I've changed my opinion about Kitty Kelley..how about you?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

OK, I admit, after the Reagan, Sinatra and Princess Di books, I had pretty much written off Kitty Kelley as a gossip maven, a couple of steps above People mag, otherwise not much substance.

Now, I look at what this woman has done, and I'm awed. She has collected the "dirt" on the BFEE, compiled and published it, knowing full well the backlash she would have to deal with. What's her motivation...money? fame? ego?. I don't know and don't really care. She KNEW what she was getting into, she jumped in and is now dealing with it in a classy and smart manner.

I was earlier ambivalent about buying her book, but I will now pick up a full price hardback copy this weekend. I confess, I'm impressed. MKJ

[Cleita]

1. My copy has been shipped and is on the way.

As soon as I read it, I intend on lending it to as many relatives and neighbors I can who are willing to read it and return it so I can lend it out again.

[walldude]

3. I still can't stand her but

whatever helps our cause is OK with me...

[Booster]

18. I'm with you. Mine is on it's way from Amazon and

as soon as I finish it, I'm lending it to a friend (a Dem mind you) who has casually mentioned she might vote for Bush, which sent me into a tailspin like lightening on a duck pond. She loves these kind of books, so I really, really hope she enjoys this one.

[Zinfandel]

26. Costco is selling Kitty Kelly's book for $16.49

[kikiek]

2. Bought it at target today 30 pct off. She went through hell and high

water to interview people. It is frightening how influential the Bush family really is. We knew it, but to see it documented highlights their power. This is the USA and despite what the Bush's believe they are not royalty.

[harrison]

4. I think she is gutsy as hell. She knew what she was getting

into because she learned about this "family." She forged ahead anyway. She is 62 years of age and surely she doesn't need the money. I admire the woman.

[IMSA]

6. When is the book avaliable in stores? nfm

nfm

[sffreeways]

13. Today

Barnes and Noble has it for 20% off. I paid about $24.00 for mine.

It's great right from the start. I've nearly finished the first chapter and it's well written, well researched, and interesting as hell.

I didn't have an opinion of Ms. Kelly before this as I haven't read any of her books before but my opinion thus far is very good.

Her appearances on the various programs to talk about the book show her to be a fearless investigative author. I give her more credit than the rest of the whore press that won't touch the BFEE out of fear and self serving interests.

[Cha]

31. Exactly!

"Her appearances on the various programs to talk about the book show her to be a fearless investigative author. I give her more credit than the rest of the whore press that won't touch the BFEE out of fear and self serving interests."

[ncrainbowgrrl]

52. Borders has it for 30% off.

:hi:

[Bake]

10. She may not need the $$$, but she'll make a ton of it on this book

Controversy sells a lot of copies. So she'll come out pretty good, if she LIVES to cash the checks. I gotta say, it took some spine to take on the BFEE. And anything that helps us oust that squatter in the White House is fine by me.

I'm waiting to catch her on the replay later tonight.

Bake

[Booster]

20. And in every interview I've seen so far, she's mentioned

how dangerous the Bushes are so if anything happens to her all Hell will break loose.

[Cha]

32. CYA!

[benddem]

5. Ordered her book

first one I've read much less paid for.

[Cha]

33. LOL!

[jjmalonejr]

7. Do you really think she's credible?

The release of her book may be satisfying, but is it really a carefully researched expose?

It strikes me as rumor-mongering. There may be a lot of truth buried in there, but how the hell could you tell the truth from the gossip?

I'm not so sure she's helpful to the cause. If she comes off as not credible (and I believe she will), then the truth gets discarded along with the gossip.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

9. Well, she has a history of insuring enough accuracy...

to keep her from being successfully sued. I'm no expert on the legal requirements to keep one from being sued for libel, but she apparently feels comfortable that she's met that standard.

She also seems to have devoted lots of time and resources to researching the information. This is not a "fly by night" publication ala "Unfit for Duty", or whatever that stupid SBVFT book was called. MKJ

[Eloriel]

23. Vetted thru 4 sets of attorneys

In the interview with Aaron Brown tonight, he asked her a question asking for more info than in a brief quote he provided. She very carefully said, "I can't go beyond what I wrote in the book."

She KNOWS what she's doing.

Count me as someone who shrugged her off in years past, which I now realize is EXACTLY what TPTB that she wrote about wanted me (and many millions of others) to think. I plan to buy the book too, in part to support her and her book sales.

[Jade Fox]

8. Let's be blunt: the same folks who ate up the Smear Boat Liars stuff...

will be among the ones reading her book. We need their votes, or at least
we need them to stay home on election day.

Thank god we've got a seasoned slimer on our side. She's been getting
threatened for years, and she never backs down.

[Bake]

11. I wouldn't give a tinker's damn if it was pure fiction, if it helps

get rid of that damn family from public life.

Bake

[Eloriel]

24. ROTFL

I wasn't going to be quite that brutally honest -- tho I DO believe that she's got the goods -- but I'm with you, kid. The other side smears lies 24/7. Time for a little 24/7 TRUTH SMEARING from someone who's got the courage to stand up to them.

[chookie]

37. Yes, that is the difference

Ms Kelley does not have a political agenda. She is not out to destroy anyone. She does however have a nose for a great story, and does a great job writing about the roller coaster of life, and how public personas that people create hide strange and quite disfunctional realities.

She comes up with the goods, but I have never found her to be nasty, or vindictive or cruel. She doesn't have an agenda. More than anything she reminds me of an 19th century novelist -- just enjoys the twists of human nature.

This book is factual. It is not a hatefest, or a smear campaign. It merely sets out to report the facts.

As with Kevin Phillips the historian, Ms Kelley may have started out with one intention, and found that the facts led her in an entirely different direction.

While I know a lot of the stuff already, I know there are going to be surprises.

I ordered mine from Amazon back in MARCH!! I can't wait. Ms Kelley is a most entertaining writer, and yes, a sympathetic one.

[malatesta1137]

12. Kelly is a great American and a great patriot

and I hope she makes billions with this masterpiece of literature (not). It's about time someone writes at a level that Bush and his followers can understand, and by that I mean trashy, which is what The Bush Crime Family is: TRASH TRASH TRASH.

I hope she gets Michael Moore to do the audio version of the book.

[Cha]

35. That's a Good One!

"I hope she gets Michael Moore to do the audio version of the book."

Michael Moore do a documentary based on the book!

[Zen Democrat]

14. Remember, Kelley started writing this book when * was Governor.

Her focus was on the entire family -- and especially Bar,
who really is a disgusting vampire. And they say that
* is just like his mom, nothing like his dad.

[Capn Sunshine]

15. Too bad about that small plane crash

Oh well, it's coincidental. Oh Wait. Maybe they are hoping we think she's full of shit. They don't understand when their own lie machine turns on them
:nuke:

[farmbo]

16. Her quip to Lauer after his shrill,partisan rant when he invited her .

...back for a third interview:

"Maybe I should go into the witness protection program instead"

:toast:

[Cha]

36. Oh Wow! I heard about the quote she said,

but I didn't know it was in reference to being invited back for a 3rd time. That is very clever of her!

[barb162]

17. as far as I am concerned, give her the Nobel Prize for literature

if she pulls votes from Bush and opens anyone's eyes about that sick family, I also hope she makes millions on this book

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

21. OK, I said I'm impressed, never said she was Steinbeck et. al.

She wrote this book knowing the sh*tstorm it would create, and she published anyway. Maybe she needs some kind of "free speech" recognition, but I would not compare her to the greatest authors.

That said, she's braver about confronting the BFEE than I would ever be. MKJ (even I got a gazillion dollars for doing it).

[barb162]

22. ummmm, nobel comment was hyperbolic humor

I did read a few pages of her book on Nancy Reagan. She writes in a fairly monotonous but readable style.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

51. I know, I should have prefaced my remark with LOL...

I actually thought that the comment was funny...
hyperbole is hard to do without coming off as sarcastic, so I appreciate it when used well.

I do have to take back one thing I said at the beginning of thread. Now that I know where I can buy the book for a discount, I probably won't pay full price.

MKJB-)

[Samantha]

19. Yes

I picked up the book today at Border's. It was marked $29.95 but was 30 percent off.

Kelly said two important things: the book has been vetted by four different lawyers. She spent four years writing the book.

It's facinating. I only started it on the Metro tonight. I would love to stay up all night reading it. Kudos to her.

[maveric]

25. She could have written a smear book about Kerry if the money was there.

I still view her as an opportunist whore who was given big bucks to write a smear book. Had the GOP offered her more she would have written about Kerry, Edwards, Kennedy...
Just my opinion.

[Overseas]

27. I complteley disagree. Compared to the Bush Dynasty,

the Kerry history would be too normal. It wouldn't have the massive corruption and hypocrisy of the Bushes-- the juicy stuff that makes books sell.

[maveric]

28. I dont think that she has political loyalties. She goes where the $$$ is.

She's basically a gossip columnist. I am grateful that she took the job to smear the BFEE, but it easily could had gone the other way.

[Djinn]

44. My opinion of her and her writing hasn't changed

she is not a muck raker in the noble sense but in the crappy tabloid sense. Vetting by lawyers really doesn't mean much - it just means that you use the words "alledgedly" then she is simply reporting what others say not claiming it to be true herself.

[troublemaker]

30. And hopefuly she will (when Kerry is president)

[chookie]

38. Sorry, not true

She's not an opportunistic "whore." This is not a "smear book." Kitty is a lady; she really is. I take it you have never read anything by her? You may find yourself surprised that she is rather something else than what you assume her to be.

She EARNS lots of money because she writes really interesting, well crafted books.

Kelley doesn't smear or humiliate or judge or set out to hurt people -- she merely reports facts, which are often in contradiction to public personas, and I might add in most entertaining fashion. She's a bloodhound, not a pitbull.

If the Kerry family was as nuts as the Bushes, then by all means she would write about them -- but I am not sure there is a fascinating saga there. Kelley has an especial interest in examining the realities behind the personas created by very public people -- the stories can be quite tragic, or touching, or compassionate, and often quite enlightening.

[jsquared]

41. Her specialty is taking global icons and peering behind

the mask that these (often narcissistic) people have created. In fact, the more these folks inflate their image, the harder they have to fall when their true selves are so rigorously deconstructed. She focuses on those who are global celebrities and who have created images that are very different from their dysfunctional self. This goes way beyond gossip. She would never focus on someone like Kerry who knows who he is and doesn't need all the pretense that a false image offers. These kind of biographies may be comforting to average folks who may, on the one hand, envy the fame and lifestyles of these super-famous, and, on the other, be comforted with their messy lives.

[ibegurpard]

29. Not me

I look at her as a glorified gossip columnist. However, if her book is effective then I will stand aside and smile with glee. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth and all that.

[DemBones DemBones]

34. I think she's like The Enquirer -- everyone says they don't

read it and tut-tut-ain't it awful? but many do read it and believe at least some of it.

I've never read her books but I'm tempted to get this one and pass it around to those I know who plan to vote for Bush*. It's a public service, right?

[dflprincess]

39. I picked up a copy today..

My mother had been saving her Barnes and Noble gift card just for this, but because I picked it up she's letting me read it first. I haven't gotton much past her forward where she talks about how hard it was to get people to talk. One unnamed person wouldn't talk to her because "He wants to live to see his grandchildren." Another wouldn't because he told here the Bushes are all "thugs" (okay, we already knew that).

[Obamarama]

40. After seeing her first two interviews with WH spokesmodel Matt Lauer....

I have more faith that the book's contents are factual than I did just hearing and reading the mainstream buzz leading up to the release. This woman was cool as a cucumber and not at ALL fazed by Matt's attacks phrased in a form of a question. She took control of the interview.

[mitchum]

42. I have always enjoyed Kelley's books, but I will enjoy this one...

even more. She may not be Kevin Philips, but her book will get far more play.
Use what ya got.

[kskiska]

43. I was reading the NYT review

She keeps getting hit on because she focuses on personal peccadillos and isn't "fair and balanced." Who says she has to be? Was Barbara Olson fair and balanced when writing about Hillary? Did any pundit interviewer ask her why she didn't write positive things about the Clintons? Did she have to provide three sources for every allegation? Where were all these skeptics when the Arkansas State Troopers were peddling their lies about the Clinton Death List, and the Clintons' "porn Christmas tree?" Why didn't anyone ask all these questions of the Regnery authors' club?

I bought my book this morning and when I'm finished I'll be loaning it out.

[REP]

45. I Don't Like Sinatra, St Princess, The Reagans or The Bushes ...

so I think Kelley has done a pertty good job in picking her targets. She seems to go after icons who are worshipped perhaps beyond what their meagre talents merit.

[Laughing Mirror]

48. Jackie and Liz also

"Celebrity scourge" is what NY Daily News calls her, and that's the best description I've ever heard of her because that's exactly what she is. Everybody loves stories about celebrities, and that's what Kitty Kelley provides. That's what she does. She deflates Sacred Cows. Why make it any more difficult to understand than that?

[Xenus Sister]

46. Invoking names we admire

I've never read any of her books, but I knew I admired her when she told Bushboy, excuse me, Matt Lauer "Look what they tried to do to Richard Clarke. Look what they did to Paul O'Neill. Look what they did to Ambassador Joe Wilson. If they don't like the message, beat up on the messenger."

I tell ya, I was cheering out loud! Even if 98% of the audience had no clue as to who these people were, she invoked their names to Lauer. HE probably knew who they were, and she slapped him in the face with them. Good for her!

[AntiFascist]

47. I feel the same way...

Before, I thought this was just a book filled with gossip about the Bush family. After seeing her interview on MSNBC, I realize how serious she was in writing this, how much care she took in researching and protecting her sources, and the risks people took in divulging the info.

[in_cog_ni_to]

49. I've never read any of her books, but

I am reading this one! I received my copy yesterday and am going to start it today. I admire her greatly for her courage to write this book! Personally, I am surprised she has lived to tell the story. If she meets an untimely death, we'll know where to look. I wonder if she's had body guards during the last 4 years while writing and investigating this book? That would be a good question for Matt- White House- kiss ass- shill- Lauer to ask.

[dryan]

50. Have read all her books.....

say what you will about Kitty Kelley, but all this information has been out there for years. All her books are heavily researched and she fact checks like crazy.