Dear Associated Press: Let's talk about political celebrities and their ghost writers

Y'know, it was nice of you guys to assign Hilel Italie to write that story suggesting Sarah Palin doesn't have the brains to write her own book.

Shall we discuss the editorial process behind, say, Bill Clinton's My Life or Hillary Clinton's Living History? Between them, the Clintons employed enough ghosts to staff the day shift at Disney World's "Haunted Mansion" ride.

Having been a Washington, D.C., journalist since 1997, I can assure you that we "talk shop" often enough so that every writer inside the Beltway knows who's ghosting whom. No need to name names, but suffice it to say that once somebody has served in the Cabinet or been elected Senator, any book published under his name can be assumed to be, at best, a team effort in which the named author was the quarterback. (Or sometimes, as one hears in regard to the Clintons, the meddlesome team owner who insists on second-guessing the editorial quarterback.)

However, since the Associated Press has taken this sudden and keen interest in the subject of potential future presidents and their ghostwriters, perhaps you could be bothered to run down a disturbing theory that has troubled me for several months.

After I founded Authors Against Obama, a reader called to my attention Jack Cashill's theory that Dreams of My Father was ghost-written. Cashill offered abundant circumstantial evidence to support his theory, and perhaps the mighty AP could assign Hilel Italie to investigate this.

Or, as seems likely, perhaps not.

(Cross-posted at Hot Air Green Room.)

UPDATE: Allahpundit loves me! And Chris Matthews still hates Sarah Palin:

. . . insisted he's 'not a racist'

Bill Clinton, that is:

In his first broadcast interview since his wife dropped out of the Democratic presidential race, former President Bill Clinton said he still has regrets, and insisted he's "not a racist," despite controversies surrounding his comments about Sen. Barack Obama's win in the South Carolina Democratic primary. . . .
"But I am not a racist," he continued. "I've never made a racist comment and I never attacked him [Obama] personally."
Clinton was referring to an uproar surrounding some of his comments in the South Carolina Democratic primary that prompted anger among some in the African American community. After Obama, D-Ill., defeated his wife there, Clinton seemed to downplay the significance of the victory by noting Jesse Jackson had won South Carolina in 1984 and 1988, which some observers found offensive.

Trust me, Bill -- I feel your pain.

Obama puckers up

Remember when Bill Clinton said Barack Obama would have to "kiss my ass" to get his support? Well, keep that Chapstick handy:

"President Clinton had a very good conversation with Sen. Obama today. He renewed his offer to do whatever he can to ensure Sen. Obama is our next President," said Bill Clinton spokesperson Matt McKenna.

Allahpundit observes:

Doubtless he did it simply to try to stop Bill from sucking up any more media coverage with his lingering bitterness. Meditate on this as a measure of how far the Legacy has fallen: If Clinton promised tomorrow not to say another word for the rest of the campaign, whether for or against Obama, the party leadership as well as the vast majority of Democrats could probably live with it just fine.

Allah: Let it go, man. Just let it go. Hillary lost the nomination and Bill's shameful record speaks for itself. Ally McBeal got cancelled, Friends and Seinfeld are in reruns, and Kurt Cobain's dead. The '90s are over, buddy. Move on.

Besides, Billy Jeff hates Hope, too. That means he's on your side now, like it or not.

UPDATE: Politico:

The campaign said the call lasted about 20 minutes. Maria Gavrilovic of CBS News quotes the campaign as reporting that Obama called Clinton [Monday] on the drive from Kansas City to Independence at approximately 10 a.m. Central. Obama asked him to campaign with and for him, and Clinton said he is looking forward to it.

Ed Morrisey:

The man who insisted that he could meet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez without preconditions certainly took his time speaking with the former leader of his own party after clinching the nomination.

Despite the death of Kurt Kobain and the cancellation of Ally McBeal, the Clintons are not irrelevant. Older Democrats (50+) had a lot of emotional investment in the idea of Hillary continuing a presidency that the Baby Boom liberals viewed as a success. Al Gore was supposed to have done this, but Bush cheated him out of it (or so the Clintonistas believe), and the Hillary candidacy was their chance at a restoration.

These older Democrats are not racist, but they also don't believe that America is over the race thing, and they fear that Obama -- a political novice -- isn't ready to deal with the "Republican attack machine" the way the Clintons would have been.

Old people vote, and old people have memories. This is the political fact that is being overlooked in the liberal enthusiasm for Obama (and the corresponding gloom among some young conservatives). All the young campaign reporters I talk to seem to have the idea that the "youth vote" is going to sweep the Messiah to victory, and that the alienation of older Democrats (the Hillary voters) is not going to matter. Good luck with that.

In today's Democracy Corps poll, 21% of the respondents were over 65 or older. Nov. 4 is going to be National Geezer Day.

Bill vs. Barack

According to the Telegraph:

"I’ve spoken to a couple of people who he's been in contact with and he is mad as hell.
"He's saying he's not going to reach out, that Obama has to come to him. One person told me that Bill said Obama would have to quote kiss my ass close quote, if he wants his support."

(Via Hot Air.) We observed yesterday that Obama was forcing Hillary to jump through hoops, and noticed when Kathryn Jean Lopez predicted that Team Obama's public effort to humiliate the Clintons would backfire. Looks like Bubba's getting ready to blow up.

UPDATE: Thomas Edsall:

"Bill wants to be honored, to return to the role of Democratic elder statesman, and get rid of this image of him as a pol willing to do anything to win," said one associate.

Heh. Good luck with that, pal.

UPDATE II: Noel Sheppard catches this by UPI:

Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton didn't seem like they were on good terms at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday in London, a source told the New York Daily News. . . .
"There was a very cold reception between them," a source told the Daily News.

Ooooh. Dissing Oprah? He really is mad.

Will Bill stand for this?

Barack Obama's bossing Hillary around. Kathryn Jean Lopez thinks there will be consequences:

This Unity, New Hampshire, event was the ultimate in political mortification for Hillary Clinton.
I may be crazy. But Bill Clinton is not going to let himself be humiliated. He's in talks with McCain before long if he's not already. He's going to salvage his name before this election is over.

Hmmmm. That angle hadn't occurred to me. Of course, getting pushed around by Team Obama -- "do this" and "say that" and being forced to send out fundraising letters for him -- is hard enough on her, but man, it's got to be eating Bill's heart out.

The DNC is run by Howard Dean (no friend of Bill) and now Bill's enemies within the party are putting his wife through this degrading "unity" charade. Maybe he'll just decide he needs to get reaquainted with his old pal, Joe Lieberman. And, say, how long's it been since Billy Jeff had a chat with Zell Miller?

Sex, lies and Gina Gershon

Remember that Vanity Fair article about Bill Clinton's post-presidential shenanigans? Stolen, says Bob Tyrrell:

"Seventeen anecdotes and ideas are clearly lifted from my book, The Clinton Crack-Up," states Mr. Tyrrell. "Mr. Purdum's article did not make reference to the book once."

Purdum has unjustly deprived Tyrrell of the valuable publicity of a Gina Gershon lawsuit and a New York Post feature, describing Gershon as "famous for her lesbian liplock with co- star Jennifer Tilly in the flick 'Bound.'" How did Tyrrell miss that one?

My new BFF, Bill Clinton

Preparing for Tuesday's trip to see Hillary at a "Solutions for America" event in Greensburg, Pa., I RSVP'd at HillaryClinton.com, providing my e-mail address as requested.

Hillary's husband must be minding the Web site nowadays, because next thing you know, I got the following personal e-mail from the former Leader Of The Free World:

Dear Robert,
You and I both want Hillary to win. So let me be frank about the challenge our campaign faces right now. It couldn't be any simpler than this: we cannot be competitive politically unless we are competitive financially -- and right now we are at a financial disadvantage. The Obama campaign is already spending more than $1 million on an aggressive ad buy in Pennsylvania. . . . .
Despite the spirited support from Hillary's best supporters, including you, we are still being outraised and outspent by the Obama campaign. He outspent us by more than $10 million in February alone. Let's close the gap so Hillary can win in Pennsylvania, keep on winning, and be our next president. . . .
Just like Hillary, you've worked hard to get us this far. We cannot let up our efforts now and let this race be decided by a shortfall of funds. One thing I know for sure about Hillary -- if we give her the support she needs, she will never let us down, not as a candidate and not as president. She'll work just as hard for you in the White House as she is on the campaign trail. Let's match Hillary's efforts with our own.
Contribute to help us raise as much as we can by midnight tonight. I appreciate everything you are doing for Hillary so much. Let's keep working and winning.
Sincerely,
Bill Clinton

You know, Bill, it's that "sincerely" that makes all the difference. That means so much, coming from you. And I'm sincerely glad to know how much you appreciate everything I'm doing for Hillary.

UPDATE: Monday night in Uniontown, Pa., Hillary campaigned with "coveted superdelegate," John Murtha:

U.S. Rep. John Murtha, an Iraq war critic, stumped for Hillary Clinton in Western PA Monday evening, in his first campaign appearance since endorsing the senator last week.
Murtha was one of two of the coveted superdelegates – the other was DNC committeeman Pat Maroney from West Virginia -- to endorse the New York senator after a long, post-March 4th drought.

While I'm neither coveted nor a superdelegate, Bill Clinton did call me "Dear Robert." And he did it sincerely.

UPDATE II: This reminds me of the time I was under sniper fire in Bosnia. Sorry, I "misspoke."

UPDATE III: I'm now in Greensburg, at the campus computer center. Got linked by Sean Hackbarth at The American Mind. Sean sincerely doubts my "Friend of Bill" credibility.

P.S.: Because of my Pennsylvania trip, I probably won't be blogging Tuesday.