Scott McClellan, President Bush’s press secretary from 2003-2006, now free of the restraints of an administration that never wanted bad news, delivered some in his new book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.”
Well, at least we can now officially credit Bush for having SOME culture.
Excerpts from the book are nothing astonishing or even revelatory. For example:
On Katrina:
“One of the worst disasters in our nation’s history became one of the biggest disasters in Bush’s presidency. Katrina and the botched federal response would largely come to define Bush’s second term.”(Is there anybody who doesn’t know that Katrina was FUBAR?)
On Bush:
“He and his advisors confused propaganda campaign with a high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and sustain public support during a time of war.”(Is there anybody who doesn’t know the Bush administration approached the Iraq war as a foregone conclusion for which it needed to drum up public support through patriotic manipulation?)
In fact, the only thing shocking about the book is WHO is saying it. But equally interesting is the White House's reaction of total shock. Karl Rove accused McClellan of sounding like “a liberal blogger,” and of "not sounding like the Scott I know."
Of course, he doesn't. The Scott you knew kept quiet until it was time to carry the party line, regardless of the distortion necessary to fulfill the task.
The White House called McClellan's remarks "self-serving, disingenuous, and unprofessional."
Riiiiiiight...the people who let McClellan lie about Scooter Libby in the Valerie Plame case are going to give us all a lecture on professionalism.
Some may chastise McClellan. After all, how can you give him a medal (or even $15.37 at Amazon for his book) for coming forth now when he might have saved lives coming forth earlier on the war.
At the same time, though, I don’t see how his silence in an administration that has shown uncanny ability to crush dissent serves to automatically discredit him.
This much we can say for certain. Somebody closer to George W. Bush than any of us thinks he and his advisors were not forthright with America. That’s a politically correct way of saying, “They lied.”
So, should we focus on that, or spend our time on Obama allegedly “lying” about which concentration camp his GREAT uncle liberated? To quote the bumper sticker: “When Clinton lied, nobody died.” Can Bush say the same?
2 comments:
I've been watching the McClennan stink-blossom unfurl and watched the interviews in the Today and Countdown shows.
It was popcorn-worthy TV. Not so much for McClennan's statements--Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify the war in Iraq? As comedian, Carlos Mencia, might say: "Dee-dee-dee!". Who cares? What I really loved was the comments from the Bushies: They were puzzled and sad about a disgruntled former staffer who was running amok off the plantation (yeah, I said it). In a strange kind of deja vu, that's how Scottie described other former staffers who scribed a tell-all while he was still a staffer. Funny, that. Eh?
Isn't amazing MSNBC treats McClellan's book as gospel and the words of a great patriot but discounts charges against them by an ex reporter as the words of a disgruntled ex employee. When she talks about MSNBC's pressure to report in favor of the war. story.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ij9JDGtKUEu9OlIDnowiM0AS9C3wD90VJ11G4
Post a Comment