyalist inspite of White House problems, I never imagined Mr. Starr would have taken the investigation to the heights he did. Somewhere along the line. the independent prosecutor decided that he was above the law.

Although not as hefty as several of the other books doccumenting the Clinton Inqusition, Carvile provides a basic summary of the real story and congressional overreaction to it. Yes, Clinton has problems, but seeing as how hidden extramartial affairs crossed party lines, this was never something that was supposed to be investigated.

When I bought this book amidst impachment hearings, I genuinely did not know if congress was going to remember the will of the people. Each day of coverage seemed more twisted and horrific than the next. Reading this book really helped me through those times and I would highly recomend it to anybody who was interested in getting the bare facts about sexual McCarthyism.

May future generations grow up without personally experiencing the near tragedy I witnessed.

James Carville, set out to do the same thing he says Ken Starr did Starr, launching a paristan attack. However, James Carville doesn't have supeona power and isn't a government employee. James Carville has the right to be partisan and polimic because he is a private citizen. Ken Starr doesn't have that right because he the Special Prosecutor. I didn't agree with Mr. Carville that the Clinton's committed no crimes in Whitewater, I think that Congress needed to appoint an independent Counsul to investigate it. However after reading this book I certainly don't believe that Ken Starr should ever have been appointed to the post. The conflicts of interests of Starr that Carville documents are too many to count. Whatever you think of Bill Clinton he never should have been hounded by the not-too-Independant Counsul. I'm giving the book four stars because James Carville made many valid points.

I have been a fan of Carville for many years, but this is the first book that I have ever read by the Ragin' Cajun. First of all, and with all do respect, his writing style is much more relaxed than his "boiling" over demeanor that we often see on TV. This book is a hilarious but factual description of how Kenneth Starr from the get-go was the vessel of radical conservative movement willing to blatantly subvert the law and the constitution of the United States to bring down and humiliate Bill Clinton and his wife. Meticulous in detail and well documented, the book brings to light the blatant use of the "unbiased" legal system as a political weapon. This abuse will involve many of the same players two years later in the judicial coup of 2000. As if the reader needed additional reminders about the subject of the book, the pages are sporadically peppered with comical mini shots of Ken Starr's mug giving his sanctimonious non-smile or his bogus concerned lip pursing among other poses. This is a great little book, I am glad I found it.

James Carville has written an outstanding book about the whole Starr investigation. It is so informative and provides a balance which is ever so justifiable given the light of Starr's actions throughout the whole ordeal. Carville's skillful investigative points along with his brilliant sense of humor provides us with an excellent reading. I recommend this book for all citizens who care about the fate of our President and the unjust process in which Starr has performed his duty as a not so Independent Counsel.

james carville never ceases to amaze me. in this book he takes you point by point from the motives of anti-clinton republicans right down to stories of ken starr harassing him in the airport. james carville weaves a bullet proof argument about the plot to impeach the president and doesn't hesitate to state his true loyalties to clinton and his absolute distaste for "inspector starr". i was very pleased with this book.

This is an angry man, no two ways about it. His bias comes through in ever word of the book but this does not tarnish the facts. Sometimes the book becomes uncomfortable as he assaults Ken Starr, but the more you read - and the more facts take the side of Mr. Carville - the more you realize what a crook Ken Starr really was. No matter your position on Clinton, there is no excuse for Starr's activity and Carville will obviously accept none.

How often do you agree with every word of a serious book, while laughing at three-minute intervals? This book is being referred to as a partisan attack on Kenneth Starr, as though "partisan" meant one-sided and unfair. It's neither. It is simply righteously angry (and regularly uproarious). Any fair-minded, decent human being ought to be just as outraged as Carville is by the expense of taxpayer dollars in a waste of shame that Mr. Starr's "investigation" became. In my name as a citizen of this country, a woman was put in jail for 18 months because she refused to *lie* to a grand jury. NOT because she refused to tell the truth, but because she refused to perjure herself. The tactics Mr. Starr used would have been morally questionable in prosecuting the mafia; used in a five-year investigation, not of a crime, but of a man, they were indefensible.

Carville marshalls his facts neatly, punctures his opponents' hypocrisy crisply, characterizes the cast of conspirators accurately, and is far more merciful to his enemies than they were to their enemy, or to the innocent citizens who got in the way of their witch hunt.

This is the compact version of the Whitewater expose that Gene Lyons and Joe Conason have given us in more detailed form. It takes exactly the right irreverent tone about an episode in this country's history that cloaked itself in impenetrable pomposity until the very last moment, when the OIC's report had to be turned in, and it was finally clear what the country had gotten for its money. It got a report in which sex is mentioned 543 times, and Whitewater twice.

It's factual, it's clear, it's funny, and it's right. Bet Mr. Starr wishes he could say any of that about the Starr Report.

Carville's style cuts away all of the haze surrounding the OIC. He gives a well written, well researched, to the point, admittedly biased and completely entertaining summary of the Starr investigation.

Kudos to Carville!

There is only one conclusion you can reach after reading thisbook: Ken Starr should be impeached. He is the head of a partisanattack against democracy. Carville writes with the clarity and humor of Mark Twain. If only he had published this book a year ago he could have saved the country a great deal of pain. I highly recommend it.

The Republicans claim to have been "morally outraged" about the priviate life of Bill Clinton and repeatedly interjected their so-called concern in this matter by referring to "the children" when day after day they kept shoving it down our throats. James Carville, keep on doing what you do, showing up the hypocrites for what they really are! The book was wonderful.