McClellan's Talking

It's really quite funny when you think about it. Whenever this disgusting administration goes "on message", one can hear a pattern emerging. Such was the case with the reaction to the new book by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan:
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"It's puzzling".
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"This just doesn't sound like Scott".
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"This is sooo heartbreaking".
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"He sounds like a left wing blogger".
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"This is not the Scott I knew".
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"Oh, Scotty, we hardly knew ye (Ha-roo! Ha-roo!)"
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My pesonal favorite were the comments of the current press secretary Dana Perino, who described McClellan as a "disgruntled former employee". This is the same woman who back in December, when asked a question which contained a reference to the Cuban Missile Crisis, didn't know what the questioner was referring to. Think about that for a minute. In October of 1962 the United States and the Soviet Union came to the very brink of nuclear war. For the first and only time, humanity was facing the very real possibility of the end of the world. It was the most infamous (and potentially lethal) diplomatic/military event in world history - and the press secretary to the president of the United States of America has never even heard about it! The Bush administration has been - from day one - packed to the rafters with idiots like Dana Perino. The question is literally begging to be asked: Just where in the hell do they find these assholes?
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This book reveals absolutely nothing that anyone paying attention all these years didn't already know: the invasion of Iraq was based on non-existent or faulty intelligence and the American people were lied to in the run-up to the war. What is amazing is to hear a former high official of this administration admit as much. As it was quoted from the book in yesterday's New York Daily News:

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"History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided - that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder....Waging an unnecessary was is a grave mistake....I've come to believe that an even more fundamental mistake was made....a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed. Our lack of candor and honesty in making the case for war would later provoke a partisan response from our opponents, that, in a way, further distorted and obscured a more nuanced reality."

This will only be the first book of many. It is interesting to contemplate just whom among the scores of sycophants who are now condemning McClellan will be writing their own kiss and tell memoirs a year or two down the line. You can be absolutely certain that a whole hell of a lot of them will eventually cash in while simultaneously trying to whitewash their respective roles as players in the most corrupt and incompetent administration in the history of human stupidity. And let us not forget the fact that a lot of these people are going to be prosecuted for serious felonies committed against the American people. What better way to handle all those nasty legal bills than a sweet, six-figure book deal? I can't wait for Karl Rove's book. That should be really interesting! The question is, what publishing firm will be disreputable enough to sell it? How many people will be foolish enough to buy it? The survival of too many depend on how much distance they will able to put between themselves and George W. Bush in the next year or so. Here is Scott McClellan's take on the First Fool:

"[He is] not quite the leader I once imagined him to be....He has engaged in a degree of self-deception that may be psychologically necessary to justify the tactics needed to win the political game....He has always been an instinctive leader more than an intellectual leader....he chooses based on his gut and his most deeply held convictions. Such was the case with Iraq....Bush's discomfort with change makes it difficult for him to step back from the bonds he develops and make clear-eyed decisions about what is best."
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Actually, McClellan is quite charitable in his characterization of Bush. One of the assertions he makes in the book is that the Bush Mob distorted intelligence regarding Saddam Hussein's mythical WMD program in order to achieve their goal of bringing democracy to the Middle East. Bullshit. These people stole two elections in their own country. They don't give a damn about democracy in Iraq or anywhere else for that matter. Their real motivation for invading was to seize what is generally believed to be the second or third largest oil reserves on the planet. For that reason, over a million men, women and little children are dead. What you have here is the very definition of war crimes. Sixty years ago former Nazis were being hanged at the gallows for a lot less.

Back on November 26, after McClellan announced the details of his forthcoming book, I wrote on this blog in a piece called, Sing, Scotty, Sing!!!:

"[W]henever anyone had the nerve to stand up and expose the corruption and incompetence of the Bush Mob (Paul O'Neil, Richard Clarke, Joe Wilson, Scott Ritter, John Kerry....the list is endless) that person's reputation was seriously damaged by the Karl Rove propaganda machine....My biggest fear is that Scotty is going to cave in to the pressure that Bush's henchmen will undoubtedly place on him."

When the April publication date came and went, I thought that they might have been successful at intimidating him. Thank goodness I was wrong about that - but I did get this right: the assault on McClellan's reputation is going full tilt. From the piece I wrote in November:

"Rush Limbaugh dismissed the story by implying that all one had to do was look at Scott's record of distortions as spokesman for the Bush White House to see that he's a known liar. Why believe him now? I wonder, did Rush even bother thinking that one through before blurting it out? It's the drugs. It must be."

Oh, and speaking of drugs! My favorite quote from the book is about the 2000 campaign and Bush's rumored cocaine use:

"I heard Bush say, 'You know, the truth is I honestly don't remember whether I tried it or not. We had some pretty wild parties back in the day, and I just don't remember.' I remember thinking to myself, How can that be? How can someone simply not remember whether or not they used an illegal substance like cocaine?....I felt I was witnessing Bush convincing himself to believe something that probably was not true."

Hopefully the American people will start to see the pattern here and recognize the assault on McClellan's character for what it is: lies that are only meant to distract us from a much larger and ominous truth. The fact is they were lying to us when they said we were in imminent danger of "mushroom clouds". They ignored critical, tangible intelligence that Saddam Hussein and his two nutty sons were a threat to no one but themselves. The result is without a doubt the most spectacular and catastrophic foreign policy blunder in American history - possibly in the history of the world. This war is lost. Our only option for "winning" it would be to drop several nuclear weapons on the country, killing every human being inhabiting it. Since that is not an option (at least I hope like hell it's not) our only choice would be to withdraw as soon as possible and hope for the best. If our only exit strategy depends on total victory, we'll be bogged down in Iraq forever.

Every day in every way it's getting worse and worse for this nightmare of an administration. As the months drag by, and the specter of the damage that these people have done to our country becomes more and more apparent, the inevitable reality will start to sink in that many people need to be prosecuted and sent to prison for the rest of their lives. That list would include George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney. It is not merely the crimes that have been committed against the people of Iraq - bad as those crimes are - but the scores of billions of dollars that have gone unaccounted for in the process. Seriously, whom do you think has the clout to steal that much cash - Scott McClellan?

It's going to be interesting to watch this administration go into damage control in the next few weeks. Trying to portray squeaky clean Scotty as some kind of anti-American, bomb-throwing anarchist is going to be a bit of a chore to say the least. Said Press Secretary Perino, Bush "doesn't recognize this as the Scott McClellan that he hired and confided in and worked with for so many years." Of course he doesn't. This Scott McClellan doesn't even vaguely resemble Bush's sycophantic spokesman of two years ago. There's been a change here and it's a welcome one. Good for you, Scott!

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED READING:

What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception by Scott McClellan

The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Frank Rich