Former GWB Press Sec. Scott McClellan Book: Admin. Controversies (merged x 3--M.E.T.)

[JimmyConway]

Exclusive: McClellan whacks Bush, White House

By MIKE ALLEN | 5/27/08 6:18 PM EST

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10649.html

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.

Among the most explosive revelations in the 341-page book, titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” (Public Affairs, $27.95):

• 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.

A few reporters were offered advance copies of the book, with the restriction that their stories not appear until Sunday, the day before the official publication date. Politico declined and purchased “What Happened” at a Washington bookstore.

The eagerly awaited book, while recounting many fond memories of Bush and describing him as “authentic” and “sincere,” is harsher than reporters and White House officials had expected.

McClellan was one of the president’s earliest and most loyal political aides, and most of his friends had expected him to take a few swipes at his former colleague in order to sell books but also to paint a largely affectionate portrait.

Instead, McClellan’s tone is often harsh. He writes, for example, that after Hurricane Katrina, the White House “spent most of the first week in a state of denial,” and he blames Rove for suggesting the photo of the president comfortably observing the disaster during an Air Force One flyover. McClellan says he and counselor to the president Dan Bartlett had opposed the idea and thought it had been scrapped.

But he writes that he later was told that “Karl was convinced we needed to do it — and the president agreed.”

“One of the worst disasters in our nation’s history became one of the biggest disasters in Bush’s presidency. Katrina and the botched federal response to it would largely come to define Bush’s second term,” he writes. “And the perception of this catastrophe was made worse by previous decisions President Bush had made, including, first and foremost, the failure to be open and forthright on Iraq and rushing to war with inadequate planning and preparation for its aftermath.”

McClellan, who turned 40 in February, was press secretary from July 2003 to April 2006. An Austin native from a political family, he began working as a gubernatorial spokesman for then-Gov. Bush in early 1999, was traveling press secretary for the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign and was chief deputy to Press Secretary Ari Fleischer at the beginning of Bush’s first term.

“I still like and admire President Bush,” McClellan writes. “But he and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war. … In this regard, he was terribly ill-served by his top advisers, especially those involved directly in national security.”

(link for entire article)

---Sadly this is still news to some people which is why I'm posting it. Also it's very interesting to see such a Bush loyalist make such strong negative statements about him. Whatever it takes to sell books, huh.

[Thiebear]

I'll read it before i comment..

Though the Katrina is worse because of Iraq is a stretch at best.

I worked with Fema and the Governors and the Army Corps of Engineers with Hurrican Andrew and quite a few other Hurricanes. Andrew was smooooth like butter...

Then they wrapped up Fema in the Homeland Security and put too many people around things, the Gov and Mayor share the blame etc. etc. etc.

It was a mess... but on many levels.

[Burgold]

I don't think it is a stretch really. Iraq caused the National Guard to be stretched very thin and therefore, some of the emergency resources available were not available. Clearly, there were failure at all levels, but on the national level cronyism and lack of available support and logistical confusion was a big deal.

[Predicto]

I don't think it is a stretch really. Iraq caused the National Guard to be stretched very thin and therefore, some of the emergency resources available were not available. Clearly, there were failure at all levels, but on the national level cronyism and lack of available support and logistical confusion was a big deal.

And when you put a crony like Don Powell in charge of something important like Katrina reconstruction, you can be sure that you ain't going to get good results.

But for this Administration, it is always loyalty first, ability second.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

“History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided: that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact. What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.”

[Tulane Skins Fan]

I'll read it before i comment..

Though the Katrina is worse because of Iraq is a stretch at best.

I worked with Fema and the Governors and the Army Corps of Engineers with Hurrican Andrew and quite a few other Hurricanes. Andrew was smooooth like butter...

Then they wrapped up Fema in the Homeland Security and put too many people around things, the Gov and Mayor share the blame etc. etc. etc.

It was a mess... but on many levels.

I don't think it is a stretch really. Iraq caused the National Guard to be stretched very thin and therefore, some of the emergency resources available were not available. Clearly, there were failure at all levels, but on the national level cronyism and lack of available support and logistical confusion was a big deal.

I don't think he was saying that.... I think he said the "perception" was made worse by previous failures. Obviously, its a snippet, and it would be best to read the book in context, but that's what I took from that particular quote.

[Springfield]

After reading all of that, I still maintain Hillary Clinton would make a much worse president than Bush.

Anyhow, Bush migh be the worst president I'll ever experience in my lifetime. End of story.

[Midnight Judges]

If I want to know about the Bush administration, Scott McClellan is about the last guy on Earth I would listen to-not because he's a Republican hack trying to sell a book, but because they told him absolutely nothing as a matter of policy.

[Springfield]

If I want to know about the Bush administration, Scott McClellan is about the last guy on Earth I would listen to-not because he's a Republican hack trying to sell a book, but because they told him absolutely nothing as a matter of policy.

Sorry, but I'd trust him before I'd trust Bush. If he's slandering Bush in any way he'll certainly be sued. Why shouldn't I trust him?

[JMS]

I don't think it is a stretch really. Iraq caused the National Guard to be stretched very thin and therefore, some of the emergency resources available were not available. Clearly, there were failure at all levels, but on the national level cronyism and lack of available support and logistical confusion was a big deal.

I think FEMA was wrapped up in the new Department of Homeland Security and lost 75% of it's budget. Basically the department which was supposed to keep us safe from a terrorist attack was shown to be incompetent and unable to protect the country from a natural desaster. Specifically one which they had rehersed for just a few years earlier.

[Midnight Judges]

Sorry, but I'd trust him before I'd trust Bush. If he's slandering Bush in any way he'll certainly be sued. Why shouldn't I trust him?

I didn't say you shouldn't trust him (although I wouldn't). I said he doesn't know anything. That's clearly been the Bush administration's strategy since day one-send out the press secretary with zero information. He ends up looking like an ass but at least there is zero risk of him unintentionally insinuating the wrong thing. That's why it doesn't matter that their current press secretary is 22 years old or whatever. She can't possibly say anything incriminating because they don't tell her anything.

[Larry]

Anyhow, Bush migh be the worst president I'll ever experience in my lifetime. End of story.

Let's hope so.

[Larry]

I didn't say you shouldn't trust him (although I wouldn't). I said he doesn't know anything. That's clearly been the Bush administration's strategy since day one-send out the press secretary with zero information. He ends up looking like an ass but at least there is zero risk of him unintentionally insinuating the wrong thing. That's why it doesn't matter that their current press secretary is 22 years old or whatever. She can't possibly say anything incriminating because they don't tell her anything.

Still remember a Watergate-era editorial cartoon.

Scene is a White House press conference, but it's set on a beach.

Behind the guy at the lectern, is a beached whale, labeled "Watergate". A tarp, labeled "Coverup", has been thrown over the beached whale. The press corps are all frantically pointing at the dead whale.

Caption: I have been specifically authorized to say "What whale?"

[Springfield]

Let's hope so.

Yes, let's.

:fingersx:

I didn't say you shouldn't trust him (although I wouldn't). I said he doesn't know anything. That's clearly been the Bush administration's strategy since day one-send out the press secretary with zero information. He ends up looking like an ass but at least there is zero risk of him unintentionally insinuating the wrong thing. That's why it doesn't matter that their current press secretary is 22 years old or whatever. She can't possibly say anything incriminating because they don't tell her anything.

I see what you are saying, which is why I feel bad for Tony Snow. He went from a pretty cool guy on Fox News to the White House toolbox.

[Jumbo]

Some new excerpts:

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" and "downplaying the major reason for going to war."

He accuses former White House adviser Karl Rove of misleading him about his role in the CIA case. He describes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as being deft at deflecting blame and calls Vice President Dick Cheney "the magic man" who steered policy behind the scenes.

But in one chapter, "Selling the War," he alleges that the administration repeatedly shaded the truth and that Bush "managed the crisis in a way that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option."

"The president had promised himself that he would accomplish what his father had failed to do by winning a second term in office," he writes. "And that meant operating continually in campaign mode: never explaining, never apologizing, never retreating. Unfortunately, that strategy also had less justifiable repercussions: never reflecting, never reconsidering, never compromising. Especially not where Iraq was concerned."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004442374_scott28.html

Scott often seemed to me like the guy who was trying to be loyal and was a believer in those pressers, but also like he was pissed at times at what he'd been given to feed and like he knew some of it was serious bunk. Tough role to play.

[#98QBKiller]

Surprise, surprise

Ex-Bush spokesman: President used 'propaganda' to push war

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/27/mcclellan.book/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The spokesman who defended President Bush's policies through Hurricane Katrina and the early years of the Iraq war is now blasting his former employers, saying the Bush administration became mired in propaganda and political spin and at times played loose with the truth.

In excerpts from a 341-page book to be released Monday, Scott McClellan writes on Iraq that Bush "and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war."

"n this regard, he was terribly ill-served by his top advisers, especially those involved directly in national security," McClellan wrote.

McClellan also sharply criticizes the administration on its handling of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

"One of the worst disasters in our nation's history became one of the biggest disasters in Bush's presidency," he wrote. "Katrina and the botched federal response to it would largely come to define Bush's second term."

Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said the White House would not comment Tuesday because they haven't seen the book.

Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security adviser to Bush, said advisers to the president should speak up when they have policy concerns.

"Scott never did that on any of these issues as best I can remember or as best as I know from any of my White House colleagues," said Townsend, now a CNN contributor. "For him to do this now strikes me as self-serving, disingenuous and unprofessional."

Fox News contributor and former White House adviser Karl Rove said on that network Tuesday that the excerpts from the book he's read sound more like they were written by a "left-wing blogger" than his former colleague.

In a brief phone conversation with CNN Tuesday evening, McClellan made clear that he stands behind the accuracy of his book. McClellan said he cannot give on-the-record quotes yet because of an agreement with his publisher. Watch further details emerge from McClellan's book »

Early in the book, which CNN obtained late Tuesday, McClellan wrote that he believes he told untruths on Bush's behalf in the case of CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose identity was leaked to the media.

Rove and fellow White House advisers Elliot Abrams and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were accused of leaking the name of Plame -- whose husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, had gone public with charges the Bush administration had "twisted" facts to justify the war in Iraq.

Libby was convicted last year of lying to a grand jury and federal agents investigating the leak. Bush commuted his 30-month prison term, calling it excessive. At the time, McClellan called the three "good individuals" and said he spoke to them before telling reporters they were not involved.

"I had allowed myself to be deceived into unknowingly passing along a falsehood," he wrote. "It would ultimately prove fatal to my ability to serve the president effectively."

McClellan wrote he didn't realize what he said was untrue until reporters began digging up details of the case almost two years later.

A former spokesman for Bush when he was governor of Texas, McClellan was named White House press secretary in 2003, replacing Ari Fleischer. McClellan had previously been a deputy press secretary and was the traveling spokesman for the Bush campaign during the 2000 election.

He announced he was resigning in April 2006 at a news conference with Bush.

"One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas talking about the good old days of his time as the press secretary," Bush said at that conference. "And I can assure you, I will feel the same way then that I feel now, that I can say to Scott, job well done."

[Chief skin]

NO, I am shocked

[WVUforREDSKINS]

He is confirming what the world already knows.

Fox News should be very interesting. That is if they even decide that its a story.

This actually might be a big boost to Obama if he can successfully paint McCain as 4 more years of Dubya's daddy issues.

[kramdizzle]

Fox News was talking about it last night with carl rove. I think that you'll find, not just with this book, but most tell all books are one persons venom towards their previous situation. Look at Rosie, Diane and the view. Whereas some of the stuff very may well be true some of the things he sights are grossly exagerated or downright false. Take it with a grain of salt:2cents:

[Zguy28]

So, what makes anyone think he is suddenly telling the truth?

[@DCGoldPants]

I remember when the press caught Scott prepping some military folks in Iraq with answers and then lying about it. So, I'm not big on believing him anymore.

In my mind.

1. Either he's so dumb, he didn't realize something was up.

or

2. He knew it was wrong, and still didn't quit in protest.

Either way, his word doesn't mean much to me.

[Burgold]

Midnight,

Where I'd dispute your dismissal of McClellen is that this is far from the first ex-Bush guy to come up with a book bashing him. It is one of many. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find so many disgruntled, disillussioned cabinet guys willing to speak publicly about the President DURING his administration as we have with Bush.

To me, that's incredibly telling.

This isn't the handful of books we read about Reagan suffering memory losses and diminishing cognitive skills that came out ten years AFTER his Presidency. These are Bush's handpicked guys (mostly) needing to get it off their chest NOW.

[Burgold]

Merge with the other thread?

Bufford,

Like I responded to MJ on this McClellen issue. It's not like this is the first book pointing out shadiness in the Bush Administration. There have been many. Each adds to the credibility. I can't remember so many highly ranked people damning an Administration DURING that Administration. Each book adds more credibility to the flaws, faults, and wrongdoings.

[Smoot Point Really]

Merge with the other thread?

Bufford,

Like I responded to MJ on this McClellen issue. It's not like this is the first book pointing out shadiness in the Bush Administration. There have been many. Each adds to the credibility. I can't remember so many highly ranked people damning an Administration DURING that Administration. Each book adds more credibility to the flaws, faults, and wrongdoings.

There have been favorable books too. The only book that I can think of that fits the category you mention is the Richard Clark book, and he had an ax to grind. I haven't read this book, but I read the George Tenet book. I imagine this book will be similar. It will point out some flaws and throw out a few juicy bits to sell books, but it will also concentrate heavily on the positives of the President. A lot of folks read these books and only read through the index to get to the damaging parts of the book. They couldn't care less what 98% of the book says.

Anyway, if you can think of a lot of other books... let me know. That's the only one that I can think of now.

[Midnight Judges]

Midnight,

Where I'd dispute your dismissal of McClellen is that this is far from the first ex-Bush guy to come up with a book bashing him. It is one of many. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find so many disgruntled, disillussioned cabinet guys willing to speak publicly about the President DURING his administration as we have with Bush.

To me, that's incredibly telling.

This isn't the handful of books we read about Reagan suffering memory losses and diminishing cognitive skills that came out ten years AFTER his Presidency. These are Bush's handpicked guys (mostly) needing to get it off their chest NOW.

That's a good point. This does add to the already tremendous Bush legacy. But at the same time, I'm not seeing any substantive new information from these tidbits. Maybe there is more depth in the book itself.