The Survivor: Clinton Years - The Lies Fights and Insults

Matt Drudge pulls a few juicy excerpts from John Harris's book which traces the Bill Clinton years through both the good times and bad. Some of the passages are already being reviewed by the mainstream press. The following are excerpts via Drudge :

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005®: "XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX MON MAY 30, 2005 17:01:22 ET XXXXX

NEW CLINTON BOOK: THE LIES, THE FIGHTS, THE INSULTS

[**Exclusive From Drudge Report** ] - zzb

Summer starts with a bang as veteran WASHINGTON POST reporter John Harris traces the emotional highs and lows of the Clinton presidency.

THE SURVIVOR: BILL CLINTON IN THE WHITE HOUSE drops this week from RANDOM [the book ranked #9,527 on AMAZON's sales parade Monday afternoon], but the DRUDGE REPORT can now sneak:

--Bill Clinton was so upset that his weight-loss regimen in 2000 was not working that he made his aides release a bogus number after his annual Navy physical to make him five pounds lighter. (pg. 394)

--Hillary taunted her husband's aides as being wimps by not fighting hard enough on Whitewater - 'JFK had real men in his White House!' (pg. 108)

--Tipper Gore was so disgusted in 2000 with Bill and Hillary that she stayed cloistered in a holding room instead of going to a New York reception with major Democratic fund-raisers where the Clintons would be. 'No, I'm not doing it,' she snapped to an aide. 'I'm not going out there with that man.'

--The first conversation between Clinton and Gore after the Lewinsky story broke. Clinton is shouting at Gore, 'This is a fucking coup d'etat!' Gore just stared back blankly. (pg 313.)

--Former White House counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke on the record hitting Clinton for not having the guts to fire FBI director Louis Freeh, who Clarke called a major obstacle on anti-terrorism policy. 'He should have just fired Freeh and taken the shit it would have caused.' (pg. 408)

The POST plans two jumbos on Tuesday, newsroom sources tell DRUDGE.

One story from Harris will outline Hillary Clinton's presidential preparations.

Swearing Steaming Screaming -- White House as Hot House

From pages 356-7 of THE SURVIVOR: BILL CLINTON IN THE WHITE HOUSE by John F. Harris, national correspondent for the WASHINGTON POST:

Context is Sally Quinn's article from 11/98 explaining why the Washington Establishment was appalled by Clinton's behavior during Lewinksy.

Some time afterward the president was going over papers with his staff on the upcoming Presidential Medal of Freedom awards. Spontaneously, he launched into a little riff for his assembled aides. His nominee for the prestigious award this year would be none other than the famous [Watergate editor] Ben Bradlee, husband of Sally Quinn.

The aides looked on in puzzled amusement.

"Anyone who sleeps with that bitch deserves a medal!" he explained. Developing through the week...