Matalin accuses John Sununu, the ousted White House chief of staff, of conducting a 'reign of terror' in which he employed 'a Gestapo method' and exhibited 'the political acumen of a doorknob.' Carville is a bit more subtle in reducing Betsey Wright from a longtime Clinton loyalist to an erratic figure responsible for the memorable expression, 'bimbo eruptions,' and the admission that Clinton raised taxes in Arkansas 127 times.Īs for their joint enemy, Ross Perot, Matalin calls him a 'crackpot.little runt.little twit.' Carville says Perot is '.just wacky, and very deceitful, and about as politically dishonest a person as I've ever run across.' The two lovers, who awkwardly took opposing sides in high councils of the last presidential campaign, are generally protective of their old bosses, though they manage to settle a few inhouse scores. Instead of giving an inside account of the 1992 campaign, a duet delivered by modern-day Montagues and Capulets, the authors of 'All's Fair' have turned out a rambling journalism review in which more words are spent on the perfidies and shortcomings of the 'media' than on the activities of once and future presidents of the United States. Sometimes, both Mary Matalin and James Carville sound like sore losers.

All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President Mary Matalin and James Carville with Peter Knobler Random House/Simon & Schuster.

All's Fair by Mary Matalin