Hillary is a lesbian! Hillary is a liar! Hillary is a crook!
The right is just breathless about Ed Klein’s new “biography” of Senator Clinton. It purports to paint an even darker portrait of Hillary than the one already drawn by Bush and friends. It is to biography what Sean Hannity is to news.
Yes, as insulting as these kind of books are, the ability to write them--and to generate publicity from them--is one of the right wing’s strengths: they keep nasty gossip flowing in the mainstream media. They are bulldogs on the ankles of the press. Once they’ve got a hold, they don’t let go.
The left, in the meantime, continues to try to be polite. And decent. And thoughtful.
Like that’s any good when you’re fighting a war.
The other day I was at a party with a group of politicos, and the subject of far-rightwing literary agent Lucianne Goldberg arose.
So I reminded everyone how biographer Kitty Kelley had successfully sued her agent, Goldberg, for damages after the publication of Kelley’s biography of Elizabeth Taylor. Goldberg, said Kelley, was guilty of breach of contract, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty with regard to the handling of Kelley’s royalties.
The jury agreed--and awarded Kelley punitive damages as well.
Speaking at the trial, Carl Brandt, one of the most well-respected literary agents of our time, spoke out against Goldberg, saying (and here I quote the Washington Post article on the trial) that Goldberg’s conduct “constitutes gross violations of accepted industry standards and practices applicable to literary agents, as well as fraud and highly morally culpable conduct unsuited to one acting as a literary agent.”
None of my political friends knew this.
I was shocked. I mentioned it to a few other people. They did not know this either. I Googled it. Sure enough, people have indeed discussed Goldberg’s treachery during the Lewinsky debacle, but it seems to have drifted out of the public view.
Why?
Why is it that conservatives are not only willing to call liberals on their transgressions, but willing to slander them as well? And never let it drop?
Why is it liberals, trying to fight the good fight, feel it’s somehow wrong? You should never fight mean. You shouldn’t hurt anyone.
I’m not suggesting slander and libel. I’m only say that when you actually have truth on your side, there’s no reason to let it go. Ever.
Remember how, in the Odyssey, dawn is always, “rosy fingered dawn?” Or during the heyday of Spy Magazine, Donald Trump was always “short-fingered vulgarian Donald Trump?
Every time Goldberg’s name is mentioned, the word “thief” should be right there.
Every time anyone on the far right who’s guilty of any kind of criminal behavior is mentioned, the facts should be right there.
When one side is constantly making up, and then throwing, dirt, there is nothing wrong with using the truth to fight back. It’s time the left realized that fighting politely while the other side is viciously punching below the belt may mean you’re left with a little more dignity, but you’ve probably lost the fight.