I watched the Oprah show yesterday, yes I admit it. I heard she was going to be doing the mea culpa with Frey. Little did I know that she would use Dowd, Rich and that little “I don’t support the troops” Joel Stein to talk about “ethics” and truth in writing. HA! The thoughts that passed through my mind was how about the Clintons? You telling me those autobiographies would pass the fact checking police? I highly doubt that, so people in glass houses dot dot dot….

I think their ideas and condemnations regarding Frey are on target though. Seems to me that both of the Clinton’s books should be reclassified though as fiction just like the vitrolic Rich and Dowd advocated for Frey’s book. I wonder if the Smoking Gun came out with the same fact checking on either of the Clinton’s books if the dominent media would even blink an eye? Highly doubtful.

Cliff Kincaid makes some excellent points about Risen’s book:

The Risen book, State of War, benefited from an illegal leak of classified information about an NSA spying program to uncover al-Qaeda operations on American soil.

The book has some other “revelations,” such as Risen’s claim that “some journalists” in Washington’s power circles are among those relying on “Saudi money or Saudi access” and, in the process, have ignored or suppressed information “about Saudi links to Islamic extremism.” This sensational charge is on page 177 of his book, but he names no names. Isn’t that interesting? Why Is Risen allowed to get away with making such a controversial charge without backing it up with evidence? Are any of these journalists at the Times or the Washington Post?

AIM Column - Another Book Fraud? - January 27, 2006

h/t Lucianne