Former Bush Press Secretary writing tell all book...

[Fairweather Pure]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080529/D90V0COO0.html

Scott McClellan is all over the news right now. Apparently he has turned on his masters and is spilling some pretty big beans. Granted, none of it is really shocking unless you're a die hard Republican, but it's still nice to see the entire Bush administration flopping all over the place. Hell, there's already talk of him being called to testify.

Out of all the stuff this administration is now throwing at McClellan, I have yet to hear a single person address the issues he brings up or say none of it is true. They can try and discredit him all they want, but he's just confirming what many of us already knew.

Here's what the current Press Secretary had to say:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/20 ... otal-crap/

Hil-lar-ious.

And for no particular reason, here is a nice quote I read that sums up Bush and Co.'s tactics to wage war on Iraq.

Naturally the common people don’t want war. But after all, it is the
leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it’s always a
simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy or a
fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.
Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of
the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are
being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and
for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every
country.

— Hermann Goering, Hitler’s Reich Marshall, at the Nuremberg
Trials after World War II.

[Nick]

Anyone who fails to see the relevance nowadays of the above quote is the real enemy.

On topic, I always hated that little slug McClellan, but this is pretty funny He really isn't saying anything that anyone with a brain knew at the time.

Mr McClellan has accused Mr Bush of a lack of openness and having relied on a "propaganda campaign" to sell the war.

SHOCKING! THAT IS A REAL REVELATION!

[Ashur]

EDIT: It's early and my reading comprehension isn't there yet. Carry on!

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases ... 2-4.html#4

Press Briefing Scott McClellan
March 22, 2004

Q Why do you think he (Clarke)'s doing this?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he's raising these grave concerns that he claims he had. And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. He has written a book and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book. Certainly let's look at the politics of it.

[Fairweather Pure]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases ... 2-4.html#4

Press Briefing Scott McClellan
March 22, 2004

Q Why do you think he (Clarke)'s doing this?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he's raising these grave concerns that he claims he had. And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. He has written a book and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book. Certainly let's look at the politics of it.

Instead of viewing him as a simple hypocrite, which he absolutely is, I think of him more as a mob snitch. Sure as anything, he was mixed in and contributing to the very things he's complaining about in his book. As of this moment, he is stepping up and doing the right thing. I don't care if it's from anger, spite, disgruntled, greed, ect. It dosen't make anything he says less true. At this point, he is simply a tool, just like when we use criminals against each other in our justice system.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases ... 2-4.html#4

Press Briefing Scott McClellan
March 22, 2004

Q Why do you think he (Clarke)'s doing this?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he's raising these grave concerns that he claims he had. And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. He has written a book and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book. Certainly let's look at the politics of it.

Instead of viewing him as a simple hypocrite, which he absolutely is, I think of him more as a mob snitch. Sure as anything, he was mixed in and contributing to the very things he's complaining about in his book. As of this moment, he is stepping up and doing the right thing. I don't care if it's from anger, spite, disgruntled, greed, ect. It dosen't make anything he says less true. At this point, he is simply a tool, just like when we use criminals against each other in our justice system.

Actually, he is saying nothing new. It is a book of pure conjecture....no facts.

[Fash]

Out of all the stuff this administration is now throwing at McClellan, I have yet to hear a single person address the issues he brings up or say none of it is true.

I think Rove did exactly that... http://youtube.com/watch?v=fKMX9HCjycM

[Fairweather Pure]

And yet, it's still another torpedo in the sinking Bush presidency. Funny how that works. I wonder why they're even bothering to reply to all his conjecture? I wonder if there were to be a trail, how his testimony could be collaborated with known facts? I also wonder how many others this will encourage to share thier stories as well.

To simply brush aside the comments of a person that used to be held with such respect and high regard is the very worst of America at it's finest. The fact is, he was entrenched pretty deep in Bush's circle of trust and now he is going public with an awful lot of dirt that is making a lot of people extremely nervous.

Heh, I heard about the book and didn't pay it much mind until the Hannity/Rush retard duo were so furious about it that you could almost hear them knashing thier teeth and pulling thier hair on the radio. Drudge has a half dozen links on his front page about backlash from the book. Every Republican whack job is now so fully engaged in deflection, discredit, and downplay, that it's very satisfying to watch. The Karl Rove playbook will be getting a lot of use in the coming weeks.

[Fash]

He's full of shit, but you want to believe it, so go right ahead.

Is there anything new in here? I haven't heard anything that hasn't already been said a billion times.

[Fairweather Pure]

It's not so much what is being said, but who is saying it. This administration sure gets the importance of this, but I'm not surprised it hasn't trickled down to the underlings yet. They aren't calling a four alarm fire with all guns trained on McCLellan for the hell of it. The have to try and bury him with as much noise as possible, as quickly as possble.

Also, that Fox news link is simply awesome. Just listen to the disgust in the interviewer's voice at 4:45. I can't believe Fox is the #1 news source in America.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

Not really Fair. He wasn't really an insider. That's why he has nothing new to offer. We are in a society where it doesn't matter who the person is saying it or whether there is an ounce of truth to it. Every claim against you, today, has to be answered. It is very unfortunate.

For example, Every one has been hating on Roger Clemens for a little while now (as is Bush)....then a few weeks ago a country singer, writing a book, says she had a relationship with Clemens....everyone bought it. No questions asked. The following day a hooker calls a Houton radio station and says she also had an affair with him.....everyone bought it.

As much as you have a blind hatred for Bush....as you were conditioned to, no one faults you for it......you need to try and temper the stories you hear with a smidge of logic and reason. Bush is no angel. Neither is any other politician.

If you can go it into these things knowing they are all corrupt scum, then you can take that variable away and just view these people based of the topic at hand. This guy is just jumping on the books against Bush bandwagon. He's cashing in while saying nothing. He is smart enough to know a bunch of hate filled drones will go buy his book and soak up more of the same propaganda that's been being pushed for 8 years. Pathetic.

[Nick]

I'm sure George is very grateful for the apologists on this board, otherwise we would be in a position to discuss what should actually be done to the criminal, instead of arguing with idiots about irrelevant bullshit.

Edit: The very idea of Bush apologists in this day and age is laughable in itself, nevermind having to read the nonsense they actually say. It's like watching some sort of sub-human species that hasn't quite evolved enough yet. Absolutely laughable, somewhat tragic, but mainly laughable.

[Tristinn]

As much as you have a blind hatred for Bush....

Are you really saying that people's hatred for Bush is blind?

[Nick]

1. Failure in Afghanistan.
2. Iraq. Immoral, and a failure.
3. Patriot act.
4. Not finding Bin Laden.
5. Unforgivably spreading a doctrine of fear throughout a free nation.
6. Lamentable response (or lack of) to Katrina disaster.
7. National deficit.
8. Encouraging islamic extremism through black/white absolutist doomed to fail foreign policy thus endangering the US to increased risk of terrorist attack.
9. Economy.
10. The fact he speaks like a fucking downs syndrome child.


NO NO IT'S JUST BLIND HATRED BECAUSE THAT SUITS MY POORLY THOUGHT OUT ARGUMENT

[Wulfran]

Not really Fair. He wasn't really an insider. That's why he has nothing new to offer.

So who DOES meet your criteria of an insider, if not the guy in the closed door meetings that comes out and spins the stories to the press? Its not like he was some lower echelon flunkie: he met and took directions directly from Bush. For a period of time, this man was the voice of the presidency.

As far as some of the other statements you want to make about him, the 18 months since he left the gov't doesn't seem that long when you put it into perspective. He may have been ideologically distanced from the Bush Admin by the time he left but there's still a fair distance to go to outright public repudiation of them and his own involvement (and I'm not saying that he didn't decide to write memoirs before he left Bush's tribe but there are possibilities and probabilities involved). Plus there is the time in finding a publisher, writing the book (either personally or with the help of a ghost-writer/co-author) and going through the whole process of getting it editted and printed. Sure the timing is good for him and actually I'd guess the project was somewhat rushed to get his book out before Bush was out of office (which would be McClellan's expiry date). I also don't doubt (not having read the book and not intending to) that he minimized his own role and sins, while trumpeting them to the rest of the world (or at least those who read his book). I don't see those as unusual actions in ANY first person account or memoir: its a natural reaction to want to say "I wasn't bad, I was just misled".

I look at this book and the reactions to it in the light of "what do you have to gain?"
- McClellan well by writing this he effectively trashes any chances of getting back into any gov't involvement and severely limits his chances at a post with a lot of Republican supporter owned enterprises as even those who may not like Bush will be wary of getting into bed with someone with a "Judas" or "turncoat" tag. All he can hope for is big sales, and the Republican/social conservative reaction is giving him the gift of a buttload of free publicity
- Bush and Co. (including ex-players like Rove) are trying to preserve whats left of their reputations and stop Bush's approvals from hitting the teens. Bush is done in a couple months and Cheney is too old/unpopular to have an honest shot at the whitehouse so its more personal reputation/legacy protection than party protection but that can still be a powerful incentive. In the case of the Limbaughs et al, their reputation is really all they have so anything that affects it will be something they will react strongly if not violently to.
- McCain and his election team won't like this but their problem is more guilt by brand association than anything else. They want the furor to die ASAP.
- The Democrats, well aside from general happiness with shit being slung at Republicans, unless some other specific people are targeted in this book they don't gain a lot except the discomfort of their opposition and the fact that a lot of the smear resources will be focused someplace else for the time being.

[Siji]

McCain & Cheney.. Cheney shoots McCain while hunting..

Fuck spanish, start learning Chinese.

[Funkmasterr]

McCain & Cheney.. Cheney shoots McCain while hunting..

Fuck spanish, start learning Chinese.

One of the only intelligent things I've seen you post.

I work in the EDI industry, which has given me a pretty good idea of the part China plays in everything. The big factory chains in China like Li & Fung, for example get a massive amount of business from almost any retailer you can think of. These factories/vendors are becoming more and more of a driving force in many industries.