WH Intimidating Media not to book Kitty Kelley

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/09/politics/campaign/09book.html?ei=5006&en=718787dad442f371&ex=1095393600&partner=ALTAVISTA1&pagewanted=print&position=

Anticipating a barrage of unflattering accusations and innuendo about President Bush's personal life in a soon-to-be-published book by the celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley, the Bush campaign has opened a wave of advance counterstrikes intended to undermine her credibility.

A representative of the White House recently called Neal Shapiro, president of NBC News, to discourage that network from broadcasting interviews with Ms. Kelley about the book on its "Today'' program and on its MSNBC cable program "Hardball With Chris Matthews,'' a network executive said.

The Republican Party distributed a memorandum this week to conservative radio talk show hosts listing tawdry, unproved assertions in Ms. Kelley's previous books, especially her biography of Nancy Reagan. And Ed Gillespie, the party chairman, sent a letter to supporters portraying her book as a tool of the Democrats' campaign.

"This book is fiction and deserves to be treated as such,'' said Christine Iverson, a Republican spokeswoman.

I think the fools are going to help her make this a bestseller. BTW, tonight Sludge is reporting the SBL's book at near 89,000. Last I heard publisher was upping Kelley's book to 750,000. Think we should blast media telling them we want to see Kitty interviewed.