Doug Ross @ Journal

Condi vs. Hillary

The entire first chapter of Dick Morris' new book, entitled Condi vs. Hillary , is online. Morris is, of course, the long-time Clinton adviser who has transformed himself into an anti-Clintonian zealot. Imagine Karl Rove leaving the Bush fold and co-authoring a breathless tell-all on White House shenanigans - that's effectively what Morris has done for the Clintons.

Condoleezza Rice has never been involved in personal or professional wrongdoing; Hillary has been embroiled in scandal after scandal, ever since she entered public life. She has always teetered on the ethical edge. Her unexplainable windfall in her commodities futures speculation; the circumstances of her Whitewater investment; the disappearance of her law firm's billing records; her role in the decapitation of the White House Travel Office employees; her solicitation and acceptance of personal gifts of expensive furniture, silver, and china during her last days in the White House while she was still first lady (but not yet a senator bound by rules about gifts); her acceptance of contributions and gifts from persons seeking presidential pardons; and the hiring of her brothers by drug dealers and others seeking pardons-all of these have led to the continuous cloud of doubt that has surrounded her personal and professional integrity. Perhaps the most shocking example of her tin ear on ethical issues was her acceptance of furniture-and $70,000 in campaign contributions from Denise Rich, who was basically trying to buy a pardon for her fugitive ex-husband, Marc Rich. After a federal indictment charged Marc Rich with fifty-one counts of tax evasion and illegal trading with the enemy-Iran-during the hostage crisis of the late 1970s, Rich had fled to Switzerland and renounced his U.S. citizenship. In the wake of his ex-wife's gifts and campaign contributions to Mrs. Clinton and $450,000 donation to the Clinton Library, Marc Rich was pardoned in the very last minutes of the Clinton presidency.

You can read the entire first chapter here.