George Ball: Behind the Scenes in U.S. Foreign Policy Book

12 years after its publication, Blood Sport reveals the Clinton mentality as users of people who surround them. Stewart traces the history of Whitewater, Jim and Susan McDougal with their accompanying cast of characters, Arkansas politicians who influenced and modeled behavior for Clinton, and the White House years. Stewart's jumping off point, the suicide of Vince Foster, in medias res, grabs attention and raises red flags.

The Clinton White House, while Stewart's information presents a clear case for suicide, acted as though the administration had something to hide relative to Foster's death. Following the White Water history, the Travel Office incident, Kimba Wood, and Secret Service controversy, the administration intended to hide documents that Foster had. Bernard Nussbaum, the administration's Cassandra, unwittingly dividied up documents from Foster's office, at the request of the administration before the federal police could review the documents.

Unfortunately for the Clintons, Nussbaum's advice was ignored largely out of pigheaded ignorance. Believing that the Clinton White House was in fact a reincarnation of the Clinton's gubernatorial administration where Southern politics ruled and secrets would be kept secret out of decorum the Clintons continued their efforts to act as "trustee" type rulers. In the philosophy applied by the Clintons, voters, media and everyone else should simply trust their word and acts without any sort of oversight or explanation from the decision makers. Hillary Clinton basically launched her Healthcare Initiative study without any public input or suggestion.

And perhaps, that is the point for me. Now Senator Clinton sees herself as a trustee who knows what is good for America and expects everyone to jump on the bandwagon. Unfortunately, Senator Clinton lacks the charisma and Southern charm that her husband exudes. Somehow, her ivy league education overshadows whatever human nature and compassion she might actually possess.

The nature of the administration, fear of the wrath of the elected and his wife, lead individuals to forget their ethical duties and investigative duties. Investigative referrals from the S&L investigative body swept under the rug by Clinton sycophants resulted in an investigation of a relatively small failed S&L when efforts could have been better spent elsewhere. But the cover-up created intrigue where none would otherwise have caught fire.

Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton accepted all monetary assistance offered by those seeking favor with them. The pair asked few questions and paid little attention to the ramifications of their actions until their blind acceptance of assistance became a liability: Hillary Clinton's investment in commodities based on insider information and the Whitewater investment largely financed by the McDougals.

The Clintons sought to remove the Travel Office staff and the Secret Service because they could not rely on them to cover for the Clintons and could not be used to benefit the family. The Clintons used their weight in government offering jobs to and threatening jobs of the State Troopers who felt compelled to clear the air about Bill Clinton's extra-marital relationships. As with the McDougals, the Clintons sapped all the usefulness from anyone around them. At one point, Governor Clinton asked Jim McDougal to give some work to Hillary Clinton at the Rose Law Firm, which led to the ethical problems raised by the Rose Law Firm billing records.

Foster's unfortunate death marked the end of the line for a man who could no longer cover for his "client" (Hillary Clinton), who could not reconcile his role and duties as representative for Clinton and ethical obligations as a lawyers and a person. The Clintons' shotgun approach to government weighed heavily on Foster. Foster lacked the capacity to contradict or correct the ethically challenged Clintons. When faced with a valid ethical issue, Hillary Clinton's representation of Jim McDougal's S&L before the Arkansas banking commission, commission who reported to then Governor Clinton, Hillary Clinton reported that "she" had little or nothing to do with the representation. The reality of the situation, documentary proof, establishes that she wrote and signed documents sent to the Commission. Then, the billing records went missing: the famed Rose Law Firm billing records.

This book should be read by anyone considering voting for Senator Clinton and who cares about how government is run and delivered. No one is perfect and I do not expect Senator Clinton to be perfect. Senator Clinton, however, refuses to acknowledge clear and abiding ethic mistakes and judgment mistakes that led to the death of her law partner, friend, and best representative.