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Still a Mouthpiece - Ex-Bushie Writes For New Masters
nypost.com ^ | May 31, 2008 | Rich Lowry

Posted on 05/31/2008 12:20:05 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY

SCOTT McClellan has learned the profound wisdom of the old Groucho Marx line about not wanting to belong to any club that would have him.

The former press secretary has written a scathing memoir about his time in the Bush administration - but nothing he says in his book, dully titled (appropriately enough) "What Happened," is as damning as the fact that he spent nearly three years as White House press secretary.

Likable, but maladroit and plodding, he was the perfect spokesman for the administration of Harriet Miers, Michael Brown and Al Gonzales. For anyone who doubted that President Bush too often valued loyalty over talent, there was McClellan stumbling through daily briefings to embody the point more eloquently than he ever could have stated it.

McClellan's book has all the inherent interest of one of his briefings. He tells of an incident that was one of his "favorite moments" from working with then-Gov. George Bush in Texas. He stumbled upon Bush making sandwiches. McClellan picks up the tale from there: "For the next 20 minutes or so we munched on the sandwiches and talked about a variety of topics, few of which had to do with politics."

No one was going to pay any attention to a book replete with such banalities, so McClellan had to "sex it up." He took the conventional anti-Iraq War case and cut-and-pasted it into his book. He says that the administration engaged in a "political propaganda campaign" in the run-up to the war, doing "a disservice to the American people and to our democracy."

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: betrayal; bookreview; disgrace; lowry; mclellan; scottmclellan; traitor
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1 posted on 05/31/2008 12:20:05 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
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To: Free ThinkerNY
Bush. Living proof that anyone can be President.
2 posted on 05/31/2008 12:21:51 PM PDT by GunsareOK
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: GunsareOK

Except probably you.


4 posted on 05/31/2008 12:26:00 PM PDT by metesky ("Brethren, leave us go amongst them." Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton - Ward Bond- The Searchers)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
He was a lousy press secy too..
Ari Fleicher was number one.. quick on his feet, good with the rope a dope..
5 posted on 05/31/2008 12:26:33 PM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
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To: GunsareOK

Nicely done. Good job pooping on the thread from the get-go. Pat yourself on the back.


6 posted on 05/31/2008 12:27:20 PM PDT by KJC1
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To: U.S.S. Reagan
I hope Snitch McClellan gets whats coming to him.

Snitch? Maybe if he had been telling the truth!

7 posted on 05/31/2008 12:28:04 PM PDT by pnh102 (Save America - Ban Ethanol Now!)
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To: metesky

We’ll see how YOU like four years of McCain.


8 posted on 05/31/2008 12:30:53 PM PDT by GunsareOK
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To: GunsareOK

If Lazamataz were still here, he’d have a word or two to say to you.


9 posted on 05/31/2008 12:31:16 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler ( :: FREE LAZAMATAZ! ::)
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To: KJC1

Thanks. I will.


10 posted on 05/31/2008 12:31:28 PM PDT by GunsareOK
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To: Free ThinkerNY

11 posted on 05/31/2008 12:33:23 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country! What else needs said?)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

The Rats offered Squat McClellan time off his sentence for informing them of this jail house confession.


12 posted on 05/31/2008 12:44:12 PM PDT by Navy Patriot (John McCain, the Manchurian Candidate.)
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To: GunsareOK
Do you think that splashing on a little right wing cologne makes you stink any less than Michael Moore?

13 posted on 05/31/2008 12:49:36 PM PDT by I see my hands (_8(|)
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To: I see my hands

It’s nice that a few folks believe that there is a complete litmus test on conservatism to be accepted.

Ok, let me be more blunt than the poster: Bush sucks. He is close to McCain and that means he sucks a lot.

We get a couple of SC justices, strong defense, and what else? Largest government ever, complete abandonment on school reform, no vetos of any kind, weakest dollar, highest oil prices, buyout of the banks, etc. With conservatives like these, we might as well let Ted Kennedy run the country: at least it is apparent from the get go.


14 posted on 05/31/2008 1:01:45 PM PDT by wireplay
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To: I see my hands

And yes, I think Scott McClellan sucks as well but that is another Bush choice.


15 posted on 05/31/2008 1:02:59 PM PDT by wireplay
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To: wireplay
"yes, I think"

Thanks for pointing that out as it isn't apparent.


16 posted on 05/31/2008 1:08:27 PM PDT by I see my hands (_8(|)
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To: wireplay

You are putting too much on a president. He does not, after all, control the federal reserve. He does not control the world oil market. And you are forgetting the tax cuts which lifted the country out of a predicament caused by the collapse of the dot-com bubble and by 9/11. Ironically he has managed the war on terror well enough that the country could go on about its business, more or less oblivious to the war. In other words, he is blamed because there have been no significant attacks on American interests since 2003. I do blame him for the enlarged federal programs, but the war in Iraq, which so many peopole decry, has cost the country less than the amount spent each year on public education, with arguably better results.


17 posted on 05/31/2008 1:18:32 PM PDT by RobbyS (Ecce homo)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

The Scott McClellan story is really not about White House revelations or about Bush or about Cheney or about Scooter Libby, or, even, about the war in Iraq. It is a story, a very sad story, about a man with no character.


18 posted on 05/31/2008 2:01:48 PM PDT by Continental Soldier
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To: Continental Soldier

Not to mention the fact that we are now learning that the book that was published was NOT the book he planned on writing — just more proof that the article above is spot on. Whiney Scotty was coerced into writing what his liberal editor wanted him to say. He stabbed the President and all his friends in the back for 15 minutes of time with his new best friend, Keith Olbermann. So his news friends are not his BFFs, like his old friends were. Even moveon.org is calling it a crap book and asking that McClellan donate all the proceeds to the US troops (although they are saying it because he lied to us for three years as the press man).

Poor Scotty didn’t understand what his job was, doesn’t understand loyalty or truth....just gives his opinions in a book that the liberal media is claiming as facts. Clearly they haven’t really read it, because if you look at the clips from the intro, he calls it “my truth” or “his truth” but never does he call it THE TRUTH...because its all a bunch of lies.

Scum.


19 posted on 05/31/2008 2:22:00 PM PDT by Laverne
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To: wireplay
no vetos of any kind

Last I heard he has issued around ten vetoes.

20 posted on 05/31/2008 2:41:52 PM PDT by Irish Rose (Will work for chocolate.)
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