McClellan Calls Out Bush and Rove
Let me begin by stating that I don’t believe that Scott McClellan was a very skilled or effective White House Press Secretary, however, seeing as how he becomes the next in what has become several aids to call out President Bush and Karl Rove, his words are worth attention.
Further, let’s keep in mind that Bush has proven to be a fraud, in my opinion, with respect to his claim of being a conservative.
We also know that Karl Rove has had his name thrown around in a host of scandals, notably the Plame-Wilson CIA leak case and the firing of U.S. attorneys, but he’s also been the center of attention in a case involving former Alabama governor Don Siegelman.
Now of course the Bush and Rove loyalists will say that Rove has been implicated in these cases as a result of the Democrats’ hatred of Rove. But I would submit that where there’s smoke, there’s fire–especially when there are multiple smoldering areas.
So it’s with this backdrop that we should use when evaluating this story about McClellan’s book.
From politico.com
Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a surprisingly scathing memoir to be published next week that President Bush “veered terribly off course,” was not “open and forthright on Iraq,” and took a “permanent campaign approach” to governing at the expense of candor and competence.
Well so far I agree with two of these assertions: Bush “veered terribly off course” and especially that he took a “permanent campaign approach” to governing. In fact, I’d say the overwhelming majority of true conservatives would agree with this.
Continuing:
• McClellan charges that Bush relied on “propaganda” to sell the war.
• He says the White House press corps was too easy on the administration during the run-up to the war.
• He admits that some of his own assertions from the briefing room podium turned out to be “badly misguided.”
• The longtime Bush loyalist also suggests that two top aides held a secret West Wing meeting to get their story straight about the CIA leak case at a time when federal prosecutors were after them — and McClellan was continuing to defend them despite mounting evidence they had not given him all the facts.
• McClellan asserts that the aides — Karl Rove, the president’s senior adviser, and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the vice president’s chief of staff — “had at best misled” him about their role in the disclosure of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity.
Who knows if all of these assertions are true, but if you’re going to try to tell me that they should be summarily dismissed simply because McClellan is “just trying to sell books,” then you’re insane. They should be given their due and let’s see what happens.
For what it’s worth, I’ll trust McClellan over Rove any day.
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[...] I wrote on Wednesday when parts of the booked were leaked that we shouldn’t be quick to dismiss McClellan as a [...]