Washington, DC – Correct The Record released the following statement in response to a new fundraising effort by Marco Rubio. In it, the Florida senator’s campaign makes use of a likely fabricated quote from fabulist Ed Klein, who absurdly claims in a new book that President Bill Clinton said “we need to destroy [Rubio] before he gets off the ground”:
“It ought to tell you something about Marco Rubio that he’s willing to take on faith the words of a man that even Rush Limbaugh thinks is full of you-know-what,” said David Brock, Founder of Correct The Record. “It’s not surprising, really, Marco Rubio and Ed Klein deserve each other. The only thing less reliable than Klein’s commitment to the facts is Rubio’s commitment to his past principles.”
“Senator Rubio, it must be flattering to think you’re a threat, but the fact is you’re doing a good enough job destroying yourself by adopting radical, right-wing positions on immigration and a woman’s right to choose,” said Brock. “In reality, Bill Clinton probably gets more heartburn from breakfast than from your anemic campaign.”
Here’s what objective and even conservative journalists have said about Ed Klein’s widely discredited work:
“There’s a danger when you throw together rumor, innuendo, mind reading, and unsubstantiated blind quotes from sources who overtly hate your subject. And it’s not just the risk of looking (as Edward Klein does) like an author devoid of credibility.”
– Nina Easton, formerly of Fox News, in a review of Klein’s new book for the Boston Globe
When discussing Klein’s book Blood Feud on his 6/23/14 show, Rush Limbaugh said “some of the quotes strike me as odd, in the sense that I don’t know people who speak this way.” Limbaugh compared Klein’s quotes to “grade school chatter.” [Media Matters, 6/29/14]
“When I learned that Mr. Klein was booked on SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY, I asked questions. What were the stories? Who were the sources? And, most importantly, what was the relevance? After learning the stories were inflammatory, the sources were weak and the book’s relevance was less than zero, I canceled the booking. Why? Because it was the right thing to do.”
– Joe Scarborough, on one of Klein’s previous books [MSNBC, 6/27/05]
“This is one of the most sordid volumes I’ve ever waded through. Thirty pages into it, I wanted to take a shower. Sixty pages into it, I wanted to be decontaminated. And 200 pages into it, I wanted someone to drive stakes through my eyes so I wouldn’t have to suffer through another word.”
– John Podhertz, on an earlier Klein work [New York Post, 6/22/05]