Is Former Harvard Lampoon Writer the Real Author of Hillary's Book?

June 2nd, 2014 9:36 AM

Those of you who are already claiming that Hillary Clinton's new book, "Hard Choices," is a joke might be closer to the truth than you think. It turns out that the real author of the book was a former writer for the Harvard Lampoon according to Roger Friedman at Showbiz 411.

One wonders if the same ghost writer came up with the laughable idea of giving the book the same title, "Hard Choices," as another book by another former Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance. Here is Friedman wondering if Hillary Clinton will give credit to her ghost writer:

The world waits for Hillary Clinton’s new book, “Hard Choices,” on June 10th. I know I have it all queued up on amazon.com. But Clinton’s hardest choice may start at home: will she give her ghost writer a credit this time?

I wrote about a year ago that Edward “Ted” Widmer, a long time Hillary associate, was actually writing “Hard Choices.”

Widmer, 51, is a Harvard graduate who wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. He has a long association with Brown University, where he was the Director of the John Carter Brown Library.At least that’s where used to be. Widmer now works out of the president’s office at Brown. After all, his prestige factor has rise considerably.

Writing the Hillary book apparently means navigating your way through the minefields of truth as exemplified by this incident:

Last year I wrote that Widmer has conceded that Clinton–though she hasn’t said so directly– is “incredibly organized and planning her campaign.” He sent me an email later claiming: “I have neither said that or anything like it to anyone, nor is it something I believe.” Well, it’s a year later and Hillary is pretty much the front runner for the Democratic nomination.

Does that denial not sound like something from a hostage tape?

So will Widmer receive credit in Hillary's book? Friedman refers back to a previous book she "wrote" in which the ghost writer received no credit:

But what credit will Widmer get on “Hard Choices”? Clinton caused an uproar with her bestseller, “It Take a Village,” when she denied the ghost writer any identification at all. That book was written by Barbara Feinman, a Georgetown University professor. Feinman was paid $120,000 for seven months’ work. She eventually went public and complained about lack of credit..

So how did it work out? Widmer emailed me this afternoon: “…sorry, I don’t have the answer – I haven’t seen printed version…”

Since Widmer used to write for the Harvard Lampoon, I recommend that he turn his stint as ghost writer for Hillary into a comedy routine.

Hillary Clinton doesn't need a ghost writer because she is as good at writing as Kate Winslet was at reading in "The Reader."

Badda...BING!

Bill Clinton also wanted me to ghost write for him using the same "Hard Choices" title but Hillary objected so we are going to steal Howard Stern's book title, "Private Parts."

Badda...BOOM!