A quote sourced to disgraced writer Ed Klein's book Unlikeable has appeared on a campaign flyer for presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Klein's work has been widely criticized for including distorted quotes and implausible situations and conveying an overall lack of credibility.
In Unlikeable, Klein quotes an anonymous source -- a staple of his purported “reporting” -- who claims that while speaking about Rubio, former President Bill Clinton said, “We've got to destroy him before he gets off the ground.”
According to a photo circulated by CNN executive producer Katie Hinman, the quote appears on a flyer from Rubio's presidential campaign circulating in New Hampshire ahead of its presidential primary. The quote is being used to validate the campaign's contention that a matchup in the general election between Rubio and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be advantageous to Republicans.
Rubio's campaign has gotten considerable mileage out of Klein's material. In an October 2015 fundraising email, Rubio's communications director referred to the quote as a “bombshell report in a new book about the Democrats' secret plan to take out Marco.” The campaign even created a Photoshopped image of President Clinton watching Rubio on television alongside the quote.
The fundraising page with the image also included video of Klein on Fox & Friends pushing the book. The website included text telling supporters to “donate $7 today and show Bill Clinton that he can't destroy Marco Rubio.”
Ed Klein's work has been thoroughly discredited. Over the years he has produced a series of books and reports (published primarily in right-wing outlets) about major politicians like President Obama and Secretary Clinton that have been debunked and criticized by reporters, including many conservatives. Klein's writing has been described as “smut,” “junk journalism,” “fan fiction,” and “devoid” of “basic journalistic standards.”
The allegations made in his books are often outrageous and outlandish, including his claim that Chelsea Clinton was conceived when Bill Clinton raped Hillary Clinton. A prior Klein book was reportedly dropped by publisher HarperCollins because it “did not pass a vetting by in-house lawyers.” It was later put out by the conservative publisher Regnery, which also published Unlikeable.
When not using unverifiable claims from allegedly anonymous sources, Klein has also used completely distorted quotes in his work, or utilized quotes that sound, as one reporter described them, like “dialogue that no human has likely said or will probably ever say until you read it aloud to friends and family.”
Despite his journalistic failures and deception, Klein continues to be a fixture in some quarters of the conservative media, particularly the Fox News and New York Post outposts in Rupert Murdoch's media empire. As a result, he has unfortunately become a part of the presidential election.