“Tangled Web”
October 30, 2011 at 3:01 PM | Posted in Books, The Way We Live Now | Leave a commentTags: Barry Bonds, Bernie Madoff, James B. Stewart, Martha Stewart, Scooter Libby, The New Yorker
Tangled Web by James B. Stewart is a dauntingly thick book but it flies. It is a book about lying, lying done on a grand scale. Martha Stewart, Scooter Libby, Barry Bonds and Bernie Madoff all take their turns on the witness stand and they don’t come off well.
The author has all the transcripts at his fingertips and takes delight in painstakingly making the prosecutor’s case. He is a Pulitzer Prize winner and knowing that most of the book, if not all, previously appeared in The New Yorker, you can rely on his facts being well checked.
When Martha’s case was going on, I had some sympathy for her
but after getting the details I don’t any longer. She lied and she didn’t have
to. Her attorney’s tried to make the case that someone so rich wouldn’t stoop
to saving 30K on a stock trade. Yeah, right. The prosecutor asked, if there was
a $5. bill on the floor would the famously tight maven pick it up?
Of the four, I felt for Scooter as he was under the sway of the despicable Dick
Cheney. Scooter was courteous and lost throughout.
Of Barry Bonds nothing good can be said and Bernie was Bernie.
All four lied under oath and only Bernie really had to (given his Ponzi scheme). Bonds even had immunity and he lied. Why did they do it? They
were afraid of being embarrassed and that, to me, doesn’t seem worth doing time for.
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