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By James Carville |
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Book Review by Jack Nichols
…And the Horse He Rode in On by James Carville, Simon & Schuster, 1998, 176 pp. $14.95  Kenneth Starr. We know so little of his personal life. Might we not be tempted to like him better if we knew his prayer schedule, perhaps? Of course the good book (Book of Matthew, chapter 6): says:
"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.." Is Ken Starr, the son of a fundamentalist minister, a hypocrite? Surely he recalls these words of his savior, does he not? Maybe not, 'cause listen what he tells the Washington Times: "My favorite (thing to do) is going on a morning jog—real early. I go right to the bank of Pimmit Run…I've got my favorite spot. And I sing a hymn. And I sing it aloud. Sometimes I'm huffing and puffing, but I sing it aloud. And then I offer a prayer." Huffing and puffing, eh? Ecstasy without sex. But, according to Jesus, with hypocrisy to spare.
…And the Horse He Rode in On was, for me, an impulse buy. The impeachment hearings raging, the day's paper tucked under my arm, I
turned from the store cashier to scan the "latest books" shelf.
And there was "down-home" James Carville, the author, dressed in cowboy gear (except for those tennie pumps) his arm—in a composite—draped over Ken's business-suited shoulder. It was the title that sparked a chuckling rise. But that was just the beginning. Thumbing, my eyes fell upon these words:
"You know something? I don't like Ken Starr. "I don't like one damn thing about him. I don't like his politics. I don't like his sanctimony. I don't like his self-piety. I don't like the people he runs with. I don't like his suck-up, spit-down view of the world, how he kisses up to the powerful and abuses the life out of regular people. I don't like his private legal clients. I don't like the folks who work for him—or the people who apologize for him, either. I don't like the way he always smiles at the wrong time…. "Now, don't get me wrong. I don't hate the guy. I don't wish him personal ill. I just flat out do not like him. I think he's an abusive, privacy-invading, sex-obsessed, right-wing, constitutionally insensitive, boring, obsequious, and miserable little man who has risen further in this life by his willingness to suck up to power than his meager talents and pitiful judgement would ever have gotten him. I wouldn't want to have a beer with him—if I did, he'd probably subpoena the waitress." Sold. If you or someone you know has ever been entrapped by a "vice-squad" officer—you'll better understand—after reading this book—the twisted, even evil "moral" fervor that marks Ken Starr's makeup—feeding the current hell-bent zealotry that has infected the goosestepping GOP. James Carville has provided a hilarious, punch-him-while-he's-drunk-with-power, point by point investigation of Ken Starr's meandering, find-nothing $40+ million investigation into the private sex lives of nearly everybody he meets. Peepholism, Starr's prurient passtime, gets a royal kick in the butt as Carville knocks the Independent Councel's behavior from one end of the great Republic to the other, showing how he and his accomplices have engineered their "case" for impeachment. Hell, even Starr's personal ethics advisor left him in the lurch, n'est pas? And no wonder.
If you go bananas watching the Republican juggernaut on course, seeing other hypocrites like Judicial chair Rep. Henry "Father of the Bastard" Hyde, and right wing Speaker-of the House designee, Robert L. (Lustful Living) Livingston squirming and then resigning after being outed as an adulterer by Larry Flint—hah-- Carville's new book is the necessary "gun" you'll want to carry in your pocket as you blast your way through the vicious governmental charades these creeps have too tenaciously upheld.
Russell Baker in the New York Times colludes, I'd say, with Carville, when he fingers such moralistic politicians—writing: "It is never easy to feel comfortable with politicians who claim to hold the high moral ground, as the Republicans now do. Few spectacles are more grotesque. A politician holding the high moral ground is like a hog in the bathtub." Ken Starr's ecstatic moments, simultaneously jogging and singing hymns and then praying in a huff and puff makes a kind of weird sense. He's--puff puff-- one of those good Christian lawyers who defends the tobacco industry… in cahoots with another huffy joyboy, Big Tabacco's Jesse Helms. Carville's entertaining tome makes all the right connections between these right-wingers. The "vast right-wing conspiracy" of which Hillary complained earlier this year is, in this book, laid out in rip snorting detail. I like James Carville. I like his lack of sanctimony. I like the way he thumbs his nose at false piety. I like the fact that he's a big enough man to have married a woman who often disagrees with him. When he spits fire, I like the way he does it in the best traditions of both Mark Twain and Robert G. Ingersoll and with a rural accent that suits me just fine for its purposes. He's pure Americana. He represents the best instincts, I'd say, of American politics.
…And the Horse He Rode in On is not only a fun read, it's a polemic that skewers a slimy dolt who represents the worst influence in U.S. culture since Senator Joseph McCarthy—the demagogue who, when he couldn't find the real communists he said he was looking for, hunted down homosexuals in the State Department instead.
Ken Starr is the Joseph McCarthy of our time, and James Carville has his number. Related Stories from the GayToday Archive: Kenneth W. Starr: Investigating Private Sexual Behavior Save Us Mr. Washington The Politics of Intimacy Stop the Impeachment Process Now! Impeachment Supported by Log Cabin Republican Leader Related Sites: Amazon Books Barnes and Noble GayToday does not endorse related sites. |
