No swans in this sewer - Scott McClellan - Back Stabbing Snitch

LA Times ^ | May 31st, 2008 | Tim Rutten

[The_Republican]

Alittle more than 50 years ago, George C. Marshall, the greatest American general and statesman since George Washington, turned down an offer to write his memoirs for a national magazine because, he said, it was unseemly to profit from a life of public service.

The Saturday Evening Post offered Marshall $1 million for his story at a time when $1 million was real money. Military historians since have learned that at the moment Marshall declined the Post's offer, he and his wife had precisely $1,300 in the bank.

Four years ago, Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, took a different approach. Franks agreed to publish his memoirs -- earning, by most estimates, well into seven figures -- at a time when the wars he'd overseen still were being fought and the troops he'd commanded still were in harm's way.

Then, a month ago, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who commanded U.S. forces in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib scandal, published his account of that service, accusing President Bush and his advisors of "gross incompetence and dereliction of duty" for their handling of the Iraq war. In the meantime, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III has published his own self-justifying account of his disastrous term as American proconsul in Baghdad.

From Marshall's refusal to this sorry trio's eager rush to settle scores and profit handsomely is a gap that demands to be measured in more than decades. Their three examples are useful because they demonstrate just how far the tell-all impulse has taken us. The well-lived 21st century American life, it seems, is the one most lucratively monetized.

[Mentos]

Snitches get stitches

[1rudeboy]

But the Bush White House has produced more tell-all authors than most, and it may be because those who have served in it know they've participated in an administration whose failures are likely to be ranked alongside those of Hoover and Buchanan.

Wishful thinkning, Mr. Rutten.

[redhead]

This brouhaha has really set my teeth on edge. My maiden name is McClellan, and I have always been proud of it, as was my very Conservative father and all my McClellan ancestors. It breaks my heart to see people calling a McClellan “turncoat,” “snake-in-the-grass,” “backstabber,” etc. It’s very hard to read the articles, although I do, because of the news value. I sure wish his name had been something like “Obama,” or, “Clinton”, though...

[roses of sharon]

Ummmm, more evidence of the need for at least one professional news org who actually reported all the facts, in context. And not political orgs who tell the public that history begins each morning when they wake up.

The 40 year reign of leftwing hacks pretending to be journalists, running a 24/7/365 political campaign against Republicans, must end.

[Sherman Logan]

Aren’t we forgetting US Grant, who earned millions from his memoirs at a time when that was a lot more money than it was in the 1950s?

Military men and politicians have been publishing their memoirs for centuries, although as often as not this was to try to vindicate their reputation as much as to make money on the deal.

[Sherman Logan]

George C. Marshall, the greatest American general and statesman since George Washington

An opinion, not a fact.

[ozzymandus]

McLellan is a total nonentity who totally blew the one important job he will ever have in his life. He was a disaster as press secretary, apparently hasn't had a job since, and has sold his future for a $75,000 book advance. Even his appearances on the leftie talk shows have been failures. The leftie interviewers can't even get him to answer their loaded questions the way they want him to. I thought Wolf Blitzer was going to reach over the table and slap him when he didn't give enthusiastic “Yes” answers to Blitzer’s despicable questions, like: “Is Bush a war criminal?”, “Did Bush commit treason?”

McLellan was apparently appointed as a gesture to curry favor with his Mommy, and we all know no good deed goes unpunished.

[Clemenza]

Military men and politicians have been publishing their memoirs for centuries, although as often as not this was to try to vindicate their reputation as much as to make money on the deal.

Jefferson Davis is another case of point. Writing his memoirs saved him from bankruptcy and salvaged his reputation among southerners (who for years after the war vilified him).

[FFranco]

Should the US consider implementing an Official Secrets Act like they have in the UK? That would solve this kind of problem, plus many more, including unauthorized leaking to the news media.

[ASOC]

ROTFLMAO

[President Bush and his advisors of “gross incompetence and dereliction of duty” ]

I guess Sanchez would be part of that as well, eh?

That said, (news flash) I have always maintained the war in Iraq was both a bad mistake and very badly handled.

“War is not unthinkable, merely expensive”

[Sherman Logan]

That’s not my understanding.

He was initially unpopular after the war, but the harsh and unchivalrous treatment inflicted on him by the winners turned that around pretty quickly in the South. By the time he was released from prison a couple of years after the war, he was pretty popular.

He was even offered a seat in the Senate by Mississippi some years before writing the memoirs.

Also, I believe they weren’t exactly memoirs, being more in the nature of a history of the Confederacy.

[RichInOC]

Okay, I thought this was going to be more specifically about Scotty’s book “WHAT HAPPEN?”, so my comment was going to be about how a more appropriate metaphor would have been that there was no pony in that pile of manure.

[SaltyJoe]

I'm very sorry to bring this up as I know that you deserve much better.

There was another McClellan who back stabbed a president that promoted him to highest rank in the US military. That McClellan lost many battles and many American lives were wasted because he was not better than his adversaries. But, rather than remain resolved to fight and win the moral conflict, that McClellan chose to hold grudges and even became a Democrat who ran against his president.

He lost.

George B. McClellan's platform was to "cut and run" as we say today. He wanted peace with the rebellious Confederate southern states which would make permanent two Americas. And, those black-skinned slaves in the souther part of America would still be slaves today if Americans voted for McClellan.

[Clemenza]

I remember being at Beauvoir years ago and learning that even after his imprisonment he was still looked down on when he returned home, although he did have supporters in Mississippi, including the write Sarah Anne Ellis Dorsey, who invited him to stay at the house in the first place.

The memoirs/history did much to enhance his reputation, even moreso than his imprisonment, at least per most of my readings on the subject. I'm sure, however, that many folks of prominence grew more symphathetic towards JD while he was imprisoned.

[Sherman Logan]

I believe a death sentence for treason would not have been inappropriate for Davis.

However, his being chained and mistreated while imprisoned was unworthy of a great nation.

[maine-iac7]

McClellen is a little nobody who somehow got into a position that was eons out of his league.

He suffered like a deer in the headlights when PS - he was at sea.

It would’ve been hard for anyone to follow a PS like the Ari - the best one I’ve ever seen, and I’m a great granny - but for an imcompitant like McClellen, the contrast was stark.

When he FINALLY got replaced - by the great, unflappable and lovable Tony Snow, the contrast continued.

So the little nobody has heard all the “Ari was the Greatest” and “We love you Tony - so great” to “McClellen was the worst ever!” = not to mention, he’s probably broke...and so sold out. Sold his soul and I wonder if all he did wasn’t to just sign as the author to a script pre-written - lies and all?

[Auntie Mame]

George C. Marshall, the greatest American general and statesman since George Washington

I suppose if you're a Communist and Marxist, Marshall fits the bill. As far as I'm concerned, George Catlett Marshall was either a Communist, a traitor, or a doddering fool, who almost single-handedly turned China over to Communist Mao Tse-Tung and he bragged about it, "'As Chief-of-Staff I armed 39 anti-Communist divisions. Now with a stroke of a pen I disarm them."

Military historians since have learned that at the moment Marshall declined the Post's offer, he and his wife had precisely $1,300 in the bank.

I have no way to know what Marshall's bank balance was at this time, but even if true, I've not heard any stories about how Marshall and his family lived on skid row at any time. He managed to purchase Dadona Manor, now a historic monument in 1941, and owned it until his death in 1959, so he couldn't have been too broke.

"America's Retreat from Victory," a speech given by Joe McCarthy, outlines exactly what this "great American general and statesman" did.

Here's the URL: http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6315/victory.html

[redhead]

Yes, I am aware of this General’s betrayal, and I am happy to say that he is not in my family tree, the line having been branched before he was born. Thank God for that, at least. Our Civil War ancestor was William Carroll McClellan.

[ExTexasRedhead]

It’s called S-O-R-O-S and that spells traitor!

[Madame Dufarge]

Aren’t we forgetting US Grant, who earned millions from his memoirs at a time when that was a lot more money than it was in the 1950s?

But Grant's motivation in writing his memoirs, while he was dying of throat cancer, was to provide money for his family after his death.

I believe he earned somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000 for his memoirs, not millions.

[Wolverine]

[ExTexasRedhead]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/06/the_new_copperheads.html

[Sherman Logan]

I didn’t mean to imply that Grant’s motives were dishonorable, merely to point out that memoirs of military men and politicians are hardly a recent phenomenon.

Grant’s take from the book was somethingt over 500,000, in a time when the average income was in the neighborhood of $500 to $1000 a year.