LiveWorld Transcripts

Borders.com presents

Author James D. Retter
“Anatomy Of A Scandal”

September 4, 1998

Author James D. Retter chats about his new book “Anatomy Of A Scandal.”

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CCCMyst: NetCafeLive brought to you by The Talk City Network (tm) and Borders.Com (tm). Welcome to our chat with author James D. Retter about his new book "Anatomy Of A Scandal" James, welcome to Talk City!

James Retter: Thank you very much, it's nice to be here!

Mysterygirl: James, welcome to Talk City! What compelled you to write this book, was it easy to get people to talk?

James Retter: That's a good question! What compelled me to write it was Rush Limbaugh. It seemed to me that the right wing seemed to almost have some kind of strangle hold on talk radio. I found that to be both fascinating and of great concern because of the accountability of talk radio. Beyond that it expanded to the people making the charges against Clinton, and to see if they were true or not. As far as getting people to talk it was mixed, and some of the people who I thought would be difficult to reach were accessible. Some who I thought were accessible were difficult to reach. Overall, I was happy with the response I got, and the requests I got from people for interviews.

Abelincoln: In researching your book, what one piece of information did you come across that surprised you and seemed to put things together? How did you find it?

James Retter: That's a good question too! I would have to say something Newt Gingrich said in 1992 which was an offhand remark he made regarding Bill Clinton, that he needed to be made "the enemy of normal Americans." I found that a somewhat startling and revealing comment. There were many others, a man who is referred to as Newt Gingrich's pollster, Frank Luntz, gave me an interview. He said it was decided "to turn Clinton's generation against him." Where he had protested the war in the '60s, to turn that against him, to make that a wedge against him. I found that a revealing comment, and in time to follow I think those were important comments that set a tone - a self fulfilling prophecy, that set the level of attacks that have gone against the Clintons.

Borrow: Mr. Retter, you refer to the Republican Right's five right-wing princes. Do you see Limbaugh, Gingrich, Falwell, Robertson and Reed consciously working together to undermine Pres. Clinton, or just sharing common goals?

James Retter: Well, I would have to say there is certainly an effort. Whether in fact you could say that Falwell is working in concert with Robertson is a bit of a stretch. They are certainly following an agenda which is to discredit Bill Clinton at any cost. When I say any cost, I bring up Vince Foster's death and the really scurrilous attempt in the video by Falwell, which made all types of dark and sinister accusations against Bill Clinton. So, there is a commonality that has focused each of the people mentioned. That commonality is quite frankly the destruction of Bill Clinton and his presidency at virtually any cost.

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