Scott McClellan, probably the least respected White House Press Secretary in recent memory has written What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, a reportedly very unflattering account of the administration in which he served. And everybody's going nuts. The book, makes supposedly explosive accusations of deception and incompetence on the part of his boss, the President (or "Bush" as he now rather disrespectfully refers to him) and most of the rest of administration.
The Left, of course is having a field-day, finding in McClellan, a man they previously reviled as a liar and dolt, a new found hero and truth-teller extraordinaire. The Right is less clear on exactly what to make of him: 1) A Judas? Yeah, that seems to fit. 2) A liar? Well, a lot of his "revelations", like Karl Rove and Scooter Libby "conspiring" to lie about the Valerie Plame affair, is more air than substance. Unless you're psychic you usually can only suspect what two people behind closed doors are talking about. Apparently McClellan possesses some hitherto psychic powers which he should have employed a bit while he was Press Secretary. They might have prevented him from looking so clueless much of the time.
The reaction of those who knew him in the Bush administration is interesting. Most of them seem legitimately shocked, saying they never knew he thought what he is now saying in the book and that the book doesn't "sound" like him. They ask, and rightfully most fair minded people would have to admit, "Why did you stay so long if you thought this way?" There are a couple of possible explanations: 1) He was there sucking up all the info he could gather in order to write this hit piece as soon as he left. 2) He's lying now because his publisher wanted a book that would do what this one seems to be doing already: sell. 3) He is incredibly weak and stupid, everything he says in the book is true and he just didn't know how to handle it when he was there. Boo Hoo
Strip away everyone's agenda (and I'm not immune-I think he's a mostly lying Judas) the fact is no one really knows...which leaves the accuracy of his book very suspect indeed. No matter how you look at it, McClellan was either lying then or now: He's a liar.
McClellan may have made a big contribution to his net worth, but he also has also managed to do what had seemed impossible; to diminish his already negligible reputation. Congratulations, Scott.
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