Is Hatfield the real McCoy?

Under attack, the author of a new George W. Bush bio lies low while its editor takes the hard questions -- and stands by the drug-arrest allegation.

By Craig Offman and Daryl Lindsey

Oct 20, 1999 | In some ways St. Martin's Press editor Barry Neville seems well matched with his author on the publishing house's controversial new biography, "Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President." Like writer J.H. Hatfield, who jumped into the media spotlight this week with allegations that Bush used family connections to expunge a 1972 cocaine arrest, Neville has to this point mostly produced pop culture titles. Both have "X-Files" books on their resume, for instance.

But Hatfield and Neville seem as bewildered as Mulder and Scully as they face a backlash from the Bush campaign, and parts of the media, denouncing the book's anonymously sourced allegations.

"This guy should have stuck with writing science fiction," said Bush campaign spokeswoman Mindy Tucker. (Hatfield has written a biography of "Star Trek's" Patrick Stewart along with his "X-Files" work.) "He's obviously trying to sell books with something absolutely untrue."

Former President George Bush struck back, too, calling the Hatfield effort "a vicious lie" and "a nasty groundless attack," adding "I am proud that George is willing and strong enough to take the heat even in the face of this kind of mindless garbage."

On Tuesday Slate's Jacob Weisberg eviscerated the biography. "Should we believe this story? I don't think so," Weisberg writes. "Anyone with a nose for cooked quotes should be able to detect the distinct odor of journalistic jambalaya coming from Hatfield's book."

Weisberg's most damaging allegation is that Hatfield described one source as spitting tobacco juice into a Styrofoam cup during their interview, which took place over the phone, but later acknowledged he made that detail up to give cover to his source. "I might have put that in to protect him," Hatfield reportedly told Weisberg. "He doesn't chew tobacco -- I had to help him out a bit."

After being widely available to the media on Monday, Hatfield clammed up on Tuesday, not returning repeated phone calls to Salon News.

Next Page: From "X-Files" to Tex files

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