Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

A Matter of Loyalty [Michael Reagan on Scott McClellan]
Townhall ^ | May 29, 2008 | Michael Reagan

Posted on 05/29/2008 12:58:57 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

It's amazing what some people will do for 30 pieces of silver.

Scott McClellan was given the signal honor of being the spokesman for the president of the United States, a distinction few Americans have ever achieved. Being the spokesman for the world's most powerful political figure is no small thing, and I'm sure that the men and women who have held the post view their service as an honor more given that deserved.

It doesn't appear as if McClellan sees it that way. He is not the first press secretary to be forced out of the job, and he won't be the last. But he'll be the first to sink his teeth into the hand that gave him the job in the first place.

It is a tough job, especially when the spokesman of a president the liberal media despises wears a large bull's eye on his chest. It's an even tougher job when the person who holds the job is clearly not up to it, as was the case with McClellan. He was an easy target for the nastier members of the largely hostile White House Press corps.

His lack of competence is what cost him the job, and it is now obvious that he left the White House burning with resentment over his forced departure. The fact that he had held the job as long as he did obviously created no sense of gratitude for his having been given the post to begin with.

His act of vengeance has delighted the media who once excoriated him. Their onetime foe is now their hero, an ally in their never-ending campaign to portray George Bush, a good and decent man, as a bumbling fool if not an outright criminal.

They greet his alleged revelations with none of the skepticism with which they once treated his pronouncements from the White House press room podium, accepting, for example, his attempt to lay the blame for what Richard Armitage did in leaking the name of Valerie Plame on his old friend and Texas colleague, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby.

They let out a great cheer when he joins the chorus of Democrats and their media henchmen attributing the Iraq war to sleazy, dishonest and hugely deceptive White House maneuvering when the real facts show otherwise.

As David Horowitz and his co-author Ben Johnson write in "Party of Defeat," George Bush acted solely to enforce a United Nations ultimatum blatantly ignored by Saddam Hussein.

Wrote the authors: "The United States went to war because it had concluded that Saddam Hussein could not be trusted to observe the arms agreement embedded in the UN resolutions. Twelve years of defiance and obstruction leading up to, and including the December 7 deadline had established that fact. Even then, the Bush administration was prepared to forego war if Saddam and his sons left the country and went into exile, thus allowing the terms of the UN resolutions to be met."

Scott McClellan surely knew this but chose to ignore it, preferring to give ammunition to those who want to advance a false view of the conflict's genesis.

In the end, it's all about money. An honest book about his experiences wouldn't sell. If he wanted to sell his book, it had to dish up dirt, even when there wasn't any underfoot.

When I wrote my first book, "On the Outside Looking in," I had publishers waving huge royalties in my face if I would only sling mud at my father. They couldn't understand that there was simply no mud in his life and work, and I wasn't willing to create any for them for the sake of big bucks.

Too bad Scott McClellan, blinded by the glitter of those 30 pieces of sliver, didn't see it that way.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bush; character; charactermatters; drivebymedia; mcclellan; media; michaelreagan; scottmcclellan
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-59 next last
I wish Mike would run for office.
1 posted on 05/29/2008 12:58:57 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: IncPen; BartMan1

ping


2 posted on 05/29/2008 1:01:39 AM PDT by Nailbiter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Michael Reagan = a good man of honor and decency

Scott McClellan = a repulsive treacherous little toad


3 posted on 05/29/2008 1:02:39 AM PDT by Enchante (Barack Chamberlain: My 1930s Appeasement Policy Goes Well With My 1960s Socialist Policies!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
As bad as Scott McClellan is, the people who gave him the job obviously had a serious lack of judgment. Kind of like seeing a good man in Putin... This lack of judgment in people has repeatedly bit Bush hard over the years.
4 posted on 05/29/2008 1:16:49 AM PDT by DB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
I was surprised that last night, O'Reilly panned his book as a retread of previously lied about scandals. He got to the third point on the book with Dick Morris and announced "I'm bored!" and Dick was laughing.

I'm bored, too. Leftist propaganda just aren't entertaining any more.

5 posted on 05/29/2008 1:23:01 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Caipirabob
I didn't think Scott McClellan was a very good press secretary anyway.

A member of the tribe, Ari Fleischer, was much better.

6 posted on 05/29/2008 1:24:26 AM PDT by Stepan12 ( "We are all girlymen now." Conservative reaction to Ann Coulter's anti PC joke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Understated

I find it offensive that he would even make pronouncements on national policy and defense that he’s so obviously totally incompetent to make.

What does he know about what should happen in a war?? REALLY.
(shaking head)


7 posted on 05/29/2008 1:32:15 AM PDT by DeLaine (Tant que je vive mon coeur ne changera jamais)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Stepan12
Ari Fleischer was supreme as press secretary. Eloquent and witty. 2001-2003 was also the time the admin was in a gung-ho and non-pc mode... ah good times.

McClellan was a meek bumbling (and mumbling) bore. How he ever got chosen for that job is beyond comprehension. A miserable spokesman and an even worse character, as we see now.

Tony Snow is a close second to Ari. Snow did a great job, and showed the press-holes the contempt they deserved. ("Thank you Helen for the Hezbollah point of view.") God bless him and give him health.

Perino is decent... and the best looking of them all (okay that's gender bias...*cough*).

8 posted on 05/29/2008 1:33:08 AM PDT by SolidWood (Refusal to vote for McCain is active support of Obama. Period.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

When I wrote my first book, “On the Outside Looking in,” I had publishers waving huge royalties in my face if I would only sling mud at my father.

I really agree with his whole article except that this situation is very different than Scott’s...Bush is not Scott’s father. Most people would not write a scathing book about their father who was President.


9 posted on 05/29/2008 1:34:19 AM PDT by napscoordinator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Stepan12

I used to want to shake McClelland when he did his press secretary thing. I admit that after Ari Fleischer most anybody would look boring, but McClelland seemed not to care, and I was thrilled that he was gone.


10 posted on 05/29/2008 1:47:04 AM PDT by kitkat (Over the Hill(ary))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

The White House must go after McClellan’s claims point by point and refute them one by one to show the world that Scott is a Liar.


11 posted on 05/29/2008 1:47:34 AM PDT by trumandogz ("He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and it worries me." Sen Cochran on McCain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Good and decent men can also be bumbling fools.


12 posted on 05/29/2008 2:00:18 AM PDT by Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit (Bomb Liechtenstein!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
Either one of two things are true.

Which one?

Who of us has even read the book yet?

A) Either the man is a liar, in which this man is in BIG trouble.

Or, B) the man is telling the truth.

In which case, our country is in BIG trouble.

I for one want to hear more evidence and counter evidence on this he-said/she-said thing over McClellan.

And as I have said elsewhere, I will get the book even if there are only a few references or insights into the President's thinking and strategy behind the scenes at the time on illegal alien regularizacion (2001-2003), and amnesty (2003 to current; particularly 2007).

13 posted on 05/29/2008 2:01:37 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Single-term "President OBAMA": Bitter, yet bringing an amazing REBIRTH of G.O.P. CONSERVATIVISM)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Scott McClellan will now find himself surrounded by toadies as pitiful as himself, Helen Thomas among them. Strange, cowardice seems to fit the little man.


14 posted on 05/29/2008 2:03:38 AM PDT by yoe ( Socialism with Obama or Clinton - Democracy with McCain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Stepan12
True. Fleischer was much better and in good command.

That guy doing the USG press briefings in Iraq for awhile was good, too.

15 posted on 05/29/2008 2:03:42 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Single-term "President OBAMA": Bitter, yet bringing an amazing REBIRTH of G.O.P. CONSERVATIVISM)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Mc Clellan is but another political whore following in the footsteps of the legion of Clintooooooon knee-pad wearers before him!


16 posted on 05/29/2008 2:04:51 AM PDT by leprechaun9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: napscoordinator

You missed the point. It’s a matter of character. You either have it, or you don’t.


17 posted on 05/29/2008 2:07:34 AM PDT by BykrBayb (In memory of my Friend T'wit, who taught me much. Þ)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Stepan12
...”I didn't think Scott McClellan was a very good press secretary anyway”...

He was awful..A family member and I often would watch him and remark how astonished we were that Bush had hired him for that job. He impacted the President very negatively as press secretary. The President and his people definitely showed a lapse in judgment when they hired this guy. It is very discouraging that Scott McCellan, with the help of a leftist media, can get away with something like this.

18 posted on 05/29/2008 2:16:19 AM PDT by jazzlite (esat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: trumandogz
They won't.

Don't hold your breath.

If you have learned anything about Bush, he doesn't fight stuff that is garbage and innuendo.

It might drive you crazy, but it is called class.

Too bad that is something many Americans seems to have lost.

19 posted on 05/29/2008 2:24:13 AM PDT by EBH ( ... the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness. --Alculin c.735-804)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: EBH

This is posted on the blog “Little Green Footballs”....

The Soros-McClellan Connection
Wed, May 28, 2008 at 7:28:40 pm PDT

The hat tip for this post goes to LGF reader John Williams in Texas.

The company that published Scott McClellan’s new Bush-bashing book is Public Affairs Books, and their Editor at Large is a guy named Peter Osnos: About The Century Foundation.

The owner of Public Affairs Books is a company called Perseus Book Group. Here’s their ownership tree: Perseus Books Home.

The firm is owned by Perseus Funds Group, (holding company Perseus LLC) a capital management firm that grew from about $20 million in 1995 to over $2 billion now. Big infusions of cash seemed to help it grow exponentially and it closed funds almost as fast as it opened them. The board has tons of liberals from the Clinton and Carter Administrations with credentials that almost put Osnos’ to shame as far as far left causes go. Their website is here: PERSEUS - merchant bank and private equity fund management.

If you go to the New York Department of State web site and enter “Perseus” in the “Business Organization” search, you get this on page 2 of the results:

Hi, George!


20 posted on 05/29/2008 2:28:11 AM PDT by Elkiejg (God Bless our Troops)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-59 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson