Two things.
1) James Carville is hilarious. There's just something about his smile and the sound of his voice.
2) My husband's bookshelf is amazing. (There's something about his smile and voice, too. Swoon.)
Book I Haven't Read Yet: ...And the Horse He Rode in On: The People v. Kenneth Starr (1998)
Why I Haven't Read it: As you know, the titles on my shelf are very heavy on women's fiction, poetry, plays, and the textbooks from my feminist and critical theory college courses. My non-fiction titles are somewhere between lacking and non-existent.
To Be Honest: I also want to plug Carville's other books, particularly...
40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation (2009)
It's the Middle Class, Stupid! (2012)
We're Still Right - And They're Still Wrong (2016)
But since I have ...And the Horse in front of me, we'll stay focused on this one title.
Should You Read It? So, as I just learned 20 minutes ago, Ken Starr died just a couple of months ago due to complications related to surgery. While I generally hate to speak ill of the dead (Rush Limbaugh not withstanding) I do think the actions of Kenneth Starr during the Clinton impeachment deserve remembrance, a memorial candle lit, but one in which we hope does not see some burning down our republic.
Carville's front flap is simply his own quote:
"Kenneth Starr's investigation represents a historic and unconscionable violation of justice fueled by a ring wing hell-bent on overturning the American people's election - and re-election - of Bill Clinton."
Again, this was 1998.
Spooky familiar, eh?
I can't help but quote Carville again, as he quoted himself again on the page prior to the contents and his introduction. If you didn't know this was written in the late 1990's, you could read it and feel the same eerie chill (or worse) that permeates our icy political climate today.
"The President's attackers are a motley band, consisting primarily of perjuring partisan politicians, strumpets, hags, bitter old segregationists, hired guns for cigarette companies, felons, judges who trade favors for jobs, bitter, defeated, pathetic former political rivals, Hillary-hating misogynists, wacko billionaires, gay-bashers, hate radio hucksters, mother-subpoenaing prosecutors, and mother-suing nutcases, all feeding and endless line of lies and half-truths to jealous journalists, envious editorialists, curmudgeonly columnists, and cranky commentators more concerned with their own self-importance and trashing the good name of a great President than the truth."*
*bolded selections are my own.
In closing, it might be too painful to read, considering in the 24 years since the publication of this book, things have only gotten worse, not better.
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