Scott McClellan Speaks About Skepticism Of Intelligence on Iran, Negative Campaigning and Partisanship
By Nicole Belle Thursday May 29, 2008 4:15pm 
You know, I guess it's a matter of "in for a penny, in for a pound" because Scott McClellan's publicity spree and book tour is pretty much not only laying to waste the current administration, but everything that got them there and anything they may do in the future as well. The thing that kills me about the media's newest darling is that while they clamor to get him on for that interview, few of the media seem to look at themselves internally and seek to change dynamics that allowed McClellan to be part of a system that steamrolled over the media. Nor do they wonder why they keep having on the same talking heads that have lied to them over and over again, versus, say, liberals who were RIGHT from the beginning and scorned or drummed out of jobs.
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In the final moments of the interview, Scott McClellan takes a skeptical eye about the beating war drums against Iran as well as admitting to the power and value of negative campaigning and partisanship that surrounded the Bush administration. Hmmm....who has been saying all those things all along?
Transcripts below the fold
OLBERMANN: And now we'll conclude Scott McClellan's first primetime interview by looking ahead. All that is in the book, as I have already described it, kind of a Rosetta Stone for the Bush administration, about Iraq, you wrote, "But today as I look back on the campaign we waged to sell the Iraq war to the American people, a campaign I participated in, though I didn't play a major role in shaping it, I see more clearly the downside of applying modern campaign tactics to matters of grave historical import. Reflecting on that period has helped crystallize my understanding of the permanent campaign, with its destructive excesses and how Washington, in its current state of partisan warfare, functions on mutual deception. The picture isn't pretty." Scott, are they doing that now about Iran?
MCCLELLAN: I certainly hope that that is not the case. But we don't know; I don't know. I should say it that way. But they are still in this permanent campaign mode. They haven't backed away from that. I can't speak specifically to what the intent is in some of the people's heads there. I think that our options are certainly limited with all of our commitments right now, but I hope that when people look and read this book, that they will learn some of the lessons from Iraq and that we won't make some of the same mistakes that we've made elsewhere.
OLBERMANN: So knowing what you know, if Dana Perino gets up there and starts making noises that sound very similar to what you heard from the administration, from Ari Fleischer in 2002, from other actual members of the administration and the cabinet, you would be suspicious?
MCCLELLAN: I would be. I would be. I think that you would need to take those comments very seriously and be skeptical.
OLBERMANN: Some thing in here about the campaign ahead that actually touches on the campaign in past years -- from page 68 -- "No campaign was more single-mindedly centered on bringing down an opponent than that of George Herbert Walker Bush. The campaign was by most objective accounts, full of distortions, misrepresentations and zero-sum politics accusing Michael Dukakis of everything from embracing furloughs for dangerous criminals to disliking the Pledge of Allegiance, the innuendo being that he was unpatriotic. The Pledge of Allegiance -- that sounds a little familiar. Why 20 years later is that still being used against a candidate for the president of the United States?
MCCLELLAN: I don't know. I think that that it is how our politics has gone over that -- since that was very much a turning point election. I think that George Bush, George Bush 41, George Herbert Walker Bush, is a decent individual and a man that really believes in civility. But he and his advisers around him knew that the only way that they could win was bring down his opponent and go fully negative and paint Michael Dukakis completely to the left. A guy that had painted himself -- that had a record of trying to work to the center in a lot of ways. And that legacy continues to this day. And Senator McCain says that he's going to speak out against that and not let that happen. I think that would be good for the country if that is the case. But, there's certainly plenty of groups on the Republican side that are going to go forward with that kind of strategy.
OLBERMANN: A truce would be nice. I guess this is the final question, I'm going to go back to the idea of loss of bipartisan opportunity. I have always thought that the moment at which Mr. Bush missed that opportunity, the last moment where he could have seized it and said, no, this is bigger than just Republican versus Democrat -- the day the buzz started about how he was going to fill this new position of the homeland security director. And it was -- he's thinking outside the box. And I sat there and I had this little flutter in my heart, and I thought, he's actually going to do what Roosevelt did in the Second World War, to some degree what Lincoln did during the Civil War, he's going to put a Democrat in the cabinet. Maybe not in charge, maybe it's a token. Maybe it's a couple of them. Maybe it's Al Gore. Would something like that have made that bipartisan dream a reality? And was that really the point of no return for him?
MCCLELLAN: I think it would have helped certainly to have a cabinet that was more diverse in terms of party affiliation. There was only one, that was the transportation secretary, Norm Mineta, a good person. But I think it's a lesson for whoever is going to be the incoming president. That they really ought to reach out, if they want to change the way things work in Washington, and bring a number of people from the -- maybe three or four key people into their administration and the cabinet would be a good place to do that--to show that they are going to govern to the center and govern in a bipartisan way.
OLBERMANN: I have 30 seconds left as it turns out. Have you decided who you're voting for, supporting in the presidential election this year?
MCCLELLAN: I have not made a decision. I am thinking very carefully about that, but I've been so focused on the book that -- I want to take my time and hear what the candidates have to say. I'm intrigued by what Senator Obama has been running on, about changing the way Washington works. I've had respect for Senator McCain, as well for the way he has worked across the aisle with Democrats. But I'm going to take my time and think it through.
OLBERMANN: Scott McClellan, I don't want to get too fulsome on you, I don't think you're going to be dining out on the book for the rest of your life, but I think this is a primary document of American history. I'm very impressed with it and I thnk at some point, people will be teaching history classes based on it.
MCCLELLAN: Well thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.
OLBERMANN: And thanks for all your time.
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Scott McClellan is the BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week. No, Scott McClellan is no hero for fessing up to the fact that George Bush misled the nation into war -- or for revealing, among other things we already knew, that Scooter Libby and Karl Rove coordinated their accounts of the treasonous Valerie Plame outing. If he's repentant, he should give his book fee to a rehabilitation fund for Vets or Iraqis.
The fact that
Abe VigodaAri Fleischer was on and interviewed before Scottie himself says volumes.The reich-wingers have their limited list of reich-wing talking points attempting to debunk Scotty. i.e., 1. He did it for the money
2. He’s disgruntled, 3. This is puzzling, 4. This doesn’t sound like Scotty, 5. What didn’t he quit if he objected to herr dubyah (even though he did quit), 6. He’s taking advantage of the librul anti-dubyah media, 7. The editor changed it, 8. The publisher’s a liberal, etc., etc.,
However, Dick Morris bashes the Clinton’s (and the Dems) nightly on Faux. How come the reich-wing doesn’t consider Dick to be disgruntled or that he’s in it for the money? Hypocritical arseholes.
Well didn't Karl Rove say his book sounded like it was written by a bunch of left wing bloggers? Karl gave us credit.
Seriously Nicole, I know what you mean. The media talking heads are acting as though they were not part of the marching up to war team.
Also, the librul publisher has also published the following books:
BOY GENIUS
Karl Rove, the Architect of George W. Bush’s Remarkable Political Triumphs
BY HIS OWN RULES
The Story of Donald Rumsfeld
CHURCHILL BY HIMSELF
The Definitive Collection of Quotations
FOR GOD AND COUNTRY
Faith and Patriotism Under Fire
GOVERNOR REAGAN
His Rise To Power
I IS FOR INFIDEL
From Holy War to Holy Terror: Eighteen Years Inside Afghanistan
RICHARD M. NIXON
A Life in Full
RONALD REAGAN
The Presidential Portfolio
RONALD REAGAN
(THE BOXED SET)
A Life in Politics
Maybe Scott's gruntled. I thought back then that the man had a shred of integrity left is why he quit when he did. At least this book is causing discussion, which is for the good.
CoIntelPro for Democratic Party Victory @ 1:
I concur. He's no hero what-so-ever. Gaining a partial moment of reality and finally telling truth after 20 years of being a loyal reich-wing bushie hardly qualifies anyone as a hero.
"Hmmm….who has been saying all those things all along? ..." Certainly not our shill, pathetic media. This is their war as well as this administration and repug party. They can all go to hell as far as I am concerned.
Sorry to pee on people's parades, but this guy is no hero. He had a chance to help stop this war before it got started and chose instead to stick with the star he 'd hitched himself to. This regurgitated nonsense that he's peddling now is way too little, much too late.
4000 dead Americans way too late.
I've got time - and no respect - for him.
Sorry: NO TIME - and no respect - for him.
Been a long week.
The MSM doesn't do self-reflection. It's bad for ratings.
Nicole, you make excellent points!! Thanks for sharing them and speaking them straight. I've wondered about those liberal journalists and newspeople who were ditched to put the shills, MSM stenographic pool, talking heads, and bubblebrains behind the mikes speaking to we the people. I refuse to watch news programs that employ these idiots, preferring other modes of getting the information and news.
I would like to see the Scott Ritters of the world, who were dead right in the lead up to the Iraq debacle, given time as pundits on news shows instead of the braindead twits who they have on now.
Check the headline on CNN. McClellan says he would be happy to testify before COngress. THis is getting really good.
Dr. (Bitter Hussein) Matt @ 7:
Maybe his conscious got the better of him. It can and does happen sometimes. Rent the movie "The Mechanic" and
I think you'll understand.
Here is a wonderful piece on CNN's treatment of Ritter. He was the one I noticed the MSM attempting to discredit the most, so I'll assume they were most afraid of him:
//www.commondreams.org/views02/0912-02.htm
This guy is a real weasel. To come out now and tell many of us what we already knew, while spouting bullshit as Bush's PS doesn't cut it with me.
America is paying a heck of a price for all the lying that went on.
.
All hail Scotty...
The disseminator of the truth at the podium for the Executive branch.
All hail Scotty...
He who knows when, what and how to speak.
All hail Scotty...
He aided the Executive Branch to commit TREASON!
All hail Scotty...
He assisted in paving the way towards spying.
All hail Scotty...
He can write and tell the truth for money.
All hail Scotty...
The (former) Loyal Christian forgot his lapel pin.
.
The first thought that came to mind when the flap over Scotty's book began was, "No honor among thieves." He's the same little jerk he always was. That said, exploit him and and his book for all it's worth. If it can move us closer to arresting Rove et al. then let the a**hole pay back every grudge he's been nursing. And he didn't quit - he was asked to leave because Josh Bolton thought he was a really bad press secretary and fired him (allowed to resign.)
Kennedy gave a speech? Did anyone bother to listen to Ron Paul's speech prior to the war? In it he categorized everything that has come to pass with a stern admonition not to do it. I find it incredible that no one--republican or democrat--can give him a fair hearing on this subject. Not only that, he sponsored a bill to DECLARE war on Iraq and it was voted down in the House.
I think the one thing that bothers me about McClellan calling out the media and saying that they were too deferential is that like most people when they talk about media mistakes, he NEVER NAMES NAMES.
If McClellan came out and said, "Wolf Blitzer and CNN were timid" or "we knew the corporate heads at NBC would let us say ANYTHING without being challenged" then maybe some heads would roll.
However, when it's a group complaint ("the media") then all journalists/pundits end up saying
"yeah, the media is to blame - everyone but ME."
Sean @ 20:
Anybody who takes Ron Paul seriously is a kook. Period.
As to the OP, if this guy was so sincere about this dislike, why the Hell didn't he resign and speak out on this in 2003?
Waiting till his ex-boss is nearly out of office betrays more of a cowardliness than a sense of integrity, but what the hell do you expect from a GOPer?
Top scumball jobs:
1. Used car salesperson
2. White House Press Secretary
No amount of dirt on BushCo is going to take away fact of McClellan's willing service as a bullshitter and apologist for the worst President in American history.
I want MSNBC to offer Scott McCllellan a job as a political analyst. I'd like to see him perform the same duties for MSNBC that Karl Rove performs for FOX. It's time for Scott McClellan to make some new friends. I think his take on the upcoming presidential election would be uniquely insightful.
This is the Dark Ages.
America has no future. 2018 in America will be only disgustingly different from 2008.
The Enlightenment has ended.
Two choices, basically: head for the exit, or if you have the ability, begin to outline the future.
Oh, one other choice. Pretend all we have to do is right the ship.
VietVet8666 @ 25:
The Church is burning heretics again? There's an irruption of a large group of tribesmen in one corner of the world that superpowers can't resist? The American Empire has fallen before the Hispanic Volkerwanderung? Ghenghis Khan's zombie is reconquering Eurasia for the Mongolians? The countryside is divided between a bunch of squabbling rich guys whose armed paramilitaries are trying to kill the other rich guys? There's no organized central government?
That's a Dark Age. What we have now is too technologically advanced and secular (even with the Religious Right as strong as it is) and the Bush Administration has way too much central authority for this to be the decentralized thing called feudalism. Don't speak ignorantly, let the Repubs do it.
Scotty's turning State's witness. When the war crimes trials start, he'll seek leniency from the court for having cooperated first. The other smart neocon dickheads will follow suit. Time to build some gibbets.
General_Rennenkampf @ 26:
I wonder how Miss Perino feels, knowing how she is going to be written about when her term is up. How the MSM can listen to her lie day after day and not call her on it amazes me! A total bunch of whores.
Chuck U @ 14:
but that revelation would have been nice...if it had come immediatly after he resigned
and what can he testify too?
will he be the smoking gun?
i hope so....but i doubt it
and dont worry, in about a day, we will get media saturation of the jive talking priest screaming about hillary
i really feel like chuck heston stuck on the planet of the apes
"ITS A MADHOUSE.....A MADHOUSE!!!!!!!!!"
missmarple @ 29:
I've not seen Dana Perino, because I don't watch TV. I believe she is well insulated from reality, unless down the road she can write for a lot of money a tell-all book.
..intrigued by Senator Obama..
That's it, that's the LAST STRAW!! Go shut Scotty up.
No. 44 @ 23:
Top Scumball types:
1. White House Press Secretary
2. Mortgage Banker
3. Defense Contractor
No. 44 @ 23:
Strikes me as more of a bottom...maybe Gannon knows more about his singularity...the 'scumballs' were just perqs ta McTellin'...part of his afternoon tea
bagging, no doubt. Wonder when he'll 'come out' with his next rapturous revelations...;-}
Blue Lensman @ 32:
Might I add:
You're not his type, McTellin. It's "Reach across the aisle", not around.
;-}
Bush regime set to block McClellen from telling the truth http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ Now that's a shocker!
Ruthless People @ 36:
I believe I predicted this up @32
McClellan is a shill. He knew full well that he was mouthpiecing for a pack of lies that left us 4,079 dead and Iraq with 1,000,000 killed. Did it for the money! Now he's written a book that none of us at C&L should buy nor read because real C&L'ers already knew the truth about George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney seven long years ago.
Scott McClellan is a war criminal guilty of heinous crimes against humanity. By purchasing this book you are enabling McClellan with money that could be used in his defense should the Bush's ever come to trial.
Fuck you Scott McClellan. May you roast in hell.
It's the OIL stupid.
JudyLou @ 6:
For the good would be the book causing indictments. This is an attention whore using the golden opportunity of a lifetime to make a splash. No wonder they're puzzled by him.
If I were Scotty I'd stay out of small aircraft for a long time.
Better late than never. I haven't read the book, and I'm not following this too intently. What I do see is this is terible for the bush administration, the MSM, and right wingers; which means it's all good. I don't care what his motivations are. He's saying things that need to be said. Because he was a WH insider, it's hard for the media to overlook him.
Sometimes we realize, later in life, we were wrong. Better to own up to that, and try to change the landscape, than hide out.
Marcus Aurelius @ 27:
every time i look at scotty, i hear a little voice whispering "have book, will testify"
but i wouldn't trust this shill as far as i could throw him, and i am nauseated by his use of the phrase "philosophy of coercive democracy" to describe gw's agenda . . . all most american's will hear is the word "democracy" and think, "well, georgie meant well" . . . what he's really talking about, though, is "coercive", as in "bombing the shit out of people", and "democracy" as in "corporate welfare"
Spock @ 15:
This isn't a Hollywood.
McCellon seems like a very intelligent man. too bad he wouldn't/couldn't speak the truth when it mattered. Now its just about selling books or $$$$.
JJ
[Deleted-Sitemonitor]
Blue Lensman @ 37:
I fully expect that any US president (bush regime especially) would unsubtly let an offender know there is a price to pay for such disloyalty. Maybe they send a few SS goons around, on a personal house-call, and they make inguarded comments about your family photos, like, "It would be a shame to see anything happen to your beautiful wife; such a lovely woman." Then they knock over a few vases as they stomp out your front door. Their 'odour' lingers long after they have gone. (So people make retractions.)
We all, each of us, get so wrapped up in our petty egos, we fail to see the world around us. It takes great courage to break free, and speak out.
VietVet8666 @ 28:
McClellan is a courtesan (read "ass kisser") and technocrat (those whose only skill is the manipulation of information) whose historical and traditinal role has been to kill the one -- king, baron, premier, tsar, president -- for whom he fucked/screwed/lied/trashed -- typically, the teeming unwashed (a.k.a., citizens). A particularly spectacular example of this phenomenon in the Disunited States of Amerika was John Dean who stuck a long, cold knife up Nixon's wazoo during the Watergate, constitution-trashing fiasco. For an interesting read about this and more, check out John Ralston Saul's "Voltaire' s bastards: the dictatorship of reason". Saul is a Canadian philosopher and political thinker whose writings will keep you up at night with his lucidity, insight and wicked tongue. Trust me.
The freepers are going ape shit bonkers over the SM book.
The lock steppers all sound like limbaugh parrots.
What reality do these people live in?
Fantasyland?
You're all missing the bigger picture. In the thinking of the Power Elites, every generation has to have a war to test the capability of its' weapons and tactics: Much like the Gulf of Tonkin episode as a pretext for Vietnam, Bush & Company had to embelish the intelligence to get the sycophantic media, and thus the populus on it's side for Iraq. In their minds, it's all for the good as we are better prepared with better weapons and more advanced intelligence. 55K dead in Vietnam; 5K dead in Iraq: at least the numbers are going down. That's the way they think, I think.
The interviews I've seen with Scottie have all been spinning the story into one of betrayal by a disgruntled former employee.
They ignore the war in Iraq.
You would never know that the "unnecessary" war was still in full bloom and thousands are still being killed.
As for culpability, the media look at each other and say, "who me?"
The capacity to not know about atrocities is not limited to WW2 Germans.
I have a question for McClellan that I don't believe anyone has asked him yet: Do you think we will ever reach a point in our democracy where the presidential press secretary places truth over power?
Laure @ 13:
Amen.
The media likes this circus. This improves ratings. This drama in which they are deliberate ring leaders keeps it all "interesting" and "colorful". They have no motivation to do anything different.
If anyone thinks the endgame in journalism is to find the truth, to be a check and balance, to actually care about improving anything, they are sadly naive.
It's amazing how these Bush tools grow a pair (and a conscience) after they leave the Bush regime. I'm sure McClellan's accusations are absolutely right, just as I'm sure he's a massive pussy, to allow himself to be used and only speak out now.
Hmmm yet another member of the white house has struck it rich. I guess he didnt own any HAL at the time otherwise we would have never seen a page of the book.
I am proud of Scott writing this book. I hope the Waxman committee does call him to testify. It will be the absolute first hearing with a witness being honest. I think Scott has the character and integrity to be a bright shining star of honesty. Something Americans have not seen in a long time. Hey, how much is it going to hurt him? Everyone in the Rep. party and all the media commentators already hate him and making him out to be a "nut".
go Scott...show Washington what honesty is.
Honest folks in the USA will embrace you and be proud of you.
Here is an idea for a liberal comedy TV show :
A mock press conference :
Actress : Cute intellengent looking blonde female to play the role of current Whitehouse spokesperson.
Press corps : Various actors and actresses as new reporters/ question askers
Other Key actress : Old lady to play Helen Thomas's part
__________
Plot :
The press corps drill the heck out of "Dana P" regarding Scott's book.
One reporter after the other focus on the point Scott makes that :
1.) He lived in a bubble
2.) He had a "Bunker mentality"
3.) Was shielded from truth
4.) Was in the habit of spinning the truth,saying "Talking points"
5.) Felt a bit guilty
etc. etc. etc.
"Dana" keeps shooting down these accusations and keeps blaming Scott and accusing Scott of this and that.
Gradually...slowly, but surely "Dana" starts breaking down mentally on stage in front of the WH Press Corps . She falls to her knees crying as she admits that she has felf so guilty doing her job as the Official WH Liar.
...........................
A great actress could make this so funny ! and embarassing for the WH !
What do you think ??
One more thing to add to #59 above:
It ends with Dana Perino hugging Helen Thomas and apologizing to her ,saying,"Oh Helen, I'm so sorry ! I've been so mean to you ! Please forgive me !"
They Lied, He knew it and helped them do it.
Now he's getting rich telling on them!
He should not make a dime on this book that money should go to people who's lives were devastated by the illegal war in Iraq
I can only hope this book helps put the entire Bush / Cheney administration and all of their henchmen behind bars, for the war crimes they have committed.
Anybody who takes Ron Paul seriously is a kook. Period.
------------
Anybody who takes any polititian seriously, could be considered a kook. It is all a game.
Ron.j @ 62:
Ron J. is obviously a kook ! Anyone who makes such a huge sweeping generalization is a crazy fool !!
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