Customer Reviews

A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

In spite of all the accusations that Toobin is a DNC lackey and a Clinton apologist (even in the New York Times), I am hard pressed to see where he grants the president any leeway. As an attorney, he carefully distinguishes between legal and ethical questions; as a journalist, he is scrupulous about stating (and hedging) facts. His account is entirely credible, and it appears that he is critical about his sources.

It gets less than a perfect score because Mr. Toobin too often succumbs to the temptation of his own moralizing and gossip, even beyond valid criticism of questionable legal practices here and there. The facts about the individuals speak for themselves.

Undoubtedly, Clinton-haters will also hate this book, since it doesn't support their views. Toobin's main point - that there are political operatives in this country who do not respect the democratic process and instead seek redress in the legal system - is amply demonstrated in the Clinton/Lewinsky/Jones/Whitewater fiasco. This is the real news in this affair, not that presidents have uncontrollable egos (and libidos).

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the whole chain of events and is unafraid of being disgusted even more by everybody.

Before I read this book, I thought the president should have resigned. After I read this book I still thought the president should have resigned. However, the author doesn't share that view. In some ways he is an apologist for the Clintons and that is rather crudely evident. However, I had no idea how unsavory were the forces aligned against him. Toobin gives us a view into a very unsavory and I think immoral group of characters who in some ways were every bit as wrong and immoral as Clinton. Even though I found myself cringing at times with his defense of the president (and don't doubt it, he defends him) I was cringing at those points in the book which did show that a rag-tag bunch of shady characters was trying to overtrow an election through the judicial process. That is evident from some of the insider-perspectives Toobin gives his readers. It's scary to think that one day, a group like this will succeed against a president I really like.

... but Toobin has shown me how much I missed in the mainstream media, and even in the "off the beaten path" outlets like Salon. I had vowed never to read another impeachment book (burned out on the topic). I'm delighted I broke that vow. This book is filled with telling details and revealing connections among the many players (you just think you already know about them). As a fellow author I am in awe of Toobin's fine investigative skills, grasp of the big picture, and inviting writing style. I heartily recommend this title to anyone who wants to know what forces converged to create the impeachment mess. No one is let off the hook. The one thing I would have suggested, had I been Toobin's editor: delete the unnecessary put downs to specific individuals when relating factual information. It tells us more about Toobin's attitude toward the individuals than it does about the people themselves. A couple of examples: Toobin seems unable to resist making mean-spirited remarks about Paula Corbin Jones's hair bows and curls, and Monica Lewinsky's intellectual powers. I have no reason to question his accuracy; only his need to include such pointless observations.

Unlike many authors, for whom the Clinton scandals have merely provided an opportunity for self-righteous moralizing, tabloid gossip, or both, Toobin sees those events in historical, political context, as the culmination of twenty years of effort on the part of reformers to hijack the legal system in the service of social change. He depicts Bill Clinton's impeachment as Watergate replayed as farce, in which, employing the very same laws and institutions that had been championed by liberals in the name of social reform, a far right that had been stymied by the judicially-created reforms of the civil rights and women's movements, and defeated by the courts during Nixon's impeachment, struck back against baby-boomer Clinton and his administration by means of a sex scandal.

Toobin sets forth his theory through media reports, personal interviews and the legislative record, arguing factually and persuasively for a "vast conspiracy" far vaster and, at the same time, less consensual, than that envisioned by Hillay Clinton, an unwitting collaboration of right and left that ultimately discredited both, while diminishing the American people's respect for all three sectors of government. He misses none of his story's ironies, depicting the ineptness of the special prosecutor-who-was-not-a-prosecutor, the confusion and outrage of liberal Democrats as the very same tools that they had employed in the interest of social justice were coopted by the right, and the the almost Shakespearian psychodrama of flawed character, bad motives and bad luck that transformed a few tacky back-room sexual encounters into a national political crisis.

A former federal prosecutor, Toobin paints a damning picture of the ineptitude of the independent counsel's office, where confusion and inexperience reigned, while not sparing either the President or his advisors for their bad judgment. While it may make some people angry, this book is worth reading, and worth thinking about.

Toobin's account of the Clinton-Lewinsky-Tripp-Starr-Goldberg-Congress, etc., scandal spares no one. It amazed me to read the reviews calling this a 'left-wing' apologetic for Clinton's behavior. They obviously did not read the book or allow any facts to enter into their thought processes. The whole case is like a Shakespearean tragedy where there are no heroes and no good guys. All are punished. Toobin's account, like no other demonstrates this. His almost savage wit describes the almost pathetic machinations of people in all sides of this tragedy. This is the best book on the subject I have ever read. I highly recommend it.

I get a kick out of these one-star amazon reviews from readers who suggest Toobin paints Clinton as a saint in his book. Obviously, those Starr apologists haven't looked at this masterpiece, which believe me, spares nobody, including the POTUS.

What the book does for the first time however, is shine a spotlight on Starr's woefully inept OIC, and recount the many errors that he and staff acculumated, as they bungled their way through impeachment.

Jeffrey Toobin has brought to light the facts behind the witch-hunt. He brings forth information about the significant cast of characters such as Paula Jones, Lucianne Goldberg and Linda Tripp that most of the public has not seen. Everyone should read this book. Toobin is very fair in his reporting - the President has his share of responsibility for the whole situation. However, his actions in no way compare to the hate and profit-motivated actions of the "vast conspiracy". Finally, a book that looks at what really happened as opposed to one written by Clinton detractors with ulterior motives.

Although it seems there are many Clinton detractors who have posted reviews of this book, apparently without having read it, I found the book fascinating. First off, the account is extremely evenhanded. Jeffrey Toobin is a very talented journalist and has used those skills tounearth the real story behind the Clinton impeachment. Neither side is spared and I guess that is what irks some. Clinton is shown as the weasel he is and his avowed enemies are shown as the zealots they are. The truly interesting thing is how the whole chain of events could have derailed at so many junctures and yet never did. A very good read.

I've never much liked Clinton, and didn't vote for him in '96; but, as this book shows, his most bitter enemies (Starr, Hyde) were far worse than he: indifferent to the needs of the country, driven by largely irrational obsessions, and inept to the point of stupidity in devising their strategies. (I should stress however, as Toobin does, that some of the President's team were also pretty gross.) Toobin's book is riveting in its description of the entire mess, a typical Washington imbroglio with little intrinsic sense. On the whole, Toobin manages to keep an admirable balance; the suggestions to the contrary from some other of your reviewers are false and clearly politically motivated. The deeper point that Toobin tries to push, namely that the impeachment flap stands for a broader legalization of the political process, does not really work, in my opinion; but the book is still successful in sustaining a very complex narration. I devoured it, and would recommend it to anyone who, a year later, wants to get a good overview of the entire arrair.

Toobin does an outstanding job of highlighting the forces behind the drive to impeach Clinton. He does not spare Clinton any condemnation nor should he. Although in term of both sex and deception Clinton's actions are not new to the White House, and by Kennedy and Johnson standards he's a piker. This book is a must read for all democrats both large and small "d". Throughout the book the reader is continually amazed at the wanton disdain displayed by the anti-Clinton forces for the election process. Starr, Tripp, Goldberg as well as the Republicans on the judiciary committee seem to have no concern the Clinton is the President because the American people elected him to that office. What Toobin's work points out is how dangerously close a small band of zealots, aided by less than stunning performances by Clinton and his attorneys, came to removing an elected President on a case that ranged somewhere between marginal and absuridity and against the will of the American people.