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The Case Against Hillary Clinton
Peggy Noonan, a speechwriter for the Reagan White House and one of our most astute political observers, argues in this compelling book that Americans must look closely at Hillary Rodham Clinton and the implications of her calculated bid for power. In The Case against Hillary Clinton, she offers an eye-opening assessment of the scandals and failures of the Clinton years, from Whitewater to health care to the Filegate and Travelgate affairs, which cast a revealing light on the first lady's motives and behavior. She poses searching questions about the difference between public service and lip service, between the whole truth and the shameless parade of evasion and spin marshaled throughout the Clinton years. As Hillary's ambition seeks ever greater heights, Noonan takes the measure of the woman and the politician and makes a passionate argument against her candidacy.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
29 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Peggy Noonan
28 books175 followersPeggy Noonan is an author of seven books on politics, religion and culture, a weekly columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and was a Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. She is considered a political conservative.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
May 25, 2011
I'm giving this book Five Stars because it's brilliant -- not because I'm a conservative Republican.
You see, I happen to believe a lot of what Peggy Noonan says about Hillary Clinton. I believe that Hillary is cold, ruthless, and heartless, as well as venal and congenitally dishonest. And Peggy Noonan illustrates those character traits brilliantly, with great humor and suprising restraint, simply by analyzing Hillary's rise and the real-life decisions she's made, her use of language, her well-crafted evasions in public, etc. etc.
It's telling that some of the best stuff hadn't even happened when this book was written. Who can forget Hillary bragging about "landing under fire" in Bosnia, and then the networks found footage of the actual landing, with people smiling and local children calmly presenting her with flowers?
But with all that said, I don't believe for one minute that Hillary ever was or ever will be any more callous, dishonest, or manipulative than any other big-league politician -- right up to and including Peggy Noonan's "hero," the clueless and deeply dishonest Ronald Reagan. Peggy Noonan has a tendency throughout this book to treat Hillary's lies as "definitive" of her generation, her party, her social class, while the lies and hatred of other groups, (Republicans, the Irish, Roman Catholics) are dismissed as mere aberrations.
When it comes to angry, dishonest thoughts, racism, anti-Semitism, and a buried (or not so buried) xenophobia, Peggy Noonan herself has a dark side all her own -- but instead of confronting it with her brilliant intellect she simply turns her anger on the most convenient target. Hating the "other" has always come easily to her kind. It's an Irish thing, and it's as old as the Draft Riots of 1863.
You see, I happen to believe a lot of what Peggy Noonan says about Hillary Clinton. I believe that Hillary is cold, ruthless, and heartless, as well as venal and congenitally dishonest. And Peggy Noonan illustrates those character traits brilliantly, with great humor and suprising restraint, simply by analyzing Hillary's rise and the real-life decisions she's made, her use of language, her well-crafted evasions in public, etc. etc.
It's telling that some of the best stuff hadn't even happened when this book was written. Who can forget Hillary bragging about "landing under fire" in Bosnia, and then the networks found footage of the actual landing, with people smiling and local children calmly presenting her with flowers?
But with all that said, I don't believe for one minute that Hillary ever was or ever will be any more callous, dishonest, or manipulative than any other big-league politician -- right up to and including Peggy Noonan's "hero," the clueless and deeply dishonest Ronald Reagan. Peggy Noonan has a tendency throughout this book to treat Hillary's lies as "definitive" of her generation, her party, her social class, while the lies and hatred of other groups, (Republicans, the Irish, Roman Catholics) are dismissed as mere aberrations.
When it comes to angry, dishonest thoughts, racism, anti-Semitism, and a buried (or not so buried) xenophobia, Peggy Noonan herself has a dark side all her own -- but instead of confronting it with her brilliant intellect she simply turns her anger on the most convenient target. Hating the "other" has always come easily to her kind. It's an Irish thing, and it's as old as the Draft Riots of 1863.
October 25, 2014
Because I'm a liberal (NOT in spite of being a liberal) I am very opposed to the Clintons. I read this book hoping to get ammo to convince my fellow Democrats to support more progressive candidates. But, aside from being the most poorly written book I've ever read, there is absolutely no substance here what so ever. Just the same old issues ( whitewater, travel gate, etc.) - all of which have been covered more eloquently and with more depth elsewhere. About the only compelling passage ended up being nothing more than a misleading dream sequence about a fantasy that never took place - and was completely pointless. This book is truly worthless.
February 8, 2009
Clinton Fatigue. It's the reaction people have when they hear O.J. hit his girlfriend, or they found Jeffrey Dahmer's cookbook. Yeah, so?
This was yet another book on Hillary Clinton. This one tells by example why she is the way she is. It was very well-written. I read it in two days.
One of the key sections of this book is a meeting between Hillary and entertainment executives. The author happened to be at the house in the kitchen. She fired up her tape recorder and got the entire speech. Mrs. Clinton was railing into the execs about the content of their movies and shows. I started to feel that maybe Hillary isn't that self-absorbed. Maybe her "caring about children" isn't really just talk. Then the author reveals she (Noonan) made the whole thing up. It would have been really nice if Hillary HAD made this speech. But Noonan's point had been made. Hillary wouldn't do the right thing at the expense of her political career, her "friends", or her cash flow.
Noonan examines what Mrs. Clinton has accomplished in her career. Nothing. She's never authored one piece of legislation, or lowered taxes. There was the Health Care Reform debacle that she headed. She worked for a short time at the Rose Law Firm. She and her supporters talk about her leadership, her experience, and her ability to get things done. Huh?
She has lived in government housing for over twenty years. She's never picked the kids up from school, cleaned house, run errands, fixed dinner, paid bills, gone to sleep exhausted, and gotten up the next day to do it all again. When Chelsea was a baby she tried to hire a nanny to look after her and claim it was "extra security". And yet she seems to have all the answers as to how the government should take care of children and families. She wrote articles in the '70s about how divorce and the women's movement was deteriorating the nuclear family, and because of this the government should step in and raise the kids.
The other fascinating aspect of Mrs. Clinton was revealed in an interview with a close friend of Hillary's. She refused to say anything specific, but showed Noonan the book Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism. In summary, she says Bill and Hillary need to be loved and admired by others, but they also have a very inflated concept of themselves. It's a vicious circle. Without mass approval their concept of themselves falls. In other words, they need to be in our lives for a long, long time.
This was an eye-opening and fascinating book. Not because we hear about all the scandals and problems with Hillary. But because we learn why she is the way she is.
New York, I feel your pain.
This was yet another book on Hillary Clinton. This one tells by example why she is the way she is. It was very well-written. I read it in two days.
One of the key sections of this book is a meeting between Hillary and entertainment executives. The author happened to be at the house in the kitchen. She fired up her tape recorder and got the entire speech. Mrs. Clinton was railing into the execs about the content of their movies and shows. I started to feel that maybe Hillary isn't that self-absorbed. Maybe her "caring about children" isn't really just talk. Then the author reveals she (Noonan) made the whole thing up. It would have been really nice if Hillary HAD made this speech. But Noonan's point had been made. Hillary wouldn't do the right thing at the expense of her political career, her "friends", or her cash flow.
Noonan examines what Mrs. Clinton has accomplished in her career. Nothing. She's never authored one piece of legislation, or lowered taxes. There was the Health Care Reform debacle that she headed. She worked for a short time at the Rose Law Firm. She and her supporters talk about her leadership, her experience, and her ability to get things done. Huh?
She has lived in government housing for over twenty years. She's never picked the kids up from school, cleaned house, run errands, fixed dinner, paid bills, gone to sleep exhausted, and gotten up the next day to do it all again. When Chelsea was a baby she tried to hire a nanny to look after her and claim it was "extra security". And yet she seems to have all the answers as to how the government should take care of children and families. She wrote articles in the '70s about how divorce and the women's movement was deteriorating the nuclear family, and because of this the government should step in and raise the kids.
The other fascinating aspect of Mrs. Clinton was revealed in an interview with a close friend of Hillary's. She refused to say anything specific, but showed Noonan the book Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism. In summary, she says Bill and Hillary need to be loved and admired by others, but they also have a very inflated concept of themselves. It's a vicious circle. Without mass approval their concept of themselves falls. In other words, they need to be in our lives for a long, long time.
This was an eye-opening and fascinating book. Not because we hear about all the scandals and problems with Hillary. But because we learn why she is the way she is.
New York, I feel your pain.
February 21, 2009
In 2000 when Hillary was running for Senate I convinced my father to buy this book because it was his civic duty to stay informed. I've since stolen it from him. Because that's how I roll.
March 15, 2016
I think Peggy Noonan is a brilliant writer, and was disappointed that this book was so bitterly sarcastic in places--not a good way to make your case, regardless of the facts. Noonan wrote this book in 2000, hoping to persuade New Yorkers not to elect Clinton as their senator, which the author saw as just a step to a campaign for President (and she was right; Clinton was elected senator and ran for President in 2008, losing the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama). Noonan is highly critical of Clinton, not only for her political stances (Noonan is more conservative and Clinton is more liberal; Noonan believes in restricted government and Clinton believes that a larger, more intrusive government would do a lot of good, especially if she were leading it), but also because Noonan believes that Clinton is a person of defective character: selfish, entitled, power-hungry, and believing herself to be superior to most other people. While I do not agree with the author that every misdeed by Bill Clinton can be attributed to Hillary in equal measure, Noonan does raise enough evidence concerning actions that can be placed squarely at Hillary's door to lead the reader to important questions about Clinton's possible actions as a future President. Because this book does not take into account Clinton's accomplishments as Secretary of State for the Obama Administration, I wanted to learn if Noonan's positions had moderated or changed, and reread her essays on Clinton in Noonan's book, The TIme of Our Lives. But those columns were written during the 2008 campaign--and it appears that Noonan did not find anything at that time to lead her to change her views of Clinton or her character. One thing that would be helpful to younger readers would be more detail on the events that Clinton was involved in that Noonan presents as evidence of her bad acts--the Rose Law Firm, Whitewater, and Travelgate scandals, among others, during which the reader may have been too young or too clueless to pay close attention. This book will enrage Clinton supporters who take time to read it; it will bolster the opinions of those who strongly oppose her; for those still looking for answers, it is not as helpful as it could be if it were up to date--something the author cannot be blamed for--and more balanced in tone--something Noonan could have controlled.
October 19, 2010
This political book is nearly seventy percent opinion. Yes Hillary has been through lots of scandals but I am not ready to write her off as a gutless flip-flopper. The writer needed more facts to make her case. Wild stories don't really interest me. I actually enjoy the fact she stirs up controversy. If she ever gets elected president, she will quite likely be a very entertaining leader. =)
Read
August 3, 2016Not worth my time to read it. This was an old book with nothing new to offer.
January 17, 2017
True
Everyone should read this! Very interesting and relevant. It makes you wonder why Hillary Clinton became so popular. Read it!
Everyone should read this! Very interesting and relevant. It makes you wonder why Hillary Clinton became so popular. Read it!
May 11, 2025
I definitely enjoyed reading some of the description of the corruption of the Clintons. But what really lost me was the author’s tendency to write multiple page episodes of Hillary being weird or coming up with her latest speech or other scenarios which, she always revealed, she had completely made up. Just odd.
February 27, 2016
Noonan wrote this book against Hillary Clinton's Senate run back in 2000. Nonetheless, the better points of the book remain current, even as more (for and against) Clinton has been added to the pile since then. As voters consider whom to elect in 2016, it wouldn't hurt any of them to review the negative baggage she brings with her, especially many of the now-forgotten but hardly resolved scandals that have dogged Hillary and Bill Clinton.
On the plus side, Noonan knows her subject well and it shows. She imagines Clinton thinking things to herself or even interacting with others in situations dreamt up by Noonan, and it all seems not only plausible but even dead-on accurate. Yet, this is one of my bigger complaints about the book, Noonan quite often imagines things and writes them as fact, only to tell you at the end of the narrative that it was all a dream, etc. The scenes she paints are so vivid and realistic, a less careful reader may vaguely remember things as fact weeks or months after reading the book that were, after all, fiction. A dream sequence or two might be forgiven, but given how much of the book's total space is devoted to such musings, it is a little disappointing that Noonan didn't populate it with a few more real anecdotes from her own experience or interviews with others.
With what facts she does present, she certainly reminds the reader of Whitewater, the White House travel agency, Hillarycare, Hillary's writings on children and family, Monica Lewinsky, futures trading, and many other scandals, most of which have faded from the headlines but few of which have reached any real resolution. These points certainly bear review by 2016's voters, even if getting to them involve stumbling over Noonan's exercises in creative writing. On the plus side, it's a short book and easy enough to read, so it's not like the reader must exhaust him or herself getting there.
Noonan's depictions of Hillary's campaigning and tactics will sound like they came from this morning's press, so some things really have not changed. While Noonan wrote this of her Senate campaign, it might have well been from Benghazi or email servers:
What she was doing was absorbing attacks. She was playing rope-a-dope, exhausting her foes by taking every blow they could throw and allowing their charges to enter the air and turn into clichés--the kind of clichés that people eventually stop hearing. (p 117)
Noonan reviews in depth Hillary's written record about the state, the family, and children, a record that Noonan notes Hillary has never repudiated. She summarizes and quotes Christopher Lasch from Harper's, "a careful reading of [her] argument...shows that she objects to the family much more that she objects to the state...Although she warns that the state's authority must be 'exercised only in warranted cases,' her writings leave the unmistakable impression that it is the family that holds children back and the state that sets them free. Her position amounts to a defense of bureaucracy disguised as a defense of individual autonomy." (pp 150-151)
In contrast to the above, Noonan notes:
And the funny thing is, Mrs. Clinton raised a nice, smart girl who wants to be a doctor...and did this without the interference of the state. Chelsea Clinton was sent to private school--not a government-run public school but a tony and expensive private school--in Washington, D.C. She did well and made friends, graduated and went on to Stanford. Chelsea was not raised with the help of child advocates, child ombudsmen, or government-appointed attorneys. Chelsea was also allowed to function, according to all reports, as a child; she was not treated by her parents as a "child citizen." They took an active part in decision making in her life, rather than ceding such authority.
Mrs. Clinton, apparently, had no interest in extending her policy prescriptions to her own child, even though she seems convinced that they should apply to other children--such as, perhaps, yours. One can't help but wonder why she thinks that what is good for her might not be good, also, for others. (pp 156-157)
As far as I can see, the above contrast holds true of all Progressives in all areas; they see themselves as the modern aristocrats, rule by the best, in a sea of sub-humans whom they must nanny and manage and make all the important decisions for, even as they exempt themselves from their own prescriptions for the inferior men and women they see themselves surrounded by. Heaven forbid such authority be granted to some among those "others" and they themselves be forced to live under their own system! Noonan, however, does not wax so philosophic, she keeps her work concrete, even if much of the concrete stems from her own imagination.
Not a must-read by any stretch, but it does make for a quick and easy review of some reasons one might wish to pause before voting for Hillary Clinton. It does invite careful reading to separate the real from the notional, but otherwise goes smoothly enough.
On the plus side, Noonan knows her subject well and it shows. She imagines Clinton thinking things to herself or even interacting with others in situations dreamt up by Noonan, and it all seems not only plausible but even dead-on accurate. Yet, this is one of my bigger complaints about the book, Noonan quite often imagines things and writes them as fact, only to tell you at the end of the narrative that it was all a dream, etc. The scenes she paints are so vivid and realistic, a less careful reader may vaguely remember things as fact weeks or months after reading the book that were, after all, fiction. A dream sequence or two might be forgiven, but given how much of the book's total space is devoted to such musings, it is a little disappointing that Noonan didn't populate it with a few more real anecdotes from her own experience or interviews with others.
With what facts she does present, she certainly reminds the reader of Whitewater, the White House travel agency, Hillarycare, Hillary's writings on children and family, Monica Lewinsky, futures trading, and many other scandals, most of which have faded from the headlines but few of which have reached any real resolution. These points certainly bear review by 2016's voters, even if getting to them involve stumbling over Noonan's exercises in creative writing. On the plus side, it's a short book and easy enough to read, so it's not like the reader must exhaust him or herself getting there.
Noonan's depictions of Hillary's campaigning and tactics will sound like they came from this morning's press, so some things really have not changed. While Noonan wrote this of her Senate campaign, it might have well been from Benghazi or email servers:
What she was doing was absorbing attacks. She was playing rope-a-dope, exhausting her foes by taking every blow they could throw and allowing their charges to enter the air and turn into clichés--the kind of clichés that people eventually stop hearing. (p 117)
Noonan reviews in depth Hillary's written record about the state, the family, and children, a record that Noonan notes Hillary has never repudiated. She summarizes and quotes Christopher Lasch from Harper's, "a careful reading of [her] argument...shows that she objects to the family much more that she objects to the state...Although she warns that the state's authority must be 'exercised only in warranted cases,' her writings leave the unmistakable impression that it is the family that holds children back and the state that sets them free. Her position amounts to a defense of bureaucracy disguised as a defense of individual autonomy." (pp 150-151)
In contrast to the above, Noonan notes:
And the funny thing is, Mrs. Clinton raised a nice, smart girl who wants to be a doctor...and did this without the interference of the state. Chelsea Clinton was sent to private school--not a government-run public school but a tony and expensive private school--in Washington, D.C. She did well and made friends, graduated and went on to Stanford. Chelsea was not raised with the help of child advocates, child ombudsmen, or government-appointed attorneys. Chelsea was also allowed to function, according to all reports, as a child; she was not treated by her parents as a "child citizen." They took an active part in decision making in her life, rather than ceding such authority.
Mrs. Clinton, apparently, had no interest in extending her policy prescriptions to her own child, even though she seems convinced that they should apply to other children--such as, perhaps, yours. One can't help but wonder why she thinks that what is good for her might not be good, also, for others. (pp 156-157)
As far as I can see, the above contrast holds true of all Progressives in all areas; they see themselves as the modern aristocrats, rule by the best, in a sea of sub-humans whom they must nanny and manage and make all the important decisions for, even as they exempt themselves from their own prescriptions for the inferior men and women they see themselves surrounded by. Heaven forbid such authority be granted to some among those "others" and they themselves be forced to live under their own system! Noonan, however, does not wax so philosophic, she keeps her work concrete, even if much of the concrete stems from her own imagination.
Not a must-read by any stretch, but it does make for a quick and easy review of some reasons one might wish to pause before voting for Hillary Clinton. It does invite careful reading to separate the real from the notional, but otherwise goes smoothly enough.
July 1, 2016
This is an interesting , but discouraging book that documents many of the problematic scandals surrounding both Bill and Hillary Clinton . Shocking in its revelations , and so depressing that we have given high office to these people . Too many still overlook what they have done to accumulate wealth and power . This book is dated , written in 2000 after Hillary's winning Senate run in New York , but I've found that skunks never lose their scent . Today's headlines remind me that the evil you do in your life is found out , either here or in eternity ; perhaps both .
February 29, 2016
A book about a year 2000 Carpetbagger, coming to New York to run for Senate. Dust off this book, add the scandals of misdeeds, lies and the loss of an Ambassador as State Dept. Secretary and it is right on target. Hillary was diagnosed with pathological narcissism in 2000 and no sign of improvement todate.
June 21, 2017
Totally not worth reading. If you are not at least a multimillionaire, this story of Hillary is the more common with people in politics. Compromise, get elected, compromise some more, stay elected. . .
July 18, 2017
On The Nose
Peggy Noonan sums up the character of Hillary Clinton succinctly. Even though this book is close to 20 years old, Miss Noonan describes Hillary Clinton's as if it were written during the 2016 presidential election. The leopard has not changed her spots.
Peggy Noonan sums up the character of Hillary Clinton succinctly. Even though this book is close to 20 years old, Miss Noonan describes Hillary Clinton's as if it were written during the 2016 presidential election. The leopard has not changed her spots.
August 18, 2018
I love the way Peggy Noonan writes. I am not a Hikary Clinton fan and neither is she’s The book loaded with facts versus just the authors opinion
July 31, 2020
I read this to find out why some people dislike Hillary so much. What I learned is that Peggy Noonan really dislikes Hillary. The facts were few & Noonan's personal opinion was the jest of this book. It read more like a tabloid story than a unbiased book on Hillary Clinton. I found it especially distasteful when she tells us what Hillary is thinking & plotting. How does she know? She claims to share inside information on personal conversations as if she heard them herself when she wasn't even there. She picks at Hillary's hair styles & playing to the camera. Well what politician doesn't play to the camera & who cares if she changes her hair style? The worse part was her chapter on Hillary going to LA & meeting with the biggest producers & directors to confront them on the quality of TV being shown. Peggy said she knows what was said verbatim because she knew the housekeeper, gained uninvited entrance & tape recorder it. Only at the end of the chapter do we learn this was an imaginary scenario that Peggy dreamed up. What a bunch of nonsense! Somehow Peggy has convicted the Clinton's of Whitewater while Ken Starr with all his months of investigating & interviews couldn't dig up enough to press charges. In short what I learned from this book is that there are people who will write a book & pass it off as literature when it really is just tabloid gossip. Shame on you Peggy. I recently read Truman by David McCullough which is an amazing unbiased book & maybe he set the bar too high for this trashy book.
October 3, 2019
If you are not a fan of Hillary Clinton, The Case Against Hillary Clinton by Peggy Noonan will be like a refresher course on the various scandals that have dogged her, alledged (not indicted, yet) crimes, using her government positions for personal and Clinton Foundation (essentially the same thing) gain, the oddly high number of her acquaintences that are alledged to have committed suicide, and more. If you are a Hillary fan, all of this will sound like that vast right-wing conspiracy she often mentions. If you are a Hillary fan but consider yourself open minded, give it a shot; you may learn something and notice some unusual patterns of her behavior that, at a minimum, must make you wonder. I am not really a fan but even I learned a few new things. Political sponges of all stripes should consider seeing what all of the mystery is about with this political animal.
March 3, 2018
Arguably Peggy Noonan's least successful attempt at writing. She is at her best when highlighting the virtues of her heroes, like President Reagan or St. Pope John Paul II (even if she does go over the top sometimes.) Here, she simply launches on a dislike campaign, employing many questionable techniques such as a highly fanciful (a/k/a contrived) secret meeting between the Clintons and the "media elite."
She has done so much better so often.
She has done so much better so often.
August 7, 2025
Hillary and Bill, a sad commentary
Hillary did go on to win New York State’s senatorial race and later won her party’s nomination for president of the United States. Despite all the information presented about her lack of integrity she continues to be a force. A great book, I highly recommend it.
Hillary did go on to win New York State’s senatorial race and later won her party’s nomination for president of the United States. Despite all the information presented about her lack of integrity she continues to be a force. A great book, I highly recommend it.
December 18, 2022
Exceptional. Prescient. If people in New York had heeded Noonan's warnings and not elected Hillary to the Senate in 2000 how different would America be today? Noonan makes a strong case against Hillary and never once mentions the string of strange deaths among many with close ties to the scandals.
April 11, 2025
I was hoping for something more substantial. The rambling talk of dreams the author had of Hillary Clinton and the fictional thoughts and dialogue the author made for her throughout was rather useless and distracting.
August 7, 2022
The author definitely wasn't a fan of Hillary but certainly pointed out lots of incidents of which I was unaware.
December 26, 2024
Took a great deal of courage to write this..Peggy Noonan never disappoints..
November 30, 2024
Peggy is an excellent observer and essayist. I am quite taken aback by her disdain for and vitriol towards Hilary Rodham Clinton. However, her case against Hillary has merit.
April 27, 2015
I love the way that Peggy Noonan writes. She is wonderful at portraying Hillary through dialogue and description. She was, to be honest, harsh and judgmental. She was frank with her feelings. Point Blank: she has a strong, opinionated case against Hillary Clinton. I guess, I was sad that the weight of her judgments clouded the strength of her argument.
At the end of the book, I learned that Hillary paid for childcare through Arkansas taxes; she was not connected to New York, and she knew more than she let on about the Clinton Lewinsky affair, oh and she chose the education and path for her daughter, but wants the government to choose the education and path for other people's daughters and sons. On that note, I don't, however, think that pigeon holing the first lady into roles of family, women, and children, is fair. I think of Mellie from Scandal. I think that if I didn't watch Scandal, my views would align more closely with Peggy Noonan, but I have empathy for Mellie, and that has transcended to Hillary. Do I think Mellie should be president? No. Do I think Hillary should be? I am not convinced.
I am more intrigued by the Clinton's than before, and I think Peggy really captured the affair quite well. This book sparked a further interest in Hillary Clinton.
At the end of the book, I learned that Hillary paid for childcare through Arkansas taxes; she was not connected to New York, and she knew more than she let on about the Clinton Lewinsky affair, oh and she chose the education and path for her daughter, but wants the government to choose the education and path for other people's daughters and sons. On that note, I don't, however, think that pigeon holing the first lady into roles of family, women, and children, is fair. I think of Mellie from Scandal. I think that if I didn't watch Scandal, my views would align more closely with Peggy Noonan, but I have empathy for Mellie, and that has transcended to Hillary. Do I think Mellie should be president? No. Do I think Hillary should be? I am not convinced.
I am more intrigued by the Clinton's than before, and I think Peggy really captured the affair quite well. This book sparked a further interest in Hillary Clinton.
May 15, 2008
Noonan was incisive with her analysis of Clinton's personality. She dives into the dirty details of the Clinton scandals and gives first-hand accounts from sources close to the Clintons.
My motivation for reading this book was to learn more about "the baggage" the Clintons would bring to the White House again, as I was watching Mtv in the 90s, not CNN. I picked Noonan's book because I like her as a writer. I find her to be objective, even though she's conservative. I think she's right-on with Clinton, and since this was written in 2000, prescient as well with Clinton's career path.
But, the criticism of the book: too verbose at times. I skipped pages that went on and on about the same topic.
My motivation for reading this book was to learn more about "the baggage" the Clintons would bring to the White House again, as I was watching Mtv in the 90s, not CNN. I picked Noonan's book because I like her as a writer. I find her to be objective, even though she's conservative. I think she's right-on with Clinton, and since this was written in 2000, prescient as well with Clinton's career path.
But, the criticism of the book: too verbose at times. I skipped pages that went on and on about the same topic.
November 2, 2016
I have mixed feelings about this book. On one side, it is shocking to see how right Peggy Noonan was about the Clintons back in 2000, when this book was published. It is 2016 now and we know that Hillary did win that New York Senate seat and did exactly what Peggy Noonan predicted she would do (which is absolutely nothing for the state, but used her Senate seat as a stepping stone into bigger politics). Hillary is now running for President (once again, something that the author said she will do - she was simply off by a few years)
I didn't like how the book was written. A lot of it was Peggy's rambling or saying what she thinks Hillary would say or would think. If I wanted to read fiction about Hillary, I would simply listen to CNN.
I didn't like how the book was written. A lot of it was Peggy's rambling or saying what she thinks Hillary would say or would think. If I wanted to read fiction about Hillary, I would simply listen to CNN.
October 10, 2013
Normally, I don't have a problem with Hillary-bashing books, but I don't think Noonan did her beloved New York any favors when she wrote this book 2000. Were the "that's how I imagine it" and fantasizing about having a recording device at a fictional meeting of Hollywood doners and Hillary really necessary? Whether these particular sections are interspersed with truth or not, there was enough out in the open at that time about the Clintons NUMEROUS scandals that it seems she could have done better.
November 8, 2008
Interesting subject if you are curious about Hillary Clinton. I only read this one because I have high regard for Peggy Noonan, and read her column in the Wall Street Journal weekly. Unfortunately there were parts that were hastily written (could be deadline related). And then there were a couple of passages where the author played the part of the subject and what she was thinking. I don't like it when they do this in biographies...it gives them less credibility.
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May 24, 2016I don't remember this well enough to review it (and the date is just ballpark), but I remember being distinctly unimpressed, despite my lack of need to even have a case made against Hillary Clinton. This reaction was strong enough that it surprised me later to find any of Peggy Noonan's columns worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews