Posted on 05/27/2008 3:46:19 PM PDT by byteback
ormer White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a surprisingly scathing memoir to be published next week that President Bush “veered terribly off course,” was not “open and forthright on Iraq,” and took a “permanent campaign approach” to governing at the expense of candor and competence.
Among the most explosive revelations in the 341-page book, titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” (Public Affairs, $27.95):
—McClellan charges that Bush relied on “propaganda” to sell the war.
—He says the White House press corps went too easy on the administration.
—He admits that some of his own assertions from the briefing room podium turned out to be “badly misguided.”
—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 the full facts.
—McClellan asserts that the aides — Karl Rove, the president’s senior adviser, and 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.
A few reporters were offered advance copies of the book, with the restriction that their stories not appear until Sunday, the day before the publication date. Politico declined, and purchased “What Happened” at a Washington bookstore.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
The WORST Press Secy....EVER....EVER!! What an INCOMPETENT BOOB!! Hillary and Media Matters must have FLIPPED him!!
Scott “Deer in the headlight” McClellan???
Now we know he's a shameless opportunist.
Scott you still suck.
LOL, a press secretary for Clinton is now worried about other people’s honesty. Too funny.
These kiss and tell books about an administration before it is over, don’t do us any service IMO. If we’re talking about criminality, that’s differenct, but if we’re talking about how a president chooses to conduct his policies, that’s up to him until he is out of office. Then tell all you want. And let the chips fall where they will.
I wish W had chosen Ann Coulter to be his press secretary.
Yep GWB made some very bad choices for a number of positions, this prick McClellan, Rice, Tenant, Powell, etc...
I blame Bush for hiring this guy. I read somewhere that the only reason he was hired was because his family had backed Bush and he had worked for him on one of the campaigns.
When you watched him, you could tell he was grossly incompetent. At times, the way he spoke and expressed himself made Bush look like Shakespeare.
—McClellan asserts that the aides — Karl Rove, the president’s senior adviser, and 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.
Another one of those selfless individuals who “retire” from public service and then try to make a buck on it. Thanks Scott, now hit the road, ya backstabbing bum!
Leaving bogus claims in book aside (have not seen it), McClellan was a horrible press secretary. Every time he went in front of the press he looked like he was ready to cry. He could not think on his feet (not as clueless as Obama, but very close).
I would like to know who recommended this moron for the job in the first place.
I hope that GWB has learned that loyalty to incompetent hacks like this isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Has GWB ever publicly humiliated or criticized anyone he has appointed, whether he asked them to resign or not? I can’t think of any examples, yet so many of these people who didn’t do a very good job for his administration end up trashing him.
Exactly. McClellan is a little worm. If it weren’t for W and Karen Hughes giving him his shot at the big time he’d still be riding his mommy’s coat tails in Texas politics.
For a man who is reputed to value loyalty, he sure puts a lot of trust in his enemies, to the point of filling the White House with them.
Thanks McLynnan. I agree with your comments.
And let me add....if somebody wants to know what skills a great press secretary would possess...then take a look at Tony Snow.
I hope that after Bush leaves office that he writes a book and its only topic is what a complete idiot McClellan was (and is).
These type of horses asses know that if they write a book praising Bush, it will not sell. So, they write this kind of crap and the left will help them sell it. It’s all about money these days. Loyalty disappeared when?
I never could understand how he got the job; he has such a flat affect; no personality.
You know what? The more I sit here and think about this, the angrier I am. What a back stabbing, lowlife, self promoting, sorry excuse for a human being. He’s certainly no gentleman. Grrrrrr.........
Scotty was, and still is, a weasely, incompetent, a$$.
A turd on a stick would have made a better spokesman.
I think Tony’s replacement, Dana is fabulous also!! Maybe better..
His mother is a lunatic!
The minute Ari Fleisher stepped down as Press Secretary, the Bush Administration started floundering. You could walk down to the local bar and find people who would have been a far more competent and effective Press Secretary than Scott McClellan. He was the worst, and one of the Bush Administration’s biggest failures was their inability to properly explain and defend their actions related to the war in Iraq. McClellan was the idiot who failed most miserably and timidly.
Nice catch.
Coulter would also have been uppity enough to tell Jorge when he first began to both blow and suck.
I think there is something to be said for recording history with a book, but I have to agree with you here. When an administration is ongoing, I don’t like seeing profiteers. If something needs to be said, write an article. Don’t profit off of it until after the end of the Presidents term(s) in office.
Too little, too late. I wish GWB had learned that lesson as a child and then grown up to be like his VP. I love him but he has wrecked the party by not leading with conservative principles. I pray that he will have a long and a relaxing retirement.
Agreed . Bill Moyers is now the second worst lying POS press secretary .
“The minute Ari Fleisher stepped down as Press Secretary, the Bush Administration started floundering. You could walk down to the local bar and find people who would have been a far more competent and effective Press Secretary than Scott McClellan. He was the worst, and one of the Bush Administration’s biggest failures was their inability to properly explain and defend their actions related to the war in Iraq. McClellan was the idiot who failed most miserably and timidly.”
good point
McClellans DAD was the one who said LBJ had JFK assassinated.....which I DO believe.
McClellan was terrible in that position and he is mad about his sad reputation as an effective press secretary. His book will NOT be on my purchase list. Shame on Scotty. I hope he gets shunned by all republicans, as he deserves to be, IF these stories are true. You never know with the media anymore, if they are “reporting” fact or propaganda.
I am not goint to attack McCllellan just because he is attacking President Bush.
Almost all the things that he is supposed to be saying here, have been said about Bush right here on FR. I only wonder if he goes and tackles any of the spending bill decisions in the book.
Perhaps people are satisfied with Katrina response and did not attack Bush here, but poor war planning, terrible execution, and frustatingly slow to adjusting to realities on ground are realities. Its foolish to deny that.
I however completely disagree with his accusation that Bush went into “permanent campaign mode”.
NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.
One reason W is in trouble and legacy is in jeapordy IS the fact that he DID NOT SELL HIS VIEWS ENOUGH. He didn’t remain in touch with the general public. He isolated himself and retreated to the Oval office and once that connection was broken between President and the people, and on the other hand media was barraging the people with ghastly images and statistics everyday, what other result can one expect?
W did not do a good job of educating people on the issues.
So McClellan is way off base if he is going to accuse Bush of just being a propoganda artist. Their are no facts to back that up. I have hoped and prayed that W would come out and address those issue everyday. He didn’t and he doesn’t.
I also don’t like innuendo. For instance, he implies Rove and Scooter Libby went behind closed doors to “collude”. He says “I have no idea what they discussed, but it seemed suspicious for these two, whom I had never noticed spending any one-on-one time together, to go behind closed doors and visit privately. …”. Gee Scott, maybe they discussed your incompetence in getting the message out. Maybe McClellan is a black helicopter kind of guy. McClellan has NO idea why they met but he knows it had to be nefarious.
Love it.
What I find to be the most disturbing, if you read the entire article in Politico... all the phrases that Scott McClellan uses come straight out of the Democratic hand book. The way the sentences read and the verbage, lingo, etc...
If I didn’t know any better, he was a Democratic mole.
McClellan wouldn't know a "propaganda artist" if it bit him on the ass.
Never has a President been served so poorly by a press aide.
The biggest point on which to criticize the Bush WH in this area is that a pitiful boob like Scott McClellan was ever employed there in the first place. Yes, that was a misjudgment for which we are still paying the price.... and that SM epitomizes the half-hearted, mostly incompetent approach that the WH has too often displayed for getting out the real facts, countering leftist propaganda, etc. As for campaign mode and propaganda, good heavens, one of the biggest problems has been that the WH has so often allowed our enemies to shape the stories and dictate what’s important, how things are understood, etc.
SM has apparently written the nasty tell-all that will make him rich and please the enemies of America. Good job, Scottie!
“This too, shall pass”
Scott McClellan was Bush’s pathetic press secretary, between two good ones, Ari Fleischer and Tony Snow. He was exactly the wrong person in the wrong job at the wrong time.
>>>White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a surprisingly scathing memoir to be published next week
nothing surprising here....
McClellan is no different that any other (former) Washington poltical operative....
They’re all stinking whores....
FWIW, no one to blame but Bush for this one. It was obvious for almost the whole time that McClellan was press secretary that he was doing a lousy job. Yet he was kept on for month after month of screwups and incompetence.
Why did Bush put up with it for so long? Every president is going to make a few bad appointments, it’s inevitable. But then you correct them, before more damage is done.
And don’t tell me it’s loyalty to his subordinates. Why should a President be loyal to his failures but screw the subordinates who are trying to do a good job, like Scooter Libby, or the Haditha Marines, or Compean and Ramos?
So, now he gets his reward for keeping him on much longer than he should have done.
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