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 ...
Wasn’t he ‘given’ the job because of who his mother is?
I guess the wicked ones violated the baby’s innocence.
I agree.
I doubt he'll be finding much work in Washington--unless the RATS want him.
Paul Bremer was the worst of the lot.
feh...
I agree with this statement. Someone like Bill Clinton can "sell what you can't give away." (Originally applied to a 70-something prostitute in the France of Louis 14).
Bush, on the other hand, simply retreated once his favorability ratings starting sinking. I have often felt - with no real basis - that he cannot bring himself to defend policies that have not brought about the expected results. Maybe I am crediting him with too much decency.
You are being unkind to the word worst.
Scott McClellan isn’t fit to work the counter at a donut shop. He was press secretary because his Mom is a friend of “W’s”.
Yeah, I wonder why.
This is what GWB gets for hiring all these Texans at the expense of competence.
Even so, what a backstabbing, disloyal mutt.
I agree with that as well. I do not believe administration knew that there were no WMDs.
I would however add that in MY view when the case for War was being made, administration tried too hard. When you do that, you are bound to create the imprssion that you used propoganda.
I don’t ever recall, a Secretary of State going to UN with test-tubes and other gadgets and playing the recording of Mobile Chemical Lab drivers and Iraqi Generals, and displaying satellite shots of possible WMD storage stuctures.
I mean that is not necessary. You shoudn’t try to win a case in court before you go to war. President needs to lay out his reasons and they should be presented in a simple manner and that’s enough. When you over promise, you are bound to fail. When you overplay your hand, there are consequences.
Administration went way over board on that issue as well. Gave too many reasons. From yellow cake, to aluminum tubes, to small planes that can be launched off of cargo ships and spray chemicals in coastal cities, with videos to boot, to Nuclear weapons, to Saddam’s Fidaeen, to Biological weapons.
I mean these people were stealing furniture first chance they got to breathe.
Administration had me believing that at any moment Chemical or Biological attack could take place. Then they come up completely empty handed. We go from showing specialized vehicles that marines had with them that had fans that could blow back the chemical and biological weapons, to finding one single old shell whose tip may have been tipped with some bio-agent.
If you recall, administration periodically changed the name of the operation and reasons for being in Iraq as well.
It went from WOT to Operation Love Iraq or something.
I sure as hell wasn’t dying to liberate Iraqi’s and build a Democracy over there. That’s Iraqi’s job, not ours. They do have my moral support and I won’t mind spending few bucks, and that’s about it. 4,000+ lives and nearly Trillion dollars, with NO WAY OUT YET is not what I signed up for, especially if its only for the purpose of Nation Building.
President Bush ONLY WON ONE DEBATE against Al Gor. It was the second debate when they were sitting down. One of the points that he clobberred Gor was on the issue of NATION BUILDING. Other point he embarrassed Gor on was that how some Arab Americans were held in detention for years without being tried.
Compare that to what is going on now.
To summarize, administration has NO NEED to over-build the case in Iraq. The fact that they tried too hard, it was bound to happen that some flimsy evidence would get into the argument. They kept giving brand new reasons every week as to why War was important and then once the War started and we got to the point of Furniture Looting, they started to give brand new reasons every week as to why we need to stay there.
So its not just poor planning and execution. Its also poor PR, and unprecedented stupidty in trying to convince the Nation to go to war.
The fact that they tried too hard, creates the impression of Propoganda.
Well...there were so many! But, Bremer is as good as choice as any for "the worst of the lot."
I loathe this pompous nincompoop.
Harriet Miers.
My feelings exactly. This war cannot be defended on the results; any way you look at - where we are today in 2008 is not where we expected to be when we started in 2003.
So? Liberals rely on propaganda to sell stupid ideas and stupid books. But I'll tell you this: Whatever information President Bush has been operating on to serve the Office was not fabricated by himself, but trumpeted by people whom he trusted.
If you hire and surround yourself with good people they can make you look good even if you do not deserve it. If you hire bad and incompetent people, they will make you look bad and you will deserve to look bad for hiring bad and incompetent people.
Yeah. Someone has to say at least that what they expected was wrong. No one to my knowledge has done that.
Everone who was arguing for war said that we will be greeted with rice and flowers. We will be greeted as liberators. OK. I don’t care if they were wrong about that, but someone has to stand up and say we were wrong about that. That, I care about.
Second, I remember that the SECOND year when President Bush wanted war funding, everyone was taken aback by the amount a little bit. I believe it was 75 or 80 Billion.
I remember Trent Lott giving interviews and saying THIS IS IT. That he would NOT agree to fund after this.
Even at the time, Iraq was supposed to pay for everything. The contracts resulting from that were supposed to be more profitable than the cost.
I am not saying that no one can make mistakes or estimates can be wrong. However, when you are wrong, wouldn’t it be better to admit you were wrong? Isn’t it someones responsibility to accept the blame? Or being honest about failure is aiding and abetting the enemy?
Instead, now they say you don’t have strong enough belly for war and that’s how wars are supposed to go. It cost much more to fight other Wars of 20th century and many more lives. Just deal with it.
I am for FINISHING the job and hopefully McCain can finish the job by 2013.
However, I am NOT willing to forget the promise of flowers, and rice, Iraq paying for the cost of War and how it would be over soon that there would be no need for funding for third year.
Now people are supporting starting another war with Iran. Based on similar logic and similar evidence and similar fears. One job is not finished yet, and lets go and mess with even more bigger badder enemy.
Can we be sure about evidence this time before we invite waves of Mullahs wearing suicide belts to crah into our troops? Or is that unpatriotic?
Not to mention all those leftovers from the Clinton administration that he left in place to undermine him.
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