Peter Baker and John Soloman Can't Handle The Truth

Washington Post staff writers Peter Baker and John Soloman have a front page report on two new books about Presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton; "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton," by Carl Bernstein and "Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton," by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr.

Messrs Baker and Soloman title their piece "Books Paint Critical Portraits of Clinton" and assert that both books are written by reporters and as such are surely credible.

Unlike many harsh books about Clinton written by ideological enemies, the two new volumes come from long-established writers backed by major publishing houses and could be harder to dismiss. Bernstein won national fame with partner Bob Woodward at The Post for breaking open the Watergate scandal, while Gerth and Van Natta have spent years as investigative reporters for the New York Times.

This assertion completely overlooks the large body of criticism leveled against Mr. Gerth by his peers, much of it stemming from his dogged and ultimately untruthful pursuit of the so called Whitewater scandal during Bill Clinton's Presidency.

In addition to ignoring Mr. Gerth's reputation as a flawed reporter and poor journalist, Mr Baker and Mr. Soloman offer up racy and potentially damaging segments of the books while studiously avoiding any positive passages. Despite the fact that the only story the attempted to independently verify was denounced as preposterous.