Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated “political propaganda campaign” led by President Bush and aimed at “manipulating sources of public opinion” and “downplaying the major reason for going to war…”
The book, coming from a man who was a tight-lipped defender of administration aides and policy, is certain to give fuel to critics of the administration, and McClellan has harsh words for many of his past colleagues. He accuses former White House adviser Karl Rove of misleading him about his role in the CIA case. He describes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as being deft at deflecting blame, and he calls Vice President Cheney “the magic man” who steered policy behind the scenes while leaving no fingerprints.
In a chapter titled “Selling the War,” he alleges that the administration repeatedly shaded the truth and that Bush “managed the crisis in a way that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option.”
McClellan, once a staunch defender of the war from the podium, comes to a stark conclusion, writing, “What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.”
The criticism of Bush in the book is striking, given that it comes from a man who followed him to Washington from Texas.Bush is depicted as an out-of-touch leader, operating in a political bubble, who has stubbornly refused to admit mistakes. McClellan defends the president’s intellect — “Bush is plenty smart enough to be president,” he writes — but casts him as unwilling or unable to be reflective about his job.
Of course, mini-clones still embrace the mistakes and say the war is “necessary and just” and should be continued.
he was the press secretary, not the decider for cripes sake. why is it that “selling a book” is the republican’s #1 method of discrediting people, unless of course you’re following marching orders like a good comrade – then of course having written a book is tantamount to a ph.d
i wonder how long before mcclellan turns up having conveniently committed suicide.
He calls out Bush’s lack of intellectual curiosity, and tendency to go with instinct.
Both of our current candidates do the same thing. Obama just said his uncle liberated Auschwitz, which someone of Obama’s supposed intelligence level should know is false.
#25 Bush won the election in 2004 by the widest margin since Reagan and was the first president since Reagan to win the plurality of the vote
Clinton won both of his terms with less than a 50% of the votes but as much as I didn’t like him he was my president and I didn’t whine about his margin of victory
get over it cry baby
#31 – McClellan was and is a grown man. I don’t buy any claims of redemptive realizations. He is nothing but a bottom-feeding opportunist.
First he takes a job that brings him into the daily workings of a criminal regime. Says nothing. Promotes a criminal enterprise and co-conspires to deceive his own people, his country — playing a key role in said enterprise. Then he quits to cash in with the private sector. Now that the whole fucking thing is on the verge of crashing down, not just with the election of Obama and a massive new majority for the Dems in Congress, but facing years of congressional investigations and criminal prosecutions of the Bush admin, Scotty McClellan now sees the light? Sure, whatever…
He’s found Jesus! Praise the Lord and pass the indictment!
#5 – Mustard – Come on!! Does anybody think Dumbya has the mental horsepower to lead ANYTHING, much less a sophisticated political propaganda campaign?
Well, I think he’s probably qualified to be a regional manager for a chain of Family Dollar stores, and nothing much more complex.
We’ve had this guy under a national microscope for 8 years now. There isn’t a personality defect or character flaw we haven’t seen. He is wholly incompetent and anyone saying otherwise is either blind or willfully ignorant.
#32 LOL, you really think you live in a democracy. They really do have you fooled.
Strangely, all the minority vote presidents were part of political dynasties: John Quincy Adams, Benjamin Harrison, Kennedy, and the current Bush.
>>Well, I think he’s probably qualified to be
>>a regional manager for a chain of Family
>>Dollar stores
Do you have a grudge agains Family Dollar stores, OFTLO? Every other business the Chimperor has been involved in has been driven into the Dumpster(R) by his bungling incompetence. Have you any reason to think he could manage a Family Dollar store any better than he’s managed anything else?
>>Bush won the election in 2004 by the
>>widest margin since Reagan
Wtf are you talking about, Mitch? The Chimperor won in 2004 by 2.4 percentage points, and he STOLE the 2000 election. Clinton pounded his daddy by much more than that in 1992, and drubbed Dole and Pee-roh in 1996 by much more than that also. Of course, he was a President who actually DID something for America.
Dumbya is a liar, a cheater, and a coward. He may be your “president”, but he sure as shit isn’t mine. Stole one election outright, swift-boated the other one…. doing his best to destroy America from within; a real hero, hm?
>>Does this strike you as objective journalism,
>>that you have a litmus test of whether the
>>author is bashing Bush or praising him?
It’s not a litmus test, Lyin’ Mike. It’s simply a reflection of educated society. If there were a blog dedicated to people (other than Anal Cyst Limbaugh and dirty man Loofah Pad O’Reilly) who praise Bush, there would be nothing to post.
Nothing whatsoever.
I’m not talking about the blog, but for the media as a whole, deciding on what to promote based on whether or not the book supports Bush?
#38 – Democracy or “constitutional republic”… Whichever you wanna call it. Not perfect but working on it. When we started over two centuries ago, only propertied white men could vote. By most measures, we’re better off now and closer to the ideal than when we began. We will only slip back into the dark ages when we concede to pseudo-fascists like the Bushists. So I continue to believe in the lol-fiction of democracy.
😉
Scotty lied… your sons and daughters died.
>>for the media as a whole, deciding on what to
>>promote based on whether or not the book
>>supports Bush?
What book has been published since the world found out he is a fraud, a liar, a cheater, and a coward, that supports Bush??
I know people are stupid, but I don’t think they’re THAT stupid!!!
#40 Mr Mustard — “Clinton […] Of course, he was a President who actually DID something for America.
Not to go too far off topic, but you Yanks live in such a bi-polar world. Clinton, because he is a democrat, is good? And then did what for the democrats, exactly? Sign off on right wing welfare “reform”? Bomb Kosovo into peace? Kill any possibility of socialized medicine (ok maybe i exxagerate there)? Look askance while the de-deregulated financialization of the economy took off and claimed credit for that so-called “re-birth”?
I just don’t get it. Bush of course is a bumbling Republicrat. But Clinton-Blair’s “third way” was as much of a con as the Iraq war was.
#44: I’m sure Scott just read what was on the piece of paper, and that’s about it. Shooting the messenger usually doesn’t fix the problem.
If we only fought “necessary wars,” we would have been in
Rwanda 800,000 to 1,000,000 killed
Sudan 200,000 to 400,000 killed
Darfur 200,000 to 400,000+ killed
Bosnia 200,000+ killed
RBG
Let me highlight an issue here—at the penultimate sentence.
Anyone with a brain saw Bush’s weaknesses in 2000. Rich boy who never traveled outside the country, reformed coke freak, military awol, didn’t even want to fly a jet fighter for free, failed businessman, jesus freak. HOW MUCH MORE EVIDENCE WAS NEEDED?????
Well, evidently much more because he got re-elected in 2004? How did THAT happen? And how does he still maintain a 28% approval level for christs sake???
Hell–with the surge working, gay marriage in California, and a black to run against, its only a 50/50 bet he could win a third time. Silly? Someone, anyone, tell me how McCain is not Bush III? HOW MUCH MORE EVIDENCE IS NEEDED?????
#46 – Bravo. I happen to be a “yank”, and not all of us are polarized. I happen to think that both parties, and indeed the political system both here and abroad, are full of crooks. So many of them that the few honest, well intentioned politicians that surely must exist are powerless to facilitate any real shift in the way things are done. At least some other nations are fortunate enough to have more than two parties with a realistic chance for election…
#50 Flatline — I am sorry for the ‘you yanks’ hyperbole, cos it comes pretty close to sounding like QGQGuagaglia! But #51 just kinda proved my point. WTF is a “liberal” anyhow, that you can smear someone’s face with it and walk away feeling self-satisfied? To steal one of Dvorak’s lines: “Cripes!”
[last i looked The USA was founded on liberal, Jeffersonian principles?]
49. bobbo: “Someone, anyone, tell me how McCain is not Bush III?
A little late, but exactly as I predicted when I once chided Mr. Catshit and others for their fixation on a lame duck president in an election year.
RBG
The answer, btw, is that Bush never had a Democrat VP nominee for his own de facto VP.
RBG
#52 – “[last i looked The USA was founded on liberal, Jeffersonian principles?]”
Those principles were in turn based in large part upon Montesquieu’s writings, proving that once again there is nothing new under the sun.
No need for apologies, by the way…filthy limey 😉
Your point was coherent and well thought out; it is always nice to have an exchange of ideas rather than a bludgeoning contest.
So he wrote a book w/out clearing it with Mr. Cheney’s line. Must’ve forgot. Maybe he should write another one and clearly label it… my book, if it were to be following Mr. Cheney’s line… fiction, or something like it.
#54–RBG==I wouldn’t ask you except for your excellent contributions to the WTC thread, but could you restate your point here? I can’t make any sense of it as written.
#53, RBG,
exactly as I predicted when I once chided Mr. Catshit and others for their fixation on a lame duck president
When did you ever chide Mr. Catshit because of a lame duck presidency?
#30 So just how many books do you think he would have sold if he said Bush was brilliant leader and and all around good guy ?
Judging from the success of Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly and Michael Savage — a fair number I’d say.
#59–FTC–can you explain this for us? The authors you list sell books bashing liberals to right wing nuts. How would a book criticizing the right wing nuts sell into that market? I suspect you buy those books given the depth of your insight.
QUOTE:
mini-clones still embrace the mistakes
clones or CLOWNS??
#4??
HINDSIGHT??
you make me LAUGH..
Look at the USA with the same CLEAR vision you look at Iraq..THINK ABOUT IT.
#13,
do you know why??
with 4-6 groups fighting CIVIL wars in your country, HOW did he make them PEACEFUL?? He SHOT ALL sides that cause’d terror. when 1 person shot ‘at’ another…he SHOT BOTH.
He created his OWN terror.
In this country we ‘PASS THE BUCK’ and make ‘EXCUSES’…I didnt do it, I WAS TOLD it was this way, BY THEM(CIA,FBI,DEA,…) No thinking required.
19,
Hmmm. You WANT a JOB, you DO the JOB, and shut up.. CORRECT??
21,
AND YOU WOULDNT HAVE A JOB, and probably would be BLACKBALLED(look it up), and never FIND another JOB..
23,
DITTO with what I said to 21..
32,
In both elections LESS THEN 33% of the USA voted.
1/2 for each side, which is <17% of the USA population.
SHOW me the Majority..
43??
WORKING ON IT??
In the last 8 years they have removed MORE RIGHTS, and STOMPED on more Civil liberties, then any other time in USA history, INCLUDING during the civil war.
we are almost to the point of Martial Law, for the WHOLE nation.
49,
Good point.
Last I heard it was 23% and THATS HIS OWN GROUP.
50/50?? If anyone is Looking for something BESIDES a puppet…its more like 10/90, and the NEXt president is going to be the Scape goat to ALL the BUSH has done, either a Women or Black to BLAME for all the MESS created.
…doin’ a heck of a job, Scottie.
62,
the fun part??
trying to get ALL the services BACK to normal that have been CUT, in the USA.
FDA CUT over 50%…of the 6 location in California that DO inspections of PORT/IMPORTs and goods coming into the USA…1 is left.