Strayhorn says son Scott McClellan tried to quit White House job earlier

Scott McClellan tried to resign as White House press secretary because of growing concerns about the administration’s direction, but President Bush urged him to stay on the job.

Critics have said Mr. McClellan should have quit, not continue to represent the White House despite reservations that he describes in his sharply critical memoir.

His mother, Texas political veteran Carole Keeton Strayhorn says he tried to resign in late 2005, but the president talked him out of it.

“I could see him becoming more tortured as it went on,” said Mrs. Strayhorn, a former Republican state comptroller and Texas Railroad Commissioner.

The episode is not recounted in Mr. McClellan’s newly published book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.”

Mrs. Strayhorn and others confirmed the story Thursday.

In late 2005, Mr. McClellan decided he wanted to quit, in part because he was disillusioned over being deceived in the CIA leak case.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/053008dntexslater.40b37509.html

I know many here will pound on the guy anyway. Hey, at least he saw the light and is trying to make amends. Better late than never...

It's that whole Bush/GOP culture you have to buy in to be a part of the inner circle. And knowing what these people are capable of from first hand experience, having dirt on them puts you at risk as well.

It took guts to leave, and it took guts to come out as he has now. I just wish he'd done it earlier, during a press conference or something, when it could have made a difference. Still, it verifies what so many have suspected and known for a long time: Bush and his administration are liars, crooks, and need to be investigated and prosecuted.

And they don't like it when you are not with them. Accidents can happen.

have his car checked before he starts it, and stay amongst people he trusts.

Accidents do indeed have a way of happening! :yoiks:

Administration that wasn't included in the book, Congress should take a full deposition from him
immediately. In that way, the info would be recorded and at least to some degree he would be safer.

He handled himself very well in his interview with KO last night; came off as nothing less than sincere. He knew when he wrote this book he'd lose a lot of the 'friends' he's associated with most of his adult life but did it anyway. Now he's on Buschco's shitlist.

McClellan joined up with Bush while Bush was governor of Texas; kept giving him the benefit of the doubt until he could do it no longer. He has a conscience and has now done what he needed to do - I respect that.

I'm not going to nominate him for Great American, but I'll take his help now. (I do wish he'd gotten the book out a lot faster after he left the WH, though.)

I will say that this, finally, got the attention of my officemate. I've been battering her with facts for years, and this was the final blow that got them into her head. I think she's a pretty good barometer of the sort of person who means well but is too wrapped up in her own life to look behind the propaganda. If millions more people like her are finally getting the message, Scotty will have done us all a favor.

but he's making money going and coming. That will hurt the effectiveness of his revelations.

governor (effectively handing the race to the evil Perry), I've always thought her to be a person of integrity, even when I didn't agree with her. I tend to believe that Scotty is probably sincere, if previously politically misguided. He has to be accountable for the lying he did, and I think he'll have plenty of penance. People talk blithely about doing it for the money, but in reality, when it's your life, it's harder than it looks to expose your former friends' lies and corruption. And I applaud him for having the guts to do it, because now the exposure is coming from the inside, which makes even the koolaid drinkers take pause.