Regarding Scott McClellan

My father used to quote LBJ when he spoke of certain people he held in utter contempt: "He ain't a pimple on a good man's ass."

I think that we can all agree that Scott McClellan was a pimple on President Bush, who is by every definition an ass.

Is anything in McClellan's book going to either inform or surprise DUers? No.

Does that make it a worthless book? No again.

Always, when it is election time, we need to remember there are three groups: (a) those who support you; (b) those who oppose you; and (c) the undecided folks. In terms of the November election, the book will not change the minds of any members of Group A or B. However, democrats can use it to remind Group C how corrupt this administration is. It helps us put the nature of the war in the correct context. It helps us convince Group C that the calls for military strikes on Iran are equally dishonest. We remind Group C that McCain is running to serve the third term of the Bush presidency.

What can republicans do? They can't use it to their advantage. McCain will have to decide if he wants to admit he was fooled by the administration's lies, or if he wants to continue with the lie. That's where we want him.

Remember the day Bush walked McClellan out on the lawn, to tell reporters that he had "resigned?" When McClellan was obviously upset, and got choked up, Bush couldn't keep the smirk off his face. He loved seeing his "friend" suffer. DUers might not care for McClellan's book in terms of wanting to read it, but it sure is fun to see him get back at Bush & Company.

I think Scottie's only doing it for the money. He had to make a few headlines to make the book sale. But, Wexler is calling for him to testify, and it certainly is fun to watch the bushie's eat one of their own.

doing it for both money and revenge. I'm not willing to spend a penny on the book (but may get it from the library), but I'm glad to be able to use it as a resource in the elections.

the media will be talking about it, so many people are going to be listening.

It helps bring the Plame scandal up for further discussion. And it shows why the Vice President and his lap dog Scooter were so focused on destroying the Wilsons. I think it is interesting to contrast the way that Chris Matthews and David Gregory approach it: Matthews, who helped Joseph Wilson, is attacking the administration; Gregory, who was one of the journalists who was told about Plame by Ari Fleisher, but who pretended otherwise in public, is attacking McClellan.

who at least tried, at least much more than the others did. As far as Chris, he's a very difficult guy to figure out. One day he really DOES play Hardball, and the very next day, he's kissing somebody's a**.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

a little later -- the day Patrick Fitzgerald was assigned to the Plame investigation -- but I have read enough of the old DU threads to know that people here knew the deal. I do not think that there will be a single sentence in the book that will surprise DUers.

for a LONG TIME. The IMORTANT thing about the book are not what he said, but that a trusted "insider" from the administration wrote them!

That is precisely why the book has value.

for putting it in such great perspective!

Good one.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/33686
(Washington, DC) Today Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) called for former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to testify under oath regarding the devastating revelations made in his new book on the Bush Administration’s deliberate efforts to mislead the American people into the Iraq War.

“The admissions made by Scott McClellan in his new book are earth-shattering and allege facts to establish that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby – and possibly Vice President Cheney - conspired to obstruct justice by lying about their role in the Plame Wilson matter and that the Bush Administration deliberately lied to the American people in order to take us to war in Iraq. Scott McClellan must now appear before the House Judiciary Committee under oath to tell Congress and the American people how President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and White House officials deliberately orchestrated a massive propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraq to the American people.”

“The allegations by this former top White House aide – that Rove and Libby deliberately coordinated their stories in order to obstruct justice in the Plame case, that the President deliberately disregarded contradictory evidence related to Iraq, should outrage every American and Congress must respond by initiating immediate aggressive oversight starting with an appearance by McClellan before the House Judiciary Committee. Any continued obstruction by this Administration to prevent White House officials from appearing before Congress cannot be tolerated by this Congress in the face of these shocking revelations.”

Congressman Wexler has led a nationwide campaign in favor of holding impeachment hearings for Vice-President Dick Cheney. Congressman Wexler is Chairman of the Europe Subcommittee and a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Judiciary Committee.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/33686

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I CAN HARDLY WAIT!

This news gives me real Hope. Thanks for posting orleans! I don't know why this place isn't "shouting" with this info.

someone posted earlier "why isn't conyers saying this?"
i thought: yeah, good point.

so--i'm glad about it, but i'll believe it when i see it.

Or was that Waxman?

:hi:

I'm lovin it.

Just from the bits I have seen I think this book is a load of shit. Not the part of it about bush being a lyin' sack of shit, but it looks like this book is going to help the pukes in the election if anything. Everyone already knows that bush and his administration is a complete failure. All McCain has to do is say "look, I was fooled like everyone else, it's in the book!" or something to that effect.

Here is another thing that makes me think the book is crap, McClellan writes of georgie "personal charm, wit and enormous political skill." He says Bush's administration early on possessed "seeds of greatness."" :eyes:

To be fair, I haven't read the book so I don't know exactly what's in it, but I wouldn't put it past certain political "advisers" to back a book like this in some sort of weird political strategy.

Scotty has indicted the lapdog press as the co-conspirators who enabled this administration's criminal acts. Either from willful ignorance or self-serving convenience, they've been outed. Will this provide some impetus to start covering these crooks critically, maybe regaining some of their reputation back in the process? Stay tuned!

The journalists served as cheerleaders for the administration. Too many of them betrayed their profession, and the public. They will try to keep the focus on the administration and/or McClellan.

Does this give the press a pass to beat the next president to a pulp?

It is only speculation, but I really do wonder!

THAT'S the kind of press America needs.

This is what I remember, and that was the press touched Watergate with a ten foot pole. The media as a whole held back until it became painfully obvious there was a problem, a major problem. Not to mention a lot of the media was playing footsie with, 'can the President of the United States really do this.' The televised congressional hearings really turned the tide against Nixon.

Now, Gerald Ford got a major pass from the press. Ford may have won reelection if he did not listen to Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Cheney and Rumsfeld told Ford to fire Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and politically take a hard turn to the right. This was stupid. It was the people who threw the bums out of office, not the press!

This comic was edited (which was illegal) or not ran by many newspapers:



Is the media more compliant today than yesterday? Maybe, but here is what is a given, there was more competition in the 1970's.

on edit: punctuation and proper capitalization

I don't know. I haven't read it and the people who have read it are the last ones who'd tell us if there is a blockbuster in it.

One thing's for sure. They're plenty nervous.

corruption, and manipulation of both the Administration and the media.

I vaguely remember him crying, but nothing else. Wow. No wonder Scotty's dishing on him. "Gee, I'm out a job and my boss was an inhuman prick: I know! I'll write a book!" It's nice to see the payback, but I fear our young hero does not seem very bright. He's seen firsthand how these people deal with public sass. I'm amazed he doesn't realize what he's in for.

If I was a betting man, I'd wager he'll be very pale and rather uncomfortable on all those shows tomorrow. He's getting some nasty messages this evening. They're telling him he better get out there and make some very loud sucking noises on tv tomorrow or he's through in the party. Of course, he's through anyway, but they'll probably bully him into waffling in front of the cameras and softening his language. Once they've gotten that out of him, they'll kick him to the curb. Bye Scotty!

He and Bush deserved eachother, for a while.

is a choice he made for a specific reason. I think he is looking to try to sell books, of course, but he is also looking to hurt the administration.

Wexler wants a hearing, I'm wondering if the book as Wexler claims provides evidence of obstruction in the Plame matter, why weren't more indictments handed down?

:shrug:

Obviously I'm missing something here.

-Hoot

spoken to Mr. Fitzgerald. His book doesn't contain anything that the grand jury didn't hear.

In particular, it will help Barack Obama if he wins the nomination. Hillary voted for the IWR, so she would have less impact in that regard.

We need to remember that parts of the book had been discussed in the media many months ago. The Obama campaign had to have been as aware it would be released now, as I was. When Obama has said a debate with John McCain on this war is something he welcomed, I think we know why.

If we mere mortals here at DU could see that the whole war scenario was a murderous sham, then all those Dems who voted for the AUMF (notice I said AUMF and NOT IWR) must be squirming in their chairs a bit.

You think?

The White House will be doing the "but all the known information pointed to Saddam having WMD." Nope. McClellan's book contains the proof otherwise: both Plame and Wilson had provided information that showed quite the opposite.

do you think this might also be a Scottie blackmail?

"Give me some shut-up insurance or I spill the beans in the witness chair?"

I have knowledge of the book biz; McLellan will retire very, very comfortably...

or find the news old, it hits the credibility of McCain's arguments against Obama concerning experience head on and makes the judgement claim of Obama tangible. The timing of Scott's book is heaven sent. As I read it (bought it today), it's like being vindicated. All the people I kept telling concerning the truth of the matter suddenly see a bush insider and his book about their culture of deception. The media is now forced to deal with it and feebly defend themselves and now those of us who have been speaking about these things finally have weight to our words.

the photo on one of the covers MSNBC has been showing is from that very occasion when Bush was taking pleasure in the departing Scotty's pain.

If that really is the cover, its selection seems to me to have a message of its own.

how unbecoming it was for the president to be unable to contain his glee when his friend was that upset.

What's more they all thought he was the wimp they could use so it's double the fun.

It was fun to see Chris Matthews point out their "lingo" in dismissing McClellan yesterday, with "puzzling," etc.

What a humiliating experience that day on the lawn was for him. Frankly I thought he was too dumb or immersed to realize. I was wrong. Interesting, they are now also saying he couldn't possibly have written that book by himself, the implication being clear. But it's a funny argument for them to make. They deliberately hired someone because he was dumb, a cypher, (typical of that admin)and couldn't possibly know what was going on and could therefore be manipulated, or he did know and they were clueless about him just as they have about so many things.

It's been great fun to see the fast and furious CYA of all the reporters and so called journalists, "no place run, now darling, no place to hide"

In my opinion, the only one this helps is Obama, as the others are now cast in the role of being lied into war and not having the judgment to see it.

On edit: Chuck Todd said this morning the person he'd be interested in hearing from is Card who has, so far, remained silent.

which includes hinting that he is far too stupid to express his own opinion, begs the question: why did the president hire such a man to express the president's opinions to the media?

I do remember as well that moment when Bush watched his "friend" get choked up and enjoyed it. I too am happy about this book. Nothing new for me but it is glorious when the actual truth of things uncontrollably enters the official reality and the bad guys have to answer for it.

Maybe Scotty is trying to buy his soul back. Maybe he wants immunity for the war crimes trials. In any case, I welcome him to the light side of the force. It was brave of him to burn those bridges. Not as brave as it would have been if he stood up when it actually could have stopped things, made a difference, but brave nonetheless.

The press are still just as complict when all they cover is the * administration's puzzlement but it's nice when it is spoken, their complicity and assistance in the war, the fact that they promoted propaganda. It's not as nice as a war crime trial but still nice.

to a question about the McClellan book was little more than "no comment." He will continue to say that he voted for the war because "everybody" believed Saddam had WMD that posed a threat to the US. Sad for him -- had he looked into it, he would have been aware that there was serious disagreement about these issues within the intelligence communities. He does not match up well with Obama on this one.

I, for one, want light butter and salt and an ice-cold Diet Coke; there's room on the couch and under the blanket for one more...

seems intent upon discrediting McClellan. Scott must have known that David was one of the journalists who Ari Fleischer "shared" information about Valerie Plame with. When David was hounding McClellan about not being honest about what he knew about the case, McClellan knew that David was not being honest, either.

but if it never sells a single copy, the public knows and is talking about it and the timing could hardly be better.

I've often said I want the m$m to be far, far harder on the next president, R or D, than they were to W. Maybe this time they will (I'm ever an optimist).

H2OMan...as usual, you show the proper insight into the real game here.

Personally, I wouldn't waste a dime on whatever Snotty trying to peddle, nor am I surprised by any of the revelations...but we're not his audience. This book was written for two different groups:

1.) "Regular Repugnicans"...the ones who now claim the party left them. These are the "fiscal" conservatives, moderates and even some of the fundies who saw this regime as the Raygun dream gone awry...and they want to know why....Snotty tells them. You and I tried and they never listened...maybe this will light a fire under their butts to the crimes this regime was behind and not get in our way in our demand of justice.

2.) The Corporate Media...he all but blindsided them as many of these stenographers not only bought what he said, but went out of their way to help him spin it and now he's turned on them. They're scratching all sorts of places today to figure out how they got played...yet they knew they were playing all along. He disrobes them in a humilating way and thus the need for them to trot out anyone who could debunk either the book or Snotty himself. It's a match between the cobra and the mongoose...or a good car wreck. You hate to look but you just gotta.

From what I'm hearing, Snotty isn't going against boooosh as much as the "people he surrounded himself with". People can deal with booosh living in a bubble...but it's the lies and betrayals of the others that get the treatment here and shines the light where many aren't looking....and it's just verifying the ugly picture they're now seeing. It's someone breaking the omarata.

If anything, this kicks the investigation ball into a new realm. Those "conspiracies" we were laughed at in the past not only look very real now, but we're getting more verification and evidence of it. We still have no clue to the depths of the corruption that's gone on in the executive and a good old pissing match by former members could be the disenfectant needed to crack some of the bigger scandals wide open.

I'm enjoying seeing the "Mighty Wurlitzer" crank up one last time (and this farewell performance is sounding very flat)...all the usual suspects with the fax-blasted talking points. The interesting game to watch as we move ahead in the next few days is those who attack Snotty as opposed to those who either are shocked or don't believe what he's written...there's a good indicator of who has a lot to hide and who doesn't.

Cheers...

And welcome back to GD...

and the gushing fawning words he had for his former boss on that day. not verbatim, but the gist. he sang gw's praises and mentioned what an honor it had been to "serve" beside him.
i do wonder what the genesis of this book really is. but i'll take a lot of convincing to believe that it's a sincere rendering of the truth for the truth's sake, or an attempt to redeem his own soul. easier to see the greed factor, and the man is probably still a republican. i don't know, but probably.

Great memory, yours, H20 Man. And you know knowledge is power.

Monkey's ignorant minions are calling Scotty a disgruntled former employee.

It seems he hit a nerve.

The little turd from Crawford is exposed by one of his Texas confidants as a liar. We the People need remember that in November and for purposes of future prosecutions.

PS: I think of your father's words frequently. His description of the JFK administration as a possible abberation in the status quo is most precise. It also has helped me shape a strategy for change. Infinite thanks to you both.

our family used to play the board game "Scrabble" frequently. My father was always rearranging the letters on his tray. When I asked him why he did that, he said that the human mind works best when one frequently shifts the sequence of data around. He said that the same thing holds true in a board game and in real life.

When we take a group of facts that we all know, the person who rearranges the sequence has an advantage over those who view them in the stagnant way that someone else presents them in. An example is the Plame scandal: it appeared on the surface that Joseph Wilson was the lone target of the OVP's exposing his wife, according to the media "to discredit" Wilson. When we discussed that (on the first "Plame Thread"), I suggested we rearrange the facts, to consider if it was possible that Valerie Plame's work was also a target -- if the OVP was intent upon derailing her work at the time. That led to the possibility that the work that people connected to her was also being derailed. Everything that has followed indicates that Plame was as much a target as Wilson.

The corporate media usually reports things in a cookie-cutter manner. If one station reports a story, the others follow, as does the press. It is rare indeed for the current media to think out of the box, much less report independently.

was a big Bush supporter who went Independent and ran for governor here in Texas during the time Scott was working for Bush. I often wondered during that time, if he had any qualms about what he was pushing since his mother seemed to have seen the light. I wouldn't be surprised if much of the advice about going forward with this book came from her--which is great.

Also, I wonder if Scott worries about his safety. Many who diss him for coming out now may not realize that yes, even though this info is late in coming, he has to be somewhat afraid of the repercussions--especially from Dick Cheney. Just some thoughts...only a mother would think:D

:patriot:

Most of the media and washington people with IAEA and CIA and NSC files and the best info in the world got it dead wrong. But our researchers and activists not only smelled a fish, they knew that we wouldn't find shit there. They knew about the coming insurgency. It's a bitter pill to have to play Cassandra to the likes of these empire-chasers. But in the end, that's how it's turned out. Maybe we can use this book to establish a better base of trust between the American left and the rest of the American people this election at the least...

if this book provides the key puzzle piece that brings forth the indictments---what a gift it is.

...it's so damned predictable. Rather than address any of the things he said, they attack the man. Classic use of the ad hominem logical fallacy they love so much. Of course, what's really funny is not what they are saying about McClellan, but the way that they are saying it:

..he looked like a trapped animal every time he had to get up and face the press. He knew that he was lying, but misguided loyalty and the illusion that W was his friend probably made him feel like he had to keep on.

I'm glad he told all in his book.

So...the "official report those two "guardians of truth Newspapers" reported was that Scott resigned because Josh Bolton wanted "new faces and new team" and that's why Andy Card resigned along with Scott and some others.

Yet...somehow the Media NOW reports that Scott was fired...and is a disgruntled employee. Whether some of us out here knew Bush got rid of Scott on his own or not...the OFFICAL report to AMERICAN READERS of both those "noted newspapers" was that Scott resigned due to "WH Post Election Shake Up" and it was all normal and something every administration does.

So which is it? Did Scott resign or was he pushed out? Why would he have been pushed out given his long history with Bush? :shrug: