BY TAYLOR MARSH
“Total crap,” is Mr. Bartlett’s review.
But it’s really odd to hear the reaction to McClellan’s bombshell book What Happened from the cable talking heads. Why did Scott come out now? Why didn’t he do it when he could have changed things? Are they kidding? If there’s one thing we’ve learned about George W. Bush it’s that anyone who doesn’t kiss his ring is smeared, humiliated, then shown the window and told to jump or is pushed by all the president’s men. The swiftboating has begun, because after all, the truth never sets Bush’s crew free. It endangers their hold on power.
No wonder after a piece of the book was leaked last year it was all hands on deck to stop the rumor that this would be a hard hitting book. If McClellan had tipped his hand it’s likely Rove and the Bush smear operation would have jumped his publication date with all sorts of trash in order to destroy his credibility. That McClellan was able to keep this under wraps and surprise the Bushies is a monumental accomplishment.
And seriously, what person inside the Bush administration has shown any courage whatsoever in real time? General Shinseki and Larry Lindsay did and they both got kicked out and made to look like fools.
Maybe cable talking heads are so outraged that Scott is daring to make money off of a book that finally sheds light on Bush because, with the exception of a few, the entire traditional media sat on their hands or played patsies to the president and the vice president.
The interview on Today is revealing. Scott McClellan admits that it was President Bush who secretly declassified the NIE on Iraq so that Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby could “anonymously disclose” to reporters whatever they wanted. Using national intelligence to your own ends. It’s the most unpresidential thing that someone can do.
This was the crew who were going to bring back “honor and integrity” to the White House. It’s a supreme insult to see how they all have used their power. McClellan’s book is a window into the most craven and cowardice White House since Richard Nixon. I’m grateful he wrote it and look forward to reading it, but it doesn’t make him courageous. He’s simply another Bush clown who didn’t have the courage to do what was right in the moment. It’s the one thing Republicans seem to all have in common.
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