Selena Roberts goes where no American journalist has gone before -- exploring Lance as an influential manipulator hiding behind the Cancer Shield. New to me was the report of his threatening (to John Kerry, no less) to use the Livestrong mailing list to punish Democrats for not delivering Obama as a headliner to his cancer summit in 2008. Also new to me was gossip that Bill Clinton was the one who leaned on Birotte to drop the federal case. I've never seen an article that explores this aspect of Armstrong so thoroughly. It's this aspect that distinguishes him from, say, Jan Ullrich. He's a corrupter. '"It was a much wider conspiracy than doping," says [Kent] Gordis. "Lance has had tremendous control over almost every aspect of the sport. Really, Lance co-opted the whole sport. For that, he is the greatest con man ever."'