The new Hillary book has an unexpected critic.

Ankle Biting Pundits has panned Ed Klein's new book on Hillary Clinton. In doing so, they echoed some thoughts which have bounced around in the back of my mind but which I did not bother to verbalize. Next time, I should.

ABP's basic argument is that all the dirt on Bill Clinton the spousal rapist or Bill the continuing philanderer doesn't actually say anything against Hillary. Instead, the book may cast her in a more sympathetic light for her long suffering endurance of with Mr. I-never-had-sex-with-that-woman.

Some women's advocates may say that Hillary had a duty to dump her exploitative, adulterous, and possibly abusive husband. But they will say it privately, because Hillary is a potential first woman president committed to the pro-abortion cause.

Other women, especially those who have thought more than once about dumping their less-than-prince-charming husbands, will actually admire Hillary and identify more closely with her.

A few spin artists might even figure out a way to cite Hillary's tolerance of Bill as evidence of her commitment to the sanctity of marriage. Then, if she is elected president, she can demonstrate her support for marriage by nominating Federal judges who will allow homosexual marriage.

In the end, the impact of the book will have more to do with how Klein frames Hillary's response to Bill's misbehavior. If he paints her as a victim, it won't hurt her. If he portrays her as somebody who tolerated and facilitated her husband specifically to help herself into the oval office, then it may hurt her.

The book is not in the stores yet. We'll see what happens then it does.

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UPDATE (2:34 PM) : Drudge has posted an NRO interview with Ed Klein. Klein claims that Hillary has been trying to paint herself as a victim, and that he is trying to puncture that false image.