I am very curious to know more about what went on between Scott McClellan and the people whose mouthpiece he was acting as. But the idea that he wasn't consciously misleading the press corps strains credulity. He should be encouraged to come clean, but his crocodile tears should be wiped away with sandpaper.

At the end of the day, this (mal)administration will have produced more cover-your-ass memoirs from former officials than any in history. And, given the depth and breadth of incompetence and plain old criminal conduct that has occurred under Bush's watch, this is no surprise.

Any revelations on "Jeff Gannon" or James G. Guckert?

Who cleared him in?

Whose agenda was he "servicing"?

Waiting to see how McCain tries to spin this to his advantage and create 'separation' from the Bush administration.

So Mr. McClellan now comes across as a nice guy because he's written a "tell all" book (partially so, anyhow).

But when you get to a position of "Press Secretary" for the president, you too are a big time player whose soul is bought.

But it does seem that maybe, just maybe, he finally realized his soul was worth more than he was being paid, "I could feel something fall out of me into the abyss as each reporter took a turn whacking me," he writes of the withering criticism he received as the story played out. "It was my reputation crumbling away, bit by bit."

You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

A Press Secretary has to articulate the Presidents talking points, even when they disagree with them, or know them to be lies. That tells you the type of person required to be the Press Secretary, with the outstanding exception of Bill Moyers. Bill was honest enough that he couldn’t continue lying to the public about Johnson’s war in Vietnam and quit the Administration. Bill Moyers and the Vietnam War increased my distrust of Press Secretaries. Successive presidents have had increasingly mendacious Press Secretaries who remind me of Joseph Goebbels and his propaganda machine. Perhaps it’s time to make the Press Secretary a Cabinet level position. In deference to Minister Goebbels, we can call the post Secretary of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

I don't think he "realized" anything - correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't walk away, they pushed him out.

It's amazing (but not surprising) how these guys will stonewall anyone and everyone including Congress and special prosecutors but then they sing like birds when they can make some money with a tell-all book that they stand to make millions on.

Hey Scott, thanks for telling us what we already knew. Asshat.

Super Jesus
http://theSuperJesus.wordpress.com

Regrettably, it's shameful but it's actually not Nixonian. Loath to admit it though I may be, Nixon's government, though evil through and through, was a paragon of competent management compared to this infestation. Here you have smarmy, uneducated bigot pig Rove with hands on the levers...bear in mind, he was the trainee of Donald Segretti, a contemptible court jester in the Nixonian hierarchy. Only GWB could manage to combine conniving dishonesty - his default reflex - with this degree of incompetence. Remember, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Dean and others in RN's inner circle were paragons of good management - and a number of rungs up from Segretti and his ilk - compared to the loathesome jackasses who are the primary pullers of Bush's marionette strings.

So was there testimony from Rove or Libby that disclosed or denied these meetings?

Successive presidents have had increasingly mendacious Press Secretaries who remind me of Joseph Goebbels and his propaganda machine. Perhaps it’s time to make the Press Secretary a Cabinet level position. In deference to Minister Goebbels, we can call the post Secretary of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

that's because, as ground-breaking sociologist Jacques Ellul explained 50 or so years ago, the post/modern State cannot communicate with its constituents by any other means than propaganda. Every communication will necessarily be freighted with the requirements of political survival. Every utterance emanating from the State or any of its agents, including the corporate/economic facet of the arrangement, must always be regarded as propaganda--that is, information spun to political effect.

I can't wait to hear what Scotty said about cheney. By the way...where is cheney...did he quit his job as VP??

Wasn't it during Nixon's reign that the term "limited hangout" was coined? Probably during the hysteria on both the left and right over this book yet more egregious acts will be committed.

It's interesting how many Republicans like this fellow suddenly see clearly what many of us viewing from afar saw all along in terms of the lies, deceptions, general dishonesty, criminal activity and so on. It's also interesting to read how they view things once they start being a little honest with themselves. But it is clear that they (and little Scotty in this instance) are not being completely honest with either themselves or the public.

McClellans self exculpation for any responsibility for the dishonest, deceitful, unethical and frankly immoral cooperation with his colleagues in the Bush regime is exactly the same (ineffective) arguments so many Nazi's used to try and escape responsibility for their complicity in Nazi crimes. Yes, I know the Nazi's were worse than the Bush regime, but only in terms of degree friends. If you were the parent of a murdered Iraqi child would you find Bush any better than Hitler given that the war he is presiding over was and is nothing more than an imperialist war of agression all dressed up in a see-through gown of fighting terrorism and spreading democracy? No, McClellan is fully culpable for aiding and abetting all of the unethical and illegal activity he writes about and no one should forget it.

That is what has always made John Dean credible: he was the only Nixon white house man who ever honestly and openly admitted his contribution to the criminal activities he took part in. I hope (but know it will never happen) that Democrats would use these past 7 years of criminality to permanently paint the Republican Party as one prone to authoritarianism, corruption, and criminality because that is the truth of the matter. It bothers me that all these hacks get away without any punishment whatsoever and instead write books about it washing their hands of reponsibility. They should all face charges.

Sounds to me like a good/bad situation.

Good in that, "We The People" finally get a glimpse inside the Bu$h Admin machinery and it confirms our worst fears of a government gone bad.

Bad in a sense that what Scotty has said will stiffen repug resolve to entrench themselves deeper to thwart any attempt to haul any Bu$h puppet before any House or Senate tribunal to answer for their misconduct.

Sad fact is, no matter what is said, its always been Congress's responsibility to keep both Justice and Executive in line and they failed us...Party interest over the people's interest.

It's humiliating to realize those responsible for the havoc and destruction of this nation for the past 7 plus years by Bu$h and company will walk away and no one will hold them accountable. Some will try but they will be stopped dead in their tracks.

It makes me wonder if the sole purpose of the opposition party is the disolvement of the foundations upon which this nation was founded.

It dosent matter what his motivations are -he was a creep and will continue to be one till he helps bring the others to justice (then he will be a recovering creep) -criminal conspiricies begin to crumble when the first bird sings -he's not the first but he's singing.

Questions for the book tour:
Probe the mindset of "insiders" and "loyal" aides. When do growing disagreements and suspicion of patterns break off into consequential convictions of wrongdoing? How would you prepare the next or current spokespersons and advisers?

Is it possible for these guys to be any more ironically/amusinly/horrifyingly similar to the Mafia?
BTW, since there is no evidence to prove or disprove Scotty, is it possible that right now he is sitting down somewhere with rove and company celebrating how they have once again spit in the face of the little people? jeez, couldn't they at least provide some lubrication before the violation?
Actually, this villany is so poetic it's almost admirable.

"Missile", I meant.

Scotty always seemed pretty uncomfortable with the constant lying; I'll give him that. It was a striking contrast to Ari Fleischer, who knew when he was lying and clearly enjoyed it, and Dana Perrino, who appears to be a complete sociopath for whom the very concept of truth and lying has no meaning.

From: Head of State

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/ah-scotty.html

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Ah, Scotty...

From the Post:

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" and "downplaying the major reason for going to war."

McClellan includes the charges in a 341-page book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," that delivers a harsh look at the White House and the man he served for close to a decade. He describes Bush as demonstrating a "lack of inquisitiveness," says the White House operated in "permanent campaign" mode, and admits to having been deceived by some in the president's inner circle about the leak of a CIA operative's name.>

It would be utterly inconsistent to praise McClellan for his revelations, now that he needed to find something sensational from his anxiously subservient, painful-to-watch tenure as Press Secretary, which at best could only evoke sympathy for his agonized predicament. It might have helped in eliciting such praise if these revelations had emerge at some point between the end of his tenure and the beginnings of promotion for the book.

Ironically, in now falling to the likely demands of his current masters for something to add spice and sales power to an otherwise agonizing episode, one might posit that he is repeating the same pattern that occurred during his work in the Administration. Nevertheless, this is a man who has demonstrated beyond doubt his characteristic fear of censure. That he comes forward with these accusations, despite putative motive, is of considerable note.

The claims that McClellan makes have the benefit of being supported by numerous contemporary and highly confirming reports (Woodward, Suskind et al). Now, the fact that even McClellan, the truest of camp followers, endorses them, gives them an additional bottom line power--the fearful, sweaty, anxious party line stalwart, who was also among those closest to the action, now confirms what all but the most deluded now must know.

McClellan, like other Press Secretaries before him, could have downplayed, soft pedaled, or diffused these critiques--as they did, in their books, which also had sales imperatives. He does not. Instead, he emphasizes and confirms the critical through-line narrative--a war, driven and unvetted by a lack of necessary curiosity regarding likely effects on our nation, our citizens and the world; a sales campaign yoked to this poorly vetted effort in the most cynical ("one doesn't unveil new products in August") fashion, and, overall, a brutal narrowness of vision, combined with the excitedly combative anti-intellectualism, masked by a shallow pose of ideological self-certainty (i.e. half-blindness) that characterized this administration. His willingness to express, in print, Bush's tendency to convince himself of what he wanted to believe, and this Administration's embrace of secrecy is a genuinely noble and a brave act.

But, ah, Scotty. The wreckage.

Cite:

Head of State

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/ah-scotty.html

What's so funny about the hub bub surrounding this book is how unshocking the "revelations" are at this point.

"The Administration is deceptive and manipulative"

Yawn. This is basically just commonly held wisdom at this point.