High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton (Hardcover)

Coulter's forceful argument for impeachment is unlikely to leave any reader sitting on the fence. It will harden those convinced he has to go, and even his most ardent supporters would be hard-pressed to ingest this 300+ page indictment and continue to insist that Clinton's detractors have "nothing" on him.

The first third of the book covers the Lewinski affair; the remainder--Whitewater, Filegate, the travel office firings, IRS audits, campaign finance issues, *ad nauseum*--take up the remaining 200 pages, with varying degrees of persuasiveness. But even the weakest arguments, frequently compared directly to the articles of impeachment drafted against Richard Nixon, nonetheless demand thoughtful consideration. Her book isn't the last word, but the issues it raises belong in the debate.

The rhetoric here is at times irritatingly repetitive and unrepentantly abrasive, and nobody is likely to agree with everything she says. But love her or hate her, Coulter has done her homework, her notes are copious, and her conslusions damning.

It's a quick read, ably written and extensively documented. It's important to consider both sides of an issue as wrenching as impeachment, and this book asks questions that the U.S. Congress may be asked to consider in the days and months ahead.

Even so, this book is to the presidency what "Saving Private Ryan" is to war--at times graphic, brutal and hard to stomach. I came away from this book feeling more than a little queasy. It's not a pretty read.

But as the scandalous headlines show no sign of abating and the sound-bite debate on the talking head shows produces more indigestion than understanding, this book demands not only awareness, but consideration. Read it, read the arguments of Clinton's supporters, then make up your own mind.

The founders never envisioned that a sitting president would have conducted himself in such a manner that he would not be allowed to appear before the Supreme Court because of his perjury. However, this book clearly shows how and why the impeachment mechanism that the founding fathers designed as an integral part of the structure of our republic should have been applied to Bill Clinton. That this remedy was not used is a great tragedy for our country. The scope of this failure is clearly and forcefully chronicled by this book.

I strongly recommend it to those who seek a broader perspective on the Clinton legacy.

The bulk of the book is dedicated to applying this standard to the catalog of misbehavior of the Clinton Administration. Written as it was when the question of removal from office was still open, the book has a passionate tone which in hindsight feels somewhat futile now that we know Congress was unable to live up to its responsiblity. Nonetheless, that tone demonstrates a certain credibility of someone who cares deeply about our government and the presidency.

And on reading this book, one cannot but feel saddened to realize how low the stature of the Presidency has sunk under that administration. Barely palatable even when spread out over its full eight years, the sheer volume of muck concentrated in one volume is almost too much to swallow. Bill Clinton abused his positions as governor and president to procure and then pay off women at taxpayer's expense, and to cover it up lied countless times, perjured himself under oath, and suborned perjury of others. But all that is only the beginning.

In Travelgate, the White House travel office staff was fired at the behest of Mrs Clinton so that she could fill those "slots" with "her people". Filegate had nine hundred FBI background files on Republican officials illegally in the possession of the White House. During Fostergate, White House officials obstructed an FBI investigation into the suicide of White House counsel Vincent Foster. In the Whitewater affair, taxpayers were defrauded of millions of dollars while the White House obstructed the investigation every step of the way and paid off the silence of indicted counsel. The White House was rented off like a common bed-and-breakfast and coffee house. The Clinton Administration used IRS audits as an instrument of threat and vengeance on its enemies. Perhaps worst of all, in what comes horrifyingly close to treason, the Administration permitted the release of CIA briefings and classified missile technology to China in return for staggering campaign contributions.

Since the book was written while Mr Clinton was still in office, it does not even mention the later scandals that plagued the last years of that administration, such as the eleventh-hour pardoning of fugitives and felons who made large contributions to the Democratic Party in Pardongate.

It is hard to say whether it is worse that this person served as our president, or his apologists' astounding insistence that the perfidy of his presidency somehow doesn't matter. It wasn't always like this. The Rodino report, which laid down the reasoning for proceedings against President Nixon, noted that "the scope of impeachment was not viewed narrowly" as a purely criminal matter but also considered maintaining the prestige and respect of the office. Fascinatingly, party to the Rodino hearings was none other than Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Ann Coulter is a knowledgeable, deliciously sharp, and unquestionably intelligent writer-- I would recommend any of her books, as well as the syndicated column which appears also on her Web site. High Crimes and Misdemeanors is well researched and annotated, and leaves me asking rhetorically about those eight dark years: what in the world were we thinking?