Trashing Hillary

It worked with John Kerry.  Remember him, the decorated Vietnam War veteran who was trashed in '04 by the creepily named "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth?"  They ran ads and had a best selling book:

They even dusted it off and ran with it again when President Obama nominated Kerry for Secretary of State.

It worked so well in 2004, with Kerry being all naive and honorable, and too slow to fight back, that it was inevitable that Trump's minions would hurry up and turn over those rocks to find someone who would do the same to Hillary.

It wasn't hard to find one.  Gary Byrne has cooked up an instant best seller full of lies and innuendo called "Crisis of Character."  He is a former uniformed Secret Service agent, and has been spouting this nonsense since the Bill Clinton years.  His book has most recently been promoted by -- no surprise -- Donald Trump, during his campaign rallies.  And, sadly, it is currently No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List.  Erroneously, I must add, in the non-fiction category.

The book has been trashed -- I mean, fact-checked -- by David Brock of Media Matters, who has been fighting the good fight ever since he jumped ship on the republican dirty tricks gang.  Gail Collins' review in the New York Times is an entertaining read, and serves the same purpose.  Basically, Byrne, based on his rank with the Secret Service, could not have been anywhere near where he claims to have seen incidents with both Bill and Hillary.  His claims have been debunked by none other than the Association of Former Agents of the U.S. Secret Service.  In fact, Byrne even contradicts his own testimony regarding tissues and towels.

Unfortunately, every right wing-nut who has been jerking off to Donald Trump's witticisms for the past year has run out to get a copy of the book.  And I can't tell you how much I hate to say this:  Charleston County Public Library (which took several months and repeated requests to get Michael D'Antonio's well reviewed Trump biography, Never Enough, and has still not purchased Michael Moore's Where to Invade Next) has 62 holds on its nine copies of the book.

You will be hearing whackos spewing the old lies and rumors as though they themselves witnessed it.  Don't waste your time reading the book, life is way too short, but do read one of the reviews and articles that debunk this piece of garbage, so you can defend yourself from the onslaught.  My guess is that Hillary and her team are already all over it.