Yeah, right: “One of these days he and I are going to be rocking on chairs in Texas…”
“…talking about the good old days and his time as the Press Secretary. And I can assure you I will feel the same way then that I feel now, that I can say to Scott, job well done.”
— President Bush bidding a fond farewell to departing WH press secretary Scott McClellan, April 2006.
Well, I think we can safely say that the Bush/McClellan rocking chair session has been cancelled given the publication of McClellan’s splashy, turncoat tell-all.
One thing missing in all the coverage of McClellan’s fifteen minutes of book fame is proper reflection on how poorly served President Bush has been by his closest advisors.
McClellan was hired by Karen Hughes–the same aide who thought promoting Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court was a brilliant idea.
Imagine how many more like McClellan are serving in the administration today, biding their time, waiting for their turn in the nutroots sun.
***
Reader Kevin B. e-mails what McClellan said in his press briefing on March 22, 2004 when asked about Richard Clarke’s book blasting the Bush Administration for 9/11 and CIA intelligence failures:
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, why, all of a sudden, if he (Richard Clarke) had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he’s raising these grave concerns that he claims he had. And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. He has written a book and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book.
Pot. Kettle.
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Trackbacks
- NEWS ROUND-UP (28 MAY 2008) | Democrat=Socialist
- Scott McClellan, Pulls A Judas On President Bush, Why Now? : BigMouthFrog
- Media Mythbusters Blog » Blog Archive » Media Bias Roundup - 05/28/08
- Back at you Scott | BitsBlog
- Ever Gracious and Fair Minded, Keith Olbermann Has Change of Heart on Scott McClellen’s Credibility. All Forgiven New BFF. « Chris Matthew’s Leg
- The Saloon dot net
- Radio Left
- Scott McClellan is a villainous fat-kidneyed gudgeon! « Out West
- White House Officials Are Calling McClellan “Traitor” « Suzie-Q
- Soros Connected Left Wing Publisher Behind McClellan's Book | Stuck On Stupid
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Categories: George W. Bush
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Its funny seeing everyone on the right continue to stick their fingers in their ears everytime they hear something negative about Bush. After all this evidence of Bush being a complete failure how can you continue to ignore it. You want to know why he wrote this book, because he was used like a pawn. Rove, Libby, and Cheney fed him false info, promised him it was true, and made him out to look like a fool. What kind of friends are that?
Speaking of Richard Clarke… Here’s what Gen. Tommy Franks, former CENTCOM Commander, had to say about him:
“I was interested in destroying the al Qaeda threat. But my visit with Clarke had not moved me any closer to that objective. I left his office hoping that my emphasis on practical solutions to real problems would spur him to home in on some real targeting opportunities. But I suspected that Dick was better at identifying a problem than at finding a working solution.” ~”American Soldier,” pg 210-211
“On January 9, 2001, in the waning days of the Clinton administration, Dick Clarke called me from the NSC to discuss the government’s pursuit of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. He talked for a while without advancing any meaningful options…
I never received a single operational recommendation, or a single page of actionable intelligence, from Richard Clarke.” Ibid., 226-227
(Emphasis my own)
On May 28th, 2008 at 7:50 pm, Scooter36 said:
#87, “The bush administration is what it is, period.” Meaning they are war criminals?
The war criminals are in GITMO you cockroach.
Local radio talkshow host Howie Carr was talking about the book.
He figured that it would be a good topic for a show, and sat down to highlight all the juicy parts, and came up EMPTY! LOL!
He spent much of the show demonstrating what a putz McClellan is for writing a pointless book about nothing. The most interesting part is the title, and that is a stretch.
Howie was having a field day with this.
You have to admit, if there was any bombshell in it, it would have been released in such a way as to affect the upcoming election as a “McSame” attack.
And lgm, when Clinton takes responsibility for his many mistakes and corruption, his cronyism with Indonesia and China, and the way he sold out the country by creating a “peace dividend” by slashing the military, you can complain about Bush.
On May 28th, 2008 at 8:22 pm, freemind25 said:
Its funny seeing everyone on the right continue to stick their fingers in their ears everytime they hear something negative about Bush. After all this evidence of Bush being a complete failure how can you continue to ignore it. You want to know why he wrote this book, because he was used like a pawn. Rove, Libby, and Cheney fed him false info, promised him it was true, and made him out to look like a fool. What kind of friends are that?
Site your sources, or are you one of the editors of McClellan’s book?
More obvious libs with total BDS are now posting comments. It now being well past noon in most of the country, they appear to have finally gotten up.
I am disgusted with Bush for a number of reasons, but I still can’t abide someone like the wispy weasel, McClellan making a buck off a pack of lies and appeasement lies to the left.
Drudge who I also have problems with frequently at least served truth well by running “Scott the Snitch” all day.
That sums him up rather well.
In BushLand, everybody does a heck of a job just by showing up and belching. What is funny about this quote is that knowing Bush, the ultimate RINO nice guy, oozing love and forgiveness from every pore, that is exactly what will happen.
Unless he finds out that McClellan has a change of mind and become a staunch, closed-borders Republican . . .
This guy was a press secretary, for Pete’s sake. He was not a foreign policy analyst or Secretary of Defense. What gives him any special knowledge of foreign policy? Almost like the White House Etiquette Director writing some kind of book about Iraq. The whole thing is ludicrous.
They are ALL losers… I just don’t get it. Where are quality, honest, smart people? Do they no longer exist? There is no one in the White House that I trust, nor anyone running that is worth spit.
The liberals are evil and McAmnesty is totally, totally.. did I mention, totally? untrustworthy.
BDS??? Wouldn’t that involve derangement? Are you arguing that over 70% of the country is deranged because they view Bush as a failed President. Im not going to list all the ways in which Bush has failed, but I believe you have BDS. You are deranged in thinking that Bush was is good President. History will judge him as one the worst, right up their with Jimmy Carter.
Recently, I’ve been reading some books about the 80’s. Reagan’s staff had big fights, and there was a lot of distrust between his old California cronies and the other staff (State vs Defense. Sound familiar?), plus many thought that Reagan let them go their own way too much, which resulted in scandals and other problems.
Reagan was a great president, but he was far from perfect. I think that the presidency that’s devoid of staff intrigue and scandal simply will never exist.
Oh I don’t know – Bush has poorly served the American people so it kind of levels out.
The advance of freedom extends to people who worked with Bush, it seems.
Bonus: No war was necessary!
This is really beyond the pale. Scott McClellan was a horrible press secretary, and from this I know he is an even worse human being. He has betrayed the trust placed in him by the President and run into the arms of the rabid Left, who are all too eager to embrace anything that feeds their BDS. President Bush has done much to disappoint me, but he doesn’t deserve to be stabbed in the back by someone he obviously felt was a trusted aide, and friend. Now, the libs will embrace McClellan, and the nutroots will nod their collective pea brains in approval (they knew all along, after all)…funny, but writing these smears and attempting to profit by embracing the Left’s caricature of the President and the administration says SO much more about Scott McClellan than it ever will about George W. Bush.
In been there land, Obama is qualified to walk someone’s dog. And Rodham was making PEACE in Northern Ireland.
Notice the liberals have become big fans of the STATEMAN Scott McLellan. I mean they always liked him and his foreign policy!! Right?
Liberals are so dishonest it’s painful.
Telling the truth makes him a bad human being? Now I don’t think McClellan is that great either, but its a low blow to call him a bad human. I find fault in that if he felt this way he should have resigned a long time ago. However, I think anyone who serves public has a loyalty to country, not to the men they serve. I’m glad he has come out and exposed the Bush Administrations deceptions and failures, but if he would have done this 7 years ago this country may not be in the mess it is now.
So Terrig, I’d like to ask you a question. A few days ago, you got into a heated exchange with another commenter on the board. You’re exact comment to the commenter was:
So “if you don’t like something, speak up” …
(let’s say the Iraq War for sake of argument)…
Those who do speak out against the war run the risk of being told from certain individuals that it is impossible to support the troops and not support the War.
They can be labeled “unpatriotic,” “anti-American,” a bad human being, etc.
So I’d like to ask you Terrig, what do you say to people who do take a stand and speak out against the War (or its rationale going in, etc.), but love their country and are accused of doing their country a disservice by speaking out?
A McClellan-Soros connection?
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/30118_The_Soros-McClellan_Connection
Sorry, I believe I phrased that last part wrong.
“…not loving their country or the troops.”
Michelle, that quote by McClellan about Clark is really a hoot! Hope he’s reading this blog.
GOTCHA!!!!
I had a bad feeling about this turncoat when he was employed at the Whitehouse.
I never saw him as forceful a press secratory as Tony Snow or the current one, Dana Perino.
It always appeared that Gregory and Helen and others in the media were embushing him into a corner, and this jerk seemed like he was defending the Administration and their policies half-heartedly.
Now we know why.
Sometimes, I wonder if the Bush clan has some genetic defficiency.
The Bush Sr. appointing Souter to the Supreme court; Bush W hiring this turncoat as Press secratory!
If you don’t support the troops’ mission, what exactly is it about them that you do support?
It may have been already addressed but when I first heard of this I knew some element was driving this story, one that is hidden but would not surprise most of us.
It turns out that the company publishing this is a Soros entity.
Anyways here is my take on this. I’m not surprised Scott made an about face on the Administration. Why? Well the Administration has been getting on the nerves of a lot of people and I strongly suspect his leaving was a sour note and he has a score to settle. Couple this with the desire to sell a story for a hell of a lot of money and fame and why not? Lies, cheats, and scandals sell. We see this every day of our lives.
Scott lying actually helps his financial desires here. He can exaggerate to the moon and the moonbats will mop this crap up as if they were never wrong to begin with.
For all the nutjobs out there thinking they can support the troops but not the mission I will gladly remind you of the following logic.
Since the troops have a mission to complete and supporting the troops automatically means supporting them succeeding at their objectives you support the mission. If you want to pick and choose your definition then you do not support the troops despite screaming, bluffing and fooling otherwise.
.
Is anyone sure he’s a Republican? Perhaps a member of the Log Cabineers, perhaps, if so. Obviously, of whatever his party registration, McClellan’s finally revealed himself to be the smoldering gossiper and underhanded oaf I tended to think he was from the start.
My problem is why Bush trusted this guy so much, why and how he was able to maintain such extraordinary duplicity in the employment he held. His associations should surely be being examined very closely.
Comes with the territory. Past press secretaries have delivered tell-all books before. I give you Dee Dee Myers, Bill Clinton’s press secretary.
So does this still suck? Yes. It would have been nice if Scott McClellan had chosen to quit earlier over these moral conflicts before him.
Press secretaries are paid to deliver the president’s message even if it goes against their own beliefs. Remember when Tony Snow was a foe of illegal immigration? That changed immediately when he became press secretary. It made me cringe.
I hope Scott McClellan has written this book for the right reasons. I just wonder if he actively knows that he is becoming a tool for the Left. If he is complicit then it borders on treachery.
He’s written a book on this. Books are not the best sources, especially ones written by politicians. Ones written after 2004 can be atrociously inaccurate and skewed. He was a White House spokesman and doesn’t have the same access President Bush, so I would bet at the very least he’s groping in the dark, at worst a leftie.
If I am right, it’s just a quick way to make money.
Call an wah-ambulance. We’ve got BDS on the boards again. Looks like the tumor has taken a new shape this time.
Imagine that! A LIBERAL lecturing others on responsibility! LGM, with a Democratic lead Congress and a left-wing dictatorial judiciary, Bush is the only one taking responsibility! Someone has to take care of all the liberals, since you put all your trust in government.
The Soberest Result Of A Dem/Lib Getting In Because Of Things As This Vile “Expose”
Families of our valiant lost and wounded in combat, prepare to face that their work, hopes, compassion and sacrifices over there meant absolutely zero.
James Greenidge
Queens NY
He’s going to make a sh*tload of money.
However, this may actually backfire. He may make tons of money, but his integrity as a person and his reputation will be ruined. Even if everything he says in the book is true (and I do believe Bush was less than honest) the fact that he ignored all the supposed lies and treachery for three years and is only speaking up NOW makes him look like he is an extremely dishonest and deceitful person…the same things he’s accusing the President of. Pot, kettle indeed. Even the crazy liberals can see that.
But, but the Daily KOS says it is true so it ahs to be the case
/sarcasm
A DNA test should be done to determine if Scott McClellan had an ancestor named General George.
You know, the wimpy, effeminate, vacillating, arrogant turncoat that Lincoln had to put up with.
I think it’s in the chromazomes.
An LGF exclusive this morning, one of Charles’ readers uncovered the truth about this book.
McClellan is a sellout… and his buyer is George Soros.
Imagine that.
Then, by your logic, anyone who is (now or beforehand) against the Iraq War or wanting to withdraw the the troops from Iraq means that they are “anti-mission” and therefore “anti-troops?”
Am I understanding that correctly?
For a point of reference, a poll suggests that 22% want troops withdrawn ASAP, 48% want it done by a timetable, 28% said to stay as long as needed.
There are many people who respect and appreciate what our men and women in uniform are doing serving their country in the all-volunteer armed forces. They pray for the families when they lose a loved one. They want to help those who have been injured and come back home to life forever changed. They support the troops and love their country. But these same individuals may not support the reasons why we are still involved in the Iraq War.
Where I believe people place the responsibility is with the President, who gives the instructions, and thus determines the goals… finding WMD, removing a ruthless dictator, war against Islamic Fascism, etc.
Again, the latest poll I saw said that 67% of Americans disapprove of the way that the President is handing the War.
Putting on my tin foil hat, my opinion is that what we might be seeing is the opening shot of an ACTUAL retaliatory strike by the Bush Administration. The book is a total ruse and McClellan is just playing the role of average lib weasel that Bush has had to put up with throughout both of his terms.
It’s all a set-up and the libs have already taken the bait! Robert Wexler is demanding McClellan testify under oath – EXACTLY what Bush wants! He can take the stand and then deny every single lie in his book, (hey, there’s no law against a book of lies is there?) – the VERY SAME LIES THE LEFT HAS BEEN SPEWING AT BUSH ALL THESE YEARS. What could be better? All the proof that Bush has attempted to offer to refute the left is totally ignored by MSM so now he gets his ‘day in court’ to rub it right in their faces.
Call me an optimist …
How do you know he’s telling the truth? According to him he stood at the podium for years and lied, so who is to say that he’s not doing it again? His book fits very neatly into the lib narrative about the Bush administration, so of course it’s all true. Never mind the fact the man didn’t raise any objections to anything WHILE THERE, never mind the fact he waits until he has a Soros-backed book coming out BEFORE saying anything at all. Isn’t that just very convenient? A loyalty to country? Please…since when do libs believe that? McClellan is a moron if he thinks most people buy that “loyalty to truth” argument…where was that loyalty when you were a willing participant in the deception you supposedly saw first-hand, Scott? The libs will lap it up and ignore these questions…what did Obama say? It confirmed everything people already knew? What an arrogant !%$?!!!! Tell you what, Obama…I’d take 4 more years of Bush then I would 4 years of your appeasing, Marxist, terrorist-loving “change we can believe in”.
On May 28th, 2008 at 7:04 pm, Sanddog said:
Ditto that, Sand Dog!
The “been poorly served” line is really a cop-out. An executive has to hire competent, trustworthy people. If their actions prove that they weren’t …
Turncoats are viewed as trustworthy, and they usually don’t indicate their traitorous tendencies before the fact.
Gets to me how non-streetwise ultra-pacifists are. Do you think once we flushed the Taliban out that Afghanistan could’ve gone it all alone as some kind of democracy in a region of Islamic wolves? Doing a regime change on one wolf in the neighborhood like Iraq is insurance that Afghanistan at least has a chance to make it without being ganged on later. Yea, that means a “expanded” “new” war, but this is the real world where you better damn sure be brutally pragmatic if you’re going to make it. Anyone who thinks just routing the Taliban and cutting out means the job’s done over there has Disneyland for a home address. This isn’t a tea-cup play-nice Tinkerbelle-please-turn-tyrants-into-choirboy universe. It’s gut-down dog-eat-dog law-of-the-jungle running the world here. It’s the play-book our enemies and terrorists read, and unfortunately too many here aren’t too versed in it!
Another thing; our people in uniforms are ADULTS. They’re not babies in a schoolyard who have to be rescued from mean old pedophiles lurking in the bushes by their mommies. They volunteered as warriors, live as warriors, and by their oath would die as warriors who put them themselves in harm’s way to save our hides. They don’t need any oh-so compassionate “rescuing” (pulling out) by skittish mommies. Let them get the job done, anti-war MSM be damned
James Greenidge
Queens NY
Yes you understand it correctly, thank you for not asking me to use simple shapes and colors to establish an understanding for you.
I don’t pay much attention to polls because the extrapolation methods are far too unreasonable and the questions posed are formulated to foster specific answer types as opposed to sharing an actual opinion.
Here’s the bill for your soul, Benedict Arnold. These bums will sell out in a hurry just to be one of the cool kids in Manhattan and Georgetown. Maybe you can hang with that other rat boy, John Dean.
McClellan was an embarassingly poor press secretary…incompetent, slow-witted, painful to watch. No way he wrote that book on his own. The fact that Bush hired McClellan is more damning for Bush than anything McClellan is now saying about the Bush administration.
Rommsey, so you indicate that 70% of Americans are anti-military and anti-troops… just because they do not want to stay as long as the President deems necessary in Iraq.
Rommsey, this means that you are saying that this would include a good number of Republicans.
I do not know if you would find many who would agree that 70% of Americans are anti-American and/or are against the troops because they want the troops to get out of Iraq now or in a definitive timetable.
No I don’t indicate that and I am not the least bit surprised at you reaching such and absurd conclusion.
Your poll reference is not to be submitted as substantial meaning to back the will 70% of the entire US population. Once you grasp this simple concept you will realize how stupid your reasoning is.