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Scott Mcclellan On Bush Administration

Scott McClellan On Bush Administration

Ex-White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan Speaks Out on the Bush Admin Lies and Media Allies that Led the US to War

The former White House press secretary joins us for the hour on the heels of his explosive new book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception. McClellan says former White House aides Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby lied to him about their role in the CIA leak case, criticizes the corporate media for acting as "complicit enablers" in what he calls the Bush administration's deliberate manipulation of the public to build support for invading Iraq, and recounts the White House's response to Hurricane Katrina as one "in denial." McClellan also reveals the suffering of Iraqi civilians seemed to be of little concern at the White House, where he says the massive death toll from the US invasion was seldom discussed. And he explains his own personal transformation from Bush administration mouthpiece to a critic of conscience and why he's now sympathetic to the journalist I.F. Stone's famous advice to young reporters: "governments lie."
Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/11/form...mer_white_house

Administration Bush Mcclellan Scott

The media really has taken this critique and made it more than what Scott had apparently intended. Of course, he being pretty intimate with the media in his previous work should not be shocked by any of this. I actually caught a interview with him shortly after the book was delivered...I was pretty interested in how he could flip flop that much after having served under Bush in a pretty good position from all the report I had heard prior to the interview.

Throughout the interview, he kept saying that you need to read the book...you need to read the book. Now of course, he is saying that because he wants you to BUY the book, but all the same, his answers on AC360 were not nearly as harsh as what I had been lead to believe. He did not say that the Bush Admin lied about the war, but he does state that the information that was used was very much believed in by the administration and was used by them to propagandize the war. He believes that the rigor in investigating that information was not as good as it should and the administration should not have used it as a basis for war...OK...nothing new here. Anderson Cooper didnt give him a easy time throughout the interview and continued to ask him..."if you were so uneasy about what you were doing, why didnt you do something about it and why are you now just coming out about it". He did tiptoe around it by saying at the time he believed, but in reflection what they did was not right. OK...again...nothing really new here.

He did have some pretty harsh words about how the whole Plame issue was attempted to be swept under the rug by Chenney, Rove and Libby. His basic complaint was that he was lied to and reported it to the media. I totally believe this is true. The cant remembers...dont recalls from some of the key people in this debacle ring so untrue it is rediculous.

Al thorought his interview, I found him pretty credible. I also dont see where he is saying (and he specifically says he doesnt say it) that the administrations lied to go to war, more so that they used intel that was suspect and not thoroughly researched and this disappointed him. This article supports that as well as they really focus on the whole Plame issue.

The liberal media is taking this book as a affidavid representing grounds of purgery by the administration. The conservative media is saying Scott is overstating his exact knowlege of situations and that he got mislead by his book publisher and is now forced to stand by the result. And Scott probably stands somewhere in the middle of all this!

Scott Mcclellan On Bush Administration History & Civil Business Politics

He was on Letterman and the gist I got between the punch lines was that he felt the Iraq war was unnecessary and done based on "gut feelings" and "hunches" rather than sound thought. He said the main focus of the book was about America and where it is heading more than attacking Bush. I got the feeling that he was not doing damage control but trying to shift focus from his former relationship with the Administration, but how can you when it is the whole reason for the book in the first place!

Administration Bush Mcclellan Scott

Exactly, and that is what Anderson Cooper was hammering him on during his CNN interview. The basics of what Anderson was saying was..."Yeah, when I read your book, you dont come out and exactly say the administration was lying about weapons of mass distruction, but you have to realize that there are some that are going to read your book as a attack against the administration and proof that Bush was lying". Of course, Scott, reiterated that that was not what he said and Anderson agreed again, but challenged him that he had to know that this book would be taken to extremes from both sides. AGREED on both sides...

There are a whole bunch of people that think the war was wrong now... We didnt find WMD's or clear links to Al-Quaida. We all know this... Did we really need a book about it? We all know that Scooter Libby leaked information and that is why he was sentenced...so he lied. Do we need a book to tell us he lied? I dont...I already know it.

The bad things is that he has a gut feeling that there were gut feelings on the Iraq War...which is really no better than me flipping a coin over here in Taiwan for the truth. I have a "gut felling" that Scott like the spotlight and hasnt been able to get that same feeling with whatever employment he has had since his job in the Adminstration. I have a "gut feeling" that he somewhat enjoys hitting the tv/radio circuit to talk about his book. I have a "gut feeling" he got paid pretty good to write the book. I will give him credit in that he has tried to make sure that his message (the one he intended) has been delivered no mater how people try to twist the writings.

I just dont understand why or what he really hoped to get out of writing it, other than the spotlight again.

I mean this President has one of the worst approval ratings of all time. What did you hope to do...knock him down a few more percentage? I am not sure that is actually possible.

Edited: Vincenzo on 12th Jun, 2008 - 5:16am

Administration Bush Mcclellan Scott

What about money? There is lots of money to be made not only from selling the book but from interviews and possible job prospects. Maybe this is also a way to get himself ready for a new job in a new Administration - you know - aim high and all of that.

Scott Mcclellan On Bush Administration

They talked about the money in the interview as well. That is another point that, to me, shows he really wasnt going out to just shoot the administration down. He did get a nice check to do the book. He didnt give us exact figures, but did tell us it was 6 figures worth of cash. Now if he goes to some of the other publishers and tells them he has a book that sinks the administration, there is no doubt he could easily get 7 figures of cash...easily! As much as Bush is hated in general, there would be no problem in getting a few million to write a inside book taking target at the administration.