BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Oh, golly, gee!  Scott McClellan, President Bush’s former press secretary, writes a tell all book.   Excerpts from What Happened: Inside the White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception were furnished from CNN. 

Of President Bush McClellan writes:

“He and his advisors confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war.”

Of the War in Iraq:

“Having gotten this far by vigorously seeking to manipulate public approval to our advantage — most notably in our political propaganda campaign to seel the war — we assumed the same approach would continue to work in our favor and help us overcome any challenges ahead.  And having turned away from an open and forthright approach in the buildup to war, whether consciously or not, it would become increasingly difficult as we entered the re-election campaign to alter that course we had set.”

According to McClellan, when it came to Hurricane Katrina:

“Katrina and the botched federal response to it would largely come to define Bush’s second term.”

Well, from the extended bits and pieces I have read, there is nothing new… or at the very least nothing that has not been suspected.  So, it seems that Scott McClellan has decided for one reason or another to come clean.  Supposedly, the book is written as a historical piece.  It seems that Mr. McClellan is either trying to either clear his conscience or make money… or both.

Obviously, the book has not made Mr. McClellan any friends.  In fact, it may have diminished the number of those he had.

The White House Wednesday said it was “puzzled” by a former spokesman’s memoir in which he accuses the Bush administration of being mired in propaganda and political spin and at times playing loose with the truth.

About Vice President Cheney and Scooter Libby, according to the LA Times:

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, writing about the case that led to the conviction of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, says he was led by the vice president and others to deliver false pronouncements in connection with the criminal investigation.

Remember the Valerie Plame CIA leak?

“He [McClellan] was led by senior officials into providing assurances from the White House press briefing room podium that Karl Rove, Elliott Abrams and Libby were not involved in leaking classified information.

The case grew out of the disclosure of the identity of a CIA operative, Valerie Plame Wilson. Libby was eventually convicted in the case; last July, President Bush commuted Libby’s 30-month sentence for perjury and obstruction.

Libby was Cheney’s chief of staff. Rove, Bush’s top political advisor, and Abrams, a national security aide, were not charged in the case.

“There was only one problem” with the assurances he provided, McClellan wrote. “What I’d said was not true. I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, Vice President Cheney, the president’s chief of staff, Andrew Card, and the president himself.”

The former spokesman said he did not learn that his statements were untrue for almost two years; nor, he said, did he think Bush knew they were untrue, having been deceived by others.

So, what should we make of this?  I guess I should jump on the bandwagon and say that Mr. McClellan is telling it like it is.  But, I have a problem with that.  If many of the rest of us… without White House privileges… figured out the scheme while McClellan was still press secretary, I find it difficult that Mr. McClellan couldn’t figure it out.  So, he is either dumb as a rock or trying to purge his soul. 

Now, I say this, having only read excerpts from the book.  Perhaps, there is something hidden deep within the pages that has yet to be bantered about.  I hope so.  From all I have seen so far, there’s nothing new under the sun.  And, I’m not so sure I want to spend the money or drive to Barnes and Nobles to buy the book or take the time to read it.  I’ll wait for the movie.