McClellan let our country down
Where’s the courage? That’s the question I kept asking as I read the news this morning about Scott McClellan’s new book in which he calls the Iraq war a major blunder and says that we waged the war under a cloud of propaganda. As McClellan writes, “[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. … In this regard, he was terribly ill-served by his top advisers, especially those involved directly in national security.”
The most frustrating part of the book from the excerpts I’ve seen is that its author was literally playing the role of propagandist-in-chief. As the President’s press secretary, it was McClellan who pushed propaganda as his day job. And if he had such strong beliefs about how the President was misleading us during a time of war, why did he wait years (until a profitable book contract is signed no less) to make his opinion heard. Our nation literally lost some of our best and brightest every day during his time in office and yet he decided to postpone his moment of “courage” to “stand up” to the President until years later when the President’s approval ratings were at their lowest levels.
I marched in the demonstrations against the Iraq war. And I was called anti-American by many who said I did not care about our country. But, in fact, I was doing what I believed was right for this country that I love and cherish so deeply. What is truly anti-American is to do a job voluntarily (– press secretaries unlike our military have not made a time-specific commitment –) and believe that you are hurting our country in the process and not say a single thing for years while our nation loses our bravest young people. I understand those who supported the war. I understand those who were against it. On both sides, people did what they thought was best for this country. But for McClellan to think we were making a colossal mistake and go on pushing the propaganda anyway strikes me as the worst kind of coward.
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Courage?!
What on earth are you talking about?
We have all seen how the Bush regime destroys all who try and stand up to it. Of course McClellan would be apprehensive about publishing something that would focus the eye of the huge right wing smear machine on him. No amount of money will be enough to compensate for the vile character attacks that will undoubtedly spew from Limbaugh, Hanity and the other America haters.
Comment on May 28, 2008 @ 5:49 am
I would be thankful that at least he’s seen the light and came out and said what he said. This administration needs to be completely discredited, and having the first former true insider come out and “confess” will have much more positive long-term consequences.
My real question is how some of the originally pro-war Dems might play this. I hope I am not going to hear something like “see, if HE as an INSIDER was deceived, how could WE not have been?” That would be a pity. I am a complete outsider, thought Afghanistan was the appropriate response to September 11, and saw the run-up to the war in Iraq as a complete sham and scandal. If my instinct knew it was wrong, why did not, for example, Hillary’s?
Comment on May 28, 2008 @ 5:49 am
Seth,
You are a clueless coolaid drinking apologist. Please stop writing since you obviously have nothing worth saying.
The only thing cowardly are morons like you who defend these inept and corrupt “Bushies” that neither think for themselves or give a crap about the consequences of their actions beyond their own insulated worldview.
Please go away.
Comment on May 28, 2008 @ 6:26 am
Yes, Bush “veered TERRIBLY OFF course” — Scott McClellan’s own words –, and the country is NOW paying the TERRIBLE prize for it. SHAMEFUL.
Comment on May 28, 2008 @ 6:31 am
Courage is a tricky thing. What were McClellan’s options, even assuming he had the information in 2003, 2004 etc that he has today? If he spoke out, he’d of course have to resign and be cut off, and what difference would it have made? Top generals were speaking out, and it didn’t alter the administration’s course. In some ways, I think the courageous thing might have been to stick it out, document as much as he could (whether for a profitable book, or posterity), and–most importantly–do the best possible job of upholding the President’s obligation to communicate with the press and the country.
Comment on May 28, 2008 @ 6:31 am
Uh, do you have enough intelligence to understand what would have happened to McClellan had he blown the whistle on the lies as they were occurring? Or to understand that many of the lies were not known by McClellan to be lies when he was TOLD what to say to the press and the American people? What happened to all the generals and other administration people who attempted to tell the truth? Do you remember Wilson? Do you remember O’Neill? Do you remember Gen. Shinseki?
Get a clue son!
Comment on May 28, 2008 @ 6:33 am
“Where’s the courage?” is probably a fair question in this context, although I certainly can see Steve’s point.
I always felt that McClellan was clearly ill at ease during his press conferences. It became more obvious toward the end of his tenure as press secretary. His shifting from side-to-side. The head and eye movements during questioning. The pregnant pauses and subtle displays of frustration (sighs, etc.). All these seemed to indicate that McClellan was pretty aware that with regard to Administration talking points, the views of the reality-based community, McClellan was engaged in a war with himself. In other words, he knew he was lying.
I fully anticipated that when he finally penned his memoir, it would contain exactly the kinds of information that it does.
Comment on May 28, 2008 @ 6:35 am
Brian,
Seth has demonstrated against the war. Seth is not defending the Bushies – Seth is upset that McClellan did not speak out earlier – a legitimate issue. What some of us here are saying in response is later is better than never.
Comment on May 28, 2008 @ 6:36 am
Ha, insider’s confirmation that we have dirt bags and clowns running the White House. Freakin Republican dirty bags gave us 8 years escalating inflations, out of control deficit and a war nobody wants!
Comment on May 28, 2008 @ 6:54 am
Seth, your post is right on the money, and I think courage is only “tricky” when you’re trying to hold on to your job. McClellan had none, and now is trying to get credit for having known right from wrong. His revelations don’t make up for his cowardice, any more than McNamara’s did in the ’90s when he said he knew Vietnam was a lost cause but kept driving ahead with it. McClellan is merely jumping on the sleazy “me too” bandwagon with Sanchez, et al.
Scott McClellan stood at that podium every day and stonewalled. He had every opportunity to do the right thing and failed to do so. Period.
At this point I don’t even care if his experience is recorded for posterity. I read volume after volume on the folly of Vietnam during my military education, so as to learn from our past and avoid repeating the mistakes of that time. How many more mistakes are we going to make before we really get it?
Please boycott this book. We already know what mistakes we made — just apply the lessons next time.
Comment on May 28, 2008 @ 8:00 am
McClellan at least had the integrity to come forth and admit what most Americans already knew about Bush & his GOP. I’m not surprised at all to hear about this Bush, Cheney , Rove & GOP corruption that has screwed over this nation for the last 7 years. Also…it will come as no surprise that the White House?s only response to the book will be to take cheap shots that accuse McClellan of being disgruntled or disingenuous. Since they have no moral compass or integrity to stand on…and since the record of Republican corruption and treachery against the USA these last 7 years speaks for itself…they really do not have a leg to stand on in their defense against the content in McClellan’s book. If Dana Perino and others loyal only to the Bush Crime Family & the Republican Party had any sense, they would simply keep their mouths shut and quit accusing McClellan of being a disgruntled person. The more you complain about McClellan?s book, the more obvious you make your own sins against the USA.
Comment on May 28, 2008 @ 8:52 am
It seems to me that the issue here is not so much that McClellan was tight-lipped as press secretary. Had he openly protested, he may have been replaced with someone who would not have recorded the President’s follies at all. I think he was perfectly justified in not coming forward while in the employ of the administration. The truly cowardly or sordid part is that he waited so long to come forward even once he was no longer press secretary. Once he stopped being in the loop, any good reasons he may have had for keeping mum disappeared.
Comment on May 29, 2008 @ 2:52 pm