Progressive World Review

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, in a tell all book soon to be released, accuses the Bush administration of leading us into war by manipulating the public with an elaborate propaganda campaign,

Over that summer of 2002,” he writes, “top Bush aides had outlined a strategy for carefully orchestrating the coming campaign to aggressively sell the war. . . . In the permanent campaign era, it was all about manipulating sources of public opinion to the president’s advantage.

This of course comes as no surprise to anyone other than the True Believers who still think Bush is doing a good job.  It was just eight days ago that The New York Times broke the story that the Pentagon was running its own propaganda program which Bush doubtlessly was aware of.

The response from the right is as predictable as it is laughable, when liars get caught in their lies there’s little else they can do but to try and smear the person that exposed them.  This is what was said about McClellan when he resigned, from the Think Progress website,

President Bush: “And I thought he handled his assignment with class, integrity. He really represents the best of his family, our state and our country.” [4/19/06]

White House Counselor Dan Bartlett: McClellan “served this country and this White House very well during very difficult times.” [On Hardball, 4/19/06]

Former Press Secretary Ari Fleischer: McClellan enjoyed “the trust and confidence of the president” and “was flawless in his performance, especially when you read the transcripts.” [4/20/06]

And this is what’s being said about him now, also from the Think Progress website,

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino slammed McClellan today as a “disgruntled” employee; former press secretary Ari Fleischer said he was “heartbroken.”

Other former White House officials started the smear campaign last night. Karl Rove, interviewed on Hannity and Colmes, asserted that McClellan sounded more like “a left-wing blogger” than himself. Former Homeland Security adviser Frances Townsend, interviewed on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, called McClellan “self-serving” and “disingenuous.”

This no doubt is only the beginning.  Smearing “disgruntled” former employees is old hat for this bunch; here are a few other examples of their work,

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill

WROTE: Bush planned in invade Iraq before 9/11 and was like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people” during Cabinet meetings.

SMEAR: “We didn’t listen to [O'Neill's] wacky ideas when he was in the White House, why should we start listening to him now?” - A senior official who informed Bush of O’Neill’s comments, 1/12/04

 

Former Campaign Chief Strategist Matthew Dowd

SAID: Bush has “become more, in my view, secluded and bubbled in”; that “our leaders have to understand what they [the American public] want. They’re saying, ‘Get out of Iraq.’”

SMEAR: “He’s going through a lot of personal turmoil but also he has a son who is soon to be deployed to Iraq. That could only impact a parents’ mind as they think through these issues.” - Dan Bartlett, 4/1/07

 

Former Counter-Terrorism Chief Richard Clarke

WROTE: Bush “ignored terrorism for months”; sought to tie 9/11 to Iraq immediately.

SMEAR: “He wanted to be the deputy secretary of the Homeland Security Department after it was created. … He did not get that position, someone else was appointed to it. … His best friend is Rand Beers, who is the principal advisor to the Kerry campaign.” - Scott McClellan, while serving as press secretary, 3/22/04

All dutifully reported by a lazy and complicit press that eats this kind of stuff up and regurgitates it for public consumption because it’s easier and more rewarding to repeat gossip than it is to investigate the stories behind the smears.

One does have to wonder what motivated McClellan to spill his guts however, as he didn’t seem to have any problems spouting the party line while still gainfully employed by the White House.  This is what he had to say when asked for a comment by Washington Post reporter Michael Shear,

Like many Americans, I am concerned about the poisonous atmosphere in Washington. I wanted to take readers inside the White House and provide them an open and honest look at how things went off course and what can be learned from it. Hopefully in some small way it will contribute to changing Washington for the better and move us beyond the hyper-partisan environment that has permeated Washington over the past 15 years.

It would have been nice if he had been more “concerned” when it could have made an actual difference.  The families of the four-thousand plus dead American soldiers no doubt would have appreciated it, not to mention the hundreds-of-thousands Iraqis who lost their lives, still, better late than never I guess.

This, I think, is probably the most interesting comment about this affair,

According to the Politico, a “former colleague” said of McClellan: “It looks like a fairly pathetic attempt to restore his reputation by junking the only positive attribute people saw in him - loyalty.”

Interesting because it highlights a basic truth regarding crooks and liars, that “loyalty” is far more important to them than truth.  But loyalty is a two way street.  McClellan clearly was a good and loyal accomplice at first, but they must have screwed him over but good for him to have broken the faith the way he did, so much the better for us.

–Paul Wilden

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