Wide World of Bill Clinton- A new book paints the Clinton White House as an emotional hothouse where a vain and aggressive President rattled the rafters with curses and insults and battled with those closest to him – wife Hillary included.

Although little is spanking new in “The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House” by Washington Post reporter John Harris, it does contain some delicious tidbits.

One is the publicly cool Clinton’s first conversation with Vice President Al Gore after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke.

“This is a f—–g coup d’etat!” Harris quotes Clinton as bellowing about his enemies in the Republican Party.

Gore just stared back blankly, the book says, probably stunned by the outburst.

Another was in 2000 when Clinton ordered aides to release a bogus number after his annual Navy physical – to make him 5 pounds lighter, Harris writes.

Although Clinton always seemed to handle criticism smoothly in public, the book says some things really got him boiling.

A 1998 article by writer Sally Quinn on why the Washington establishment was appalled by Clinton’s behavior in the Lewinsky scandal was an example.

Some time after the article appeared, the President is said to have told aides – in what turned about to be an angry joke – that he planned to nominate Ben Bradlee, Quinn’s husband, for a Presidential Medal of Freedom award.

The aides were bewildered.

“Anyone who sleeps with that b—h deserves a medal,” he explained.

Harris writes that even before the Lewinsky affair, Hillary was on Clinton’s case over the Whitewater investigation. She thought his aides were wimps and weren’t fighting hard enough for him in the case.

“JFK had real men in his White House,” she is quoted as taunting him.

Later, when Hillary was running for the Senate in New York, Clinton examined the polls and announced before a group of campaign aides that “Women want to know why you stayed with me.” As an awkward silence fell in the room, a half-smiling Hillary answered, “I’ve been wondering that myself.”

Without missing a beat, Clinton jabbed the air and declared “Because you’re a sticker! That’s what people need to know – you’re a sticker. You stick at the things you care about.”

Harris notes that although Hillary has downplayed suggestions she may run for President in 2008, her aides are quietly preparing for a race just in case.

Harris also writes that Tipper Gore was disgusted with both Bill and Hil. Rather than attend a major Democratic fund-raiser with the Clintons, she holed up in her hotel room.

“I’m not going out there with that man,” Harris quotes her as saying.

Aides to both Clintons could not be reached last night to comment on the book.