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Money talks, reform walks
The McCain-Feingold campaign-finance bill died in the Senate on Tuesday. Again.
By Jake Tapper
[10/19/99]

The end of a nightmare
After her husband was killed in Chile's bloody coup, Joyce Horman thought the only justice would come from telling her story. Now she has reason to hope those responsible will be forced to face the truth.
By Itay Hod
[10/19/99]

Back to the eve of destruction?
Senate GOP leaders have endangered us all by their foolish rejection of the test-ban treaty.
By Joe Conason
[10/19/99]

"Fortunate Son": Better and worse than you might expect
The writer who penned the controversial new Bush bio digs some dirt but depicts a likable George W.
By Craig Offman
[10/19/99]

White Reps. can't jump
Members of Congress and the "third house" hoop it up for charity.
By Jake Tapper
[10/19/99]

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But Hatfield and Neville seem as bewildered as Mulder and Scully as they face a backlash from the Bush campaign, and parts of the media, denouncing the book's anonymously sourced allegations.

Fortunate Son: The Rise of George W. Bush & The Next Generation of Politics By J.H. Hatfield

"This guy should have stuck with writing science fiction," said Bush campaign spokeswoman Mindy Tucker. (Hatfield has written a biography of "Star Trek's" Patrick Stewart along with his "X-Files" work.) "He's obviously trying to sell books with something absolutely untrue."

Former President George Bush struck back, too, calling the Hatfield effort "a vicious lie" and "a nasty groundless attack," adding "I am proud that George is willing and strong enough to take the heat even in the face of this kind of mindless garbage."

On Tuesday Slate's Jacob Weisberg eviscerated the biography. "Should we believe this story? I don't think so," Weisberg writes. "Anyone with a nose for cooked quotes should be able to detect the distinct odor of journalistic jambalaya coming from Hatfield's book."

Weisberg's most damaging allegation is that Hatfield described one source as spitting tobacco juice into a Styrofoam cup during their interview, which took place over the phone, but later acknowledged he made that detail up to give cover to his source. "I might have put that in to protect him," Hatfield reportedly told Weisberg. "He doesn't chew tobacco -- I had to help him out a bit."

After being widely available to the media on Monday, Hatfield clammed up on Tuesday, not returning repeated phone calls to Salon News.

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