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View Full Version : How Scott McClellan got his soul back...


Cyranno DeBoberac
05-28-2008, 12:44 PM
One of Bush's former press secretaries, Scott McClellan, wrote a book (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10649.html). And boy is it a doozy! I guess that when he decided to write his memoirs, his heart grew two sizes that day.

Some of the highlights and revelations:

President George W. Bush manipulated public opinion through a ``political propaganda campaign'' to justify going to war in Iraq.

He says the White House press corps was too easy on the administration during the run-up to the war: “If anything, the national press corps was probably too deferential to the White House and to the administration in regard to the most important decision facing the nation during my years in Washington, the choice over whether to go to war in Iraq.

“The collapse of the administration’s rationales for war, which became apparent months after our invasion, should never have come as such a surprise. … In this case, the ‘liberal media’ didn’t live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served.”
The longtime Bush loyalist also suggests that two top aides held a secret West Wing meeting to get their story straight about the CIA leak case at a time when federal prosecutors were after them — and McClellan was continuing to defend them despite mounting evidence they had not given him all the facts. McClellan asserts that the aides — Karl Rove, the president’s senior adviser, and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the vice president’s chief of staff — “had at best misled” him about their role in the disclosure of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity.
Some of his own assertions from the briefing room podium turned out to be “badly misguided.”
“I still like and admire President Bush,” McClellan writes. “But he and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war. … In this regard, he was terribly ill-served by his top advisers, especially those involved directly in national security.”And much much more!

I wonder if he's ill or something, because this is deathbed-confessional, finding-Jesus-before-he-goes-to-hell stuff.

(Of course, having published all this, I'm sure Scott can count on running into Karl Rove in a dark alleyway somewhere with a garrote. :-D )

And the White House responds (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-05-28-mcclellan-cover_N.htm): "Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House," said White House press secretary Dana Perino. "For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad — this is not the Scott we knew."

That the kind of language you hear from cult members talking about one of their apostates.


Is it January 20th yet???

Capt. Stamina
05-28-2008, 12:48 PM
Or maybe he sold his soul, or was just looking for his 30 pieces of silver. who knows, who cares.

Pathos
05-28-2008, 12:54 PM
Just another "None of it was my fault, I swear!!!" pieces. There's been a lot of those lately.

Phoenix McHeit
05-28-2008, 01:02 PM
I'm getting sick of the 'They made me do it!' comments lately.

Own yourself, people. It's really not that hard. :unamused:

Ysobelle
05-28-2008, 01:03 PM
Y'know, I don't remember any administration having such a high level of "get-me-the-fuck-outta-here" desertions. Ever.

Bob, you keeping a list?

Katie O'Connell
05-28-2008, 01:18 PM
I'm getting sick of the 'They made me do it!' comments lately.

Own yourself, people. It's really not that hard. :unamused:

Yeah, but personal ownership doesn't sell books.

Victim statements sell books. Lots of them.

And how else do you expect these poor, displaced and destitute people to pay the rent? I mean....hey.... he's probably a couple months behind on his country club dues. :unamused:

Ysobelle
05-28-2008, 01:28 PM
I'm getting the impression it's not so much a "Woe is me, I wuz HAD!" as "I was duped, I was used, fuck you, I'm gonna tell it like it is."

Apropos
05-28-2008, 01:30 PM
I heard this on the news this morning and my first thought was...Oh Bob is going to have a field day with this one on the boards.

Then as I was listening, it wasn't anything that hasn't been said or thought before. This guy was just smart enough to put it in a book and get paid for it!

Phoenix McHeit
05-28-2008, 01:51 PM
I'm getting the impression it's not so much a "Woe is me, I wuz HAD!" as "I was duped, I was used, fuck you, I'm gonna tell it like it is."

Well yeah, ok - I can see that it's a possibility.

But I think if I were in his shoes, making the above kind of statement, I wouldn't have couched the terms I used as oh-so-carefully as he did.

'Bush was misled', 'Bush was fed propaganda', 'I was misled'... doesn't scream 'fuck you, I'm telling', at least not to me.

Pathos
05-28-2008, 01:56 PM
If all these people were duped does that mean Bush really is some kind of evil mastermind?

I was under the impression most people think he's a dumb hick.

AllieSutherland
05-28-2008, 02:19 PM
Could also be a way to cleanse/purge/pay penance for his soul before running for office himself.

When they start their own political plans, politicians rarely retain ties with those they've worked with/for... have to step on the heads of those who built you up to get where you're going and all that.

Phoenix McHeit
05-28-2008, 02:23 PM
I was under the impression most people think he's a dumb hick.

He is - it's Cheney that's the Puppetmaster, remember? ;-)

Ysobelle
05-28-2008, 02:27 PM
'Bush was misled', 'Bush was fed propaganda', 'I was misled'... doesn't scream 'fuck you, I'm telling', at least not to me.


It does if you get a book deal out of it.

Phoenix McHeit
05-28-2008, 02:34 PM
It does if you get a book deal out of it.

*snerk* Ya got a point there. :wink:

Ysobelle
05-28-2008, 07:31 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/28/bush.books/?iref=mpstoryview

Interesting commentary on the political commentary book thing.

Winifred Baskerville
05-28-2008, 10:59 PM
If all these people were duped does that mean Bush really is some kind of evil mastermind?

I was under the impression most people think he's a dumb hick.

Well, even a dim bulb flickers a few times before burning out completely...

Cyranno DeBoberac
05-29-2008, 08:20 PM
Y'know, I don't remember any administration having such a high level of "get-me-the-fuck-outta-here" desertions. Ever.

Bob, you keeping a list?


I started to, but then I got writer's cramp. *rotfl*

Cyranno DeBoberac
05-29-2008, 08:24 PM
Then as I was listening, it wasn't anything that hasn't been said or thought before. This guy was just smart enough to put it in a book and get paid for it!

Also, while it's been said and thought of before, this is someone from the inner circle confirming it. There hasn't been something this scathing from someone so inside since probably the Paul O'Neill interviews.

Speaking of Paul... someone on another board pointed out that a lot of the administration responses look like they just recycled the old press releases and crossed out Paul O'Neill's name and replaced it with McLellan's. :-D

Cyranno DeBoberac
05-29-2008, 08:27 PM
If all these people were duped does that mean Bush really is some kind of evil mastermind?

I was under the impression most people think he's a dumb hick.

He is a dumb hick. He's just surrounded himself with political operatives who are smart and ruthless (like Cheney and Rove) to carry out his misguided whims (pity that he couldn't appoint people who were equally adept at actually running the country, instead we got Brownie and Bremer).


Imagine a petulant child with enabling parents. That's George W. Bush.

Phoenix McHeit
05-30-2008, 05:04 AM
Also, while it's been said and thought of before, this is someone from the inner circle confirming it. There hasn't been something this scathing from someone so inside since probably the Paul O'Neill interviews.



Umm... so? Seriously - what, exactly, does anyone expect to come out of this? The ability to jab your finger in the air and yell "I TOLDJA SO!" ? Big whoop. It's not going to change anything. Bush is not going to be removed from office, the war isn't going to end overnight, the economy isn't going to rebound miraculously... really what's the point? To ensure a Democrat gets the next presidency? Wow, if a book can guarantee *that*, it better speak in tongues and answer all the mysteries of the universe.

Just having confirmation of the thoughts, suspicions and rumors that have been flying around for the past 3...5...7 years? Well, if it helps, if it makes ya feel better, it ya can sleep better at night, then I guess it accomplished something worthwhile. Otherwise its a way for a former staffer to line his pockets and stretch out his 15 minutes.

*shrug* Knock yerself out there, Scott.

Perin
05-30-2008, 07:10 AM
President George W. Bush manipulated public opinion through a ``political propaganda campaign'' to justify going to war in Iraq.

He also noted that water is wet and the sun is hot. :roll:

Phoenix McHeit
05-30-2008, 07:44 AM
Slate magazine has a beautifully crafted satire piece:

http://www.slate.com/id/2192371/

Ooh, that might sting a little....8-)

Cyranno DeBoberac
05-31-2008, 12:51 PM
Umm... so? Seriously - what, exactly, does anyone expect to come out of this? The ability to jab your finger in the air and yell "I TOLDJA SO!" ? Big whoop. It's not going to change anything.

Considering that a lot of people have dismissed the things the rest of us have said as liberal ranting, yeah, being able to tell those people "I told you so" is no small thing.


Also, W has been pretty adamant that he things "history" should be the judge of his presidency, so this is an important contribution to the historical record.


Maybe he's in it for the money, or maybe he genuinely needed a soul enema, either way I don't see how putting the information out there is a bad thing.


Oh, and there is one thing, one very important thing, that it might accomplish. There's been a more than bit of saber rattling coming from the administration lately in the direction of Iran. By highlighting the administration's misconduct in dragging the county into the war in Iraq, Scott has put us a bit on guard so that we can recognize when they try to use the same tactics to try to sucker us into supporting an invasion of Iran.

If nothing else, Scott's book might prove useful in making sure that we don't get fooled again.

Do you not think that's a worthwhile accomplishment?

Phoenix McHeit
05-31-2008, 01:03 PM
If nothing else, Scott's book might prove useful in making sure that we don't get fooled again.



Point conceded.

BronxGirl
05-31-2008, 01:11 PM
If nothing else, Scott's book might prove useful in making sure that we don't get fooled again.


Good luck with that.