Bush loyalists, White House whitewash Scott Mcclellan book

The White House and loyal Bushies attempt to discredit Scott Mcclellan by spewing talking points. Dan Bartlett, Karl Rove, Bob Dole, Dana Perino, George Bush, Ari Fleischer, and Dick Cheney are puzzled by the puzzling puzzle of the truth. Keith olbermann comments.
-------------------------------------------
Right now Scott McClellan has no friends, and that's a shame. His former friends on the Republican side are trying to bury him. The rest of us are still skeptical of him and what he did when he was still in the Bush White House. And the press is trying to be tough on him specifically because he called them out for not being tough enough when he was press secretary.

So, we have this ironic situation that in a time when McClellan is finally being honest, he has no defenders. I'm afraid this is going to lead the public to the false impression that the world is united in thinking he is a calculating opportunist who is trying to make a buck by turning on his friends. When, in fact, the reality is that the man finally grew a conscience.

Throughout the book and his interviews, McClellan talks about how he grew uneasy throughout his time with Bush and finally his conscience got the better of him. I believe him. Why?

Would it have been better if he dramatically stepped to the podium one day while he was still White House press secretary and said, "We have been doing an organized propaganda campaign to deceive the American people and I resign!"? Yes, that would have been better. But 99 out of a 100 times that's not the way the real world works. You get caught up in whatever subculture you're in and it's hard to untangle yourself.

Have you ever been in a situation where you wound up doing something you were uncomfortable with because of societal pressure and then later wondered -- what the hell was I doing? I don't know about you, but I certainly have.

Now, this was no little thing. This was a gigantic mistake that eventually costs thousands of lives. And yes, I would have loved if he admitted his mistakes and pointed out the lies of the Bush administration without the publicity surrounding a book. Yes, I wish he had the courage to recognize this earlier (as some like Richard Clarke and Paul O'Neill did -- but remember, they too were pilloried anyway).

But right now, the bottom line is that McClellan is clearly telling the truth. Everything he says matches with what has been reported and suspected before. It is an amazing insider look at the deception that went on in the Bush White House. Even his explanation of how Bush convinces himself of his own lies rings so true. His details on how Cheney and Rumsfeld ran the White House while Condoleezza Rice bowed her head matches every report we have from within the administration.

And remember, he didn't have to be this harsh to sell books. A couple of juicy details would have done the job. This was personal. Not as in a personal attack against Bush and the others in the administration. More like an attempt at personal redemption.

As McClellan says throughout the book, he liked Bush and looked up to him, so he wanted to believe what he was saying. And in the end, after so much evidence piled up -- with the final coup de grace being Bush's own admission that he personally authorized the CIA leak -- he couldn't do it anymore. Once outside of the Washington bubble, he began to reflect on all of the transgressions, his and those of his cohorts, and realized he had to write a truly honest account of what happened. That should be commended, no matter what came before.

One final note. People should not overlook what McClellan said about the press. That's the real lesson to take away from this book. While the Bush administration was complaining loudly about the liberal media, they were internally snickering about how much they had intimidated them. That lesson should never be forgotten. The way the Bush administration cowed the press should be an everlasting shame on the media. I wonder if instead of reacting angrily to this, whether the press corps will take away anything from this when they step out of their bubble and come to terms with their own conscience.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/in-defense-of-scott-mccle_b_104111.html

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Scott
• Mcclellan
• what
• happened
• Barack
• Obama
• Iraq
• war
• John
• Mccain
• vice
• president
• George
• Bush
• iran
• Al
• qaida
• terror
• attack

[nicogum]

They called Scott a snitch. In doing such they are admitting that the things he says in his book are true.

[hibiscus929]

so somehow, someone with qualms that doesn't speak up is worse than the people like rove et al. that actually did what mcclellan had qualms about. so the moral of this story is maintain your immorality at all costs--that's the principled thing to do.

[xukeith33]

too much Obelmann

[rememberthediamonds]

@keytoothed I'm begging you to listen. madshangi now has a video up where he reads my full name and an article about a personal family tragedy that I never talk about my autistic son almost died. the article has misinformation in it. I didnt listen, I just know. He had a lot of videos up saying that my name was Theresa Ruddle, and he put up an ED page under that name, so NO my name was NOT easy to find. IT WAS NOT easy to find. What did I do to derserve this?

[jedimasterbooboo]

You'll do it for nothin...

[keytoothed]

They're all right. Scott Mcclellan is telling the truth, and he did betray the people who trusted him to cash in. But, hey, I don't think they could get him for lying. It's not like the Bush administration never lied. It's when they lied, it was about WMDs. Who cares? They're all politicians, they're all liars. IT'S PART OF CAREER REQUIREMENTS. Scott Mcclellan made a few bucks by ratting on them. Big fucking deal. How much money did Cheney make of Haliburton? GIve me a break .

[MrTabby5000]

He should be tried for treason.Hes a traitor.Benedict Arnold.

[walkermydawg]

not the Scott I know/knew.

Certainly unlike the bush administration I konw.

[zamardii12]

It's Patriotic to question your leaders and to assume they're all liars. Read some history books you all... The Bill of Rights and Constitution were written to keep the government in check. Government should be scared of it's people, and (I forget who wrote it) but was written by someone famous here in the states that ," With free government comes with it, ways for people who are greedy for power to step in." That's why those sacred documents were written people. Stand the fuck up for liberty!

[zamardii12]

Honestly... if he would have said anything about Bush's administration while he was under Bush's employ... would anyone had taken it seriously? No... they would have either silenced him or the administration would have easily dismissed the book.

[TylerOdekirk94]

Step 1:Hold your breath

Step 2:go to another video

Step 3: add this comment

Step 4:did you make it if you did you are a good kisser