Fineman to Imus: Newsweek Rejected Kitty Kelley Book

Newsweek magazine has rejected an offer to excerpt Kitty Kelley's Bush family expose, "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty," because a key allegation in the book couldn't be nailed down.

"We were one of the magazines that was given the chance to read that book and decide whether we wanted to buy excerpts," Newsweek's Howard Fineman told radio host Don Imus on Tuesday. "We passed [on it.]"

Fineman suggested that Kelley's sourcing for the book's central allegation - a claim that George W. Bush had used cocaine at Camp David during the 1980s - was suspicious on its face.

"The only source for that is a former sister-in-law [of Bush's], who may have her own motives for things," Fineman explained.

He called the cocaine claim "un-checkable and an otherwise un-witnessable allegation. So if that's the best she's got, that's why we took a pass on it."

Also turning its nose up at the Kelley book: CNN's "Larry King Live," which reportedly has declined an offer to interview Kelley, despite covering her past books.

Even Democrats weren't so sure that Kelley's book is the "silver bullet" that John Kerry's presidential campaign needs, with one top strategist telling the White House Bulletin on Tuesday:

"What does it say about our campaign if we put our chips on Kitty Kelley? These charges have been out there for years. ... I'm not sure that rehashing them on the ridiculous network 'celebrity news' programs will help with the undecided vote."

Kelley has a history of reporting gossip and innuendo – even stories without substantiation from more than one witness. The Bush book appears to be a hit job similar to Kelley's widely discredited book on the Reagans.

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