Bill Clinton in Madame Hillary, by R. Emmett Tyrell
On Drugs:
1984 drug arrest of brother Roger reportedly implicated Bill
The story of Roger Clinton's 1984 arrest and subsequent conviction on drug charges has been used by the Clintons for years, supposedly to demonstrate Bill's probity. According to their script, Bill as governor stood aside, allowing drug investigators to
conduct the sting that nabbed Roger. After Roger's conviction, a tearful governor appeared on the courthouse steps, saying, "I feel more deeply committed than ever before to do everything I can to fight drugs in our state." Says Hillary now in her
memoir, "Bill and I berated ourselves for not seeing signs of Roger's abuse and taking some kind of action to help him." Unfortunately for the Clintons, half a dozen Arkansans have testified to doing drugs with both Clinton brothers. During Roger's
investigation he was videotaped saying, "I've got to get some for my brother, he's got a nose like a Hoover vacuum cleaner." The officer who conducted the sting claims Gov. Clinton shut it down prematurely to protect himself from being implicated.
Source: Madame Hillary, by R. Emmett Tyrell, p. 76-77
Feb 25, 2004
On Drugs:
Gov. Clinton implicated in his brother Roger’s drug arrest
The story of Roger Clinton’s 1984 arrest and subsequent conviction on drug charges has been used by the Clintons for years supposedly to demonstrate Bill’s probity. After
Roger’s conviction a tearful governor appeared on the courthouse steps. “I feel more deeply committed than ever before to do everything I can to fight drugs in our state,” Bill said.Half a dozen or more
Arkansans have testified to doing drugs with both Clinton brothers or to witnessing them doing drugs. In fact it now has widely been reported that during Roger’s investigation he was videotaped saying, “I’ve got to get some for my brother.
He’s got a nose like a Hoover vacuum cleaner.” The officer who conducted the sting claims Governor Clinton shut it down prematurely to protect himself from being implicated in drugs.
Source: Madame Hillary, by R. Emmett Tyrell, p. 77
Feb 25, 2004
On Government Reform:
2001: Last-minute pardons allegedly traded for donations
In the last hours of his presidency, Clinton had shocked America by insolently commuting 36 crooks, some of whom had been conspicuous in the Arkansas underworld. Brother Roger Clinton, himself a convicted drug dealer, was caught peddling some
of the pardons. Even high-level felon Susan McDougal got a pardon, a prodigiously bold affront, given Clinton's solemn vow at the height of the
Whitewater controversy never to pardon her for her defiance of independent counsel Kenneth Starr. Others on the list shocked the nation, for instance, the fugitive billionaire Marc Rich. His ex-wife, Denise, had become a major
Democratic donor just prior to his pardon, giving one million dollars to the Democratic Party and an "enormous sum" (according to her lawyer's boast) to the Clinton library.
Source: Madame Hillary, by R. Emmett Tyrell, p. 95
Feb 25, 2004
On Principles & Values:
Key to 1992 success was timing of entry into race
"The most brilliant decision the Clintons ever made was to get into the 1992 race when they did," says a major national political correspondent. "In 1991, candidates stayed out of it, thinking that [the first] President Bush was unbeatable. The
Clintons shrewdly picked a time to run when the [Democratic] field was open. She was the one who told Bill, 'You can take this guy. You've got to go now.' "After deciding to launch Bill toward the presidency in 1991, Hillary made another shrewd
decision in 1999. Hillary decided to run for the Senate, and not from Arkansas, but from New York, where big media and big money come together. 4 years later, Senator Hillary was surrounded by people telling her the same things she had once told
Bill, things like , "The second Pres. Bush is another paper tiger." They reminded her that Gore beat Bush by 539,947 votes in the popular tally. Bush, they said, is suffering from jobless recovery syndrome and Iraqi fever. In short, "Hillary, go for it!"
Source: Madame Hillary, by R. Emmett Tyrell, p. 7-8
Feb 25, 2004
On Principles & Values:
Clinton mystique: generates excitement & also generates cash
The Clinton Mystique: How do two people control the oldest and largest party in the country? What are their levels of control? On the surface, of course, it is their extraordinary appeal. Bill Clinton remains a mesmerizing figure to those he does not
thoroughly repel. He still brings out the crowds, generating excitement like no former president since Teddy Roosevelt. No other ex-president has ever been such an inexhaustible ham. What is more, no white politician has ever developed a stronger hold on
the loyalties of African-American voters than Bill Clinton.Hillary's appeal, by contrast, is almost metaphysical. She represents the transcendent dreams of the feminist, the gay rights advocates, the eco-activist. But she also connects with the murky
dreams of millions of suburban women who quietly enter the ballot booth and assert their independence from their family's party affiliation. But there are other levers, the most important of which is the lever releasing the quantities of money.
Source: Madame Hillary, by R. Emmett Tyrell, p. 21-22
Feb 25, 2004
On Principles & Values:
Regained popularity via "triangulation" with GOP Congress
Dick Morris, before his reincarnation as a television political analyst, was the political wizard who rescued the Clintons from the policy disasters and faux pas of their first term in the
White House, just as he had rescued them from the similar disasters of Bill's first term in the Arkansas governor's mansion. After Republicans captured both houses of
Congress, causing woebegone President Clinton to protest that he remained "relevant," it was Morris who coached Clinton in asserting managerial ambivalence
("Triangulation" is the esoteric term they applied to it) and thereby regaining his popularity with contented voters.
Source: Madame Hillary, by R. Emmett Tyrell, p. 73
Feb 25, 2004
On Principles & Values:
OpEd: Marriage is a jet-set cosmopolitan arrangement
In 1988, Bill broached the subject of divorce with governors from other states who had survived the collapse of their marriages. But he told his friends in Arkansas that he wanted to save his marriage. And Hillary wanted to save it, too. She had invested
too much in Bill Clinton.By now even Clinton true believers are curious about the dynamic of the fractious Clinton marriage. The marriage is a very cosmopolitan arrangement, more typical of European jet-set society than of America. It is a playboy
marriage. True, at a certain practical level it is the marriage of convenience, allowing both Clintons to advance their political ambitions as they avail themselves of each other's uncommon political skills. Yet there is an emotional side, too, deeply
fulfilling to both parties' idiosyncratic needs. Bill's waywardness gives Hillary ample opportunities to exercise Madame Hillary's indignant bossiness. And Madame Hillary's tireless watchfulness allows Bill exciting opportunities to sneak out on mother.
Source: Madame Hillary, by R. Emmett Tyrell, p. 84-85
Feb 25, 2004
Page last updated: Feb 14, 2019