By Florida Bill If a retired secret serviceman who guarded the President and First lady for several years elects to write a book with his recollections, can you trust the accuracy? Gary Byrne did that, and his subsequent book on Bill and Hillary Clinton reveals a profile of a woman with a foul mouth and a volcanic temper and a husband guided by uncontrolled sexual demands.
Byrne's book, "Crisis of Character" was released in late June. Byrne was a uniformed agent stationed in the White House for several years during the 1990s when Bill Clinton was serving his two terms as the nation's 42d President, and Hillary Clinton was the first lady.
Byrne is not alone in appraising the character of Mrs. Clinton outside the eye of the camera. Currently, she is a candidate to become the 45th President of the United States. Many other books have been authored by insiders who have related similar stories of the uncontrollable temper, condescending manner and "dirty" mouth of Mrs. Clinton who is seeking to become the first woman ever elected to the highest office in the United States.
What has motivated Byrne to write the book about this high profile couple now, when Mrs. Clinton is running for president? Certainly, making money has to be a big part of his incentive to go behind the scenes with Hillary and Bill. His book soared to the top of the Amazon Best Seller list within days.
In an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, Byrne asserted that he sees the possibility of Mrs. Clinton becoming President, and he wants citizens to know of her temperament, volcanic mouth and of her inability to control her rage. In other words, the Hillary you see, is not the Hillary you get. Byrne said that if he failed to speak out on the true nature of Hillary Clinton and she were elected, he would forever regret not telling Americans what he knew. "People have to know the real Hillary Clinton and how dangerous she is."
Byrne tells in his book of screaming arguments between the Clintons, one of which had Mrs. Clinton hurling a costly blue and white vase at her husband. The President ducked, and the vase shattered against a wall. In another spat, the President emerged with a black eye. On yet another fracas, Mrs. Clinton threw a bible at a secret service agent (not the author). Once when she was just mildly irritated, she told a secret service agent guarding her to "go F... yourself."
Byrne said that Monica Lewinski would be seen around the White House frequently and was persistent in getting to the President. There was at least one occasion, Byrne writes, when I saw President Clinton alone with the daughter of former Vice President Mondale. He said also that he knew of dalliances which Clinton had with at least four different women.
Did Mrs. Clinton know about her husband's hanky panky sessions with Monica Lewinsky and other women, Hannity asked. Byrne speculated "I think that she knew and accepted it." Towels with lipstick and with other "bodily fluids" were left around carelessly, he said, and generally they were picked up, sometimes by him, and sometimes by other agents and put into a plastic bag and discarded. Somehow, President Clinton never seemed concerned about these things. I think that he "just acted like that his whole life."
Byrne told Hannity that he and other agents were actually concerned about Mrs. Clinton's uncontrollable rage if she ever caught her husband in "a compromising situation." "She might just 'go ballistic,' " he said. There was speculation among agents as to the extent of her violence, he said. Hannity noted with a light air that such domestic violence --such as the black eye and tossed vase--would be prosecutable under current law, but then that would never happen in this situation.
Like many books about famous persons, Byrne's book should be read with some degree of skepticism. It is pretty much established as a matter of record that Mrs. Clinton is a woman who fibs and has a temper, but then a lot of people have a short fuse. And being tough is no negative. In a book by Joyce Milton, "The First Partner" Mrs.Clinton came down on a secret service agent who did not respond immediately to her request.
Her temper has been with her a long time. Way back in 1973, as a first year law student at Yale, she attended a senate committee hearing. After it was over and the side she favored came out on the short end, an angry Clinton, then Hillary Rodham, buttonholed an attorney involved and told him , "You Mother F....., you sold out," and she then stomped off. That recollection came from Joseph Califano, a prominent Democratic attorney, and he recounted the incident in his book, "Inside," (Page 213).
Clinton has been in the public eye for more than 40 years. Along with being the first lady in Washington during the 1990s, she was a first lady in Arkansas. She was elected to the Senate from New York in 2002 and served in that position until 2008 when, after an unsuccessful run for the Presidency, she served as America's Secretary of State for four years under President Obama.
Mrs. Clinton is certainly a political animal and when politics are involved, people speak out, because they love the attention their words bring.
So far as I can see, Byrne was in the White House for years with the Clintons and he has recounted his own observations, which are not that much different from others writing about her behavior during her time in public service. Some of his superiors suggest he would not have had a high enough ranking to see everything he says he saw. He denies that.
No doubt Mrs. Clinton's enemies will believe every word he has written as if it were gospel truth. Her fans will castigate Byrne and suggest it is all part of a political conspiracy. Readers can take it or leave it for what it is.
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