All Too Human: A Political Education. George Stephanopoulos.

All Too Human: A Political Education
George Stephanopoulos
Boston, New York, London: Little, Brown and Company
1999

Why read it? A memoir by Bill Clinton's senior political adviser. Reveals the intricate interplay and subtle backbiting among the politicians, reporters, etc. Inside view of the way people try to manipulate people.

Sample ideas from the book:

"People acted as if they were playing a part in a drama that was being written as they spoke." "Involved with crisis management almost continuously." Niebuhr: "It is when we are not sure that we are doubly sure." Stephanopoulos had to face reporters to answer questions about stories he could not control. "Clinton always came up smiling after he was hit." "The more you're known, the more you're approached for information and political favors, which increases your influence, which makes you even better known and more powerful."

Needed to tell Clinton things he did not already know. The Clinton marriage was more about personal ambition than love. Clinton would call his aides in the morning and vent, which was good because if he vented on them, he would not take his frustrations out on others in public." "The media's insatiable appetite for bad news and our uncanny ability to provide it." Advice from Congressman Tony Coelho: "Nobody will remember what happened to you; they'll remember how you handled it." "The closer you are to the president, the more information you receive; the more information you have, the more the president listens to you and the more power you have."

"The $2 million dollar project to clean the air by cutting bovine flatulence, two million bucks to fight the cow-farting crisis." "In communicating with the press, tell the truth, but don't say more than you know; don't speculate; don't wonder, don't muse, don't imagine, don't try to be helpful. Don't ever say or do anything that you wouldn't want to see on the front page of the Washington Post or the cover of Time." "The Washington Post reporter Woodward would give you enough information to make you think he knew more than he knew and then you had to figure out if he were bluffing or if he really did know more than you thought he knew."

Quote: Hillary Clinton: "Whatever I do or say, I am vilified, so I just smile, take it and say please kick me some more."

Quote: "Every president is Nixon until proven innocent."

Quote: "Bill Clinton, the master of the public smile that masks private rage."

Quote: "If only this good president had been a better man."