Think Progress

Conservatives Try To Quash Interest In McClellan Book: ‘I’m Bored,’ ‘More Concerned About American Idol’

The right wing is trotting out a variety of counter-attacks to deal with the explosive allegations found in former White House press secretary Scott McClellan’s new book. Yesterday, defenders repeated they were “puzzled” by the book, “as if,” the New York Times noted, “Mr. McClellan had undergone some kind of emotional breakdown.” By afternoon, attacks were more charged, with White House officials calling McClellan a “traitor” and “Benedict.” By last night and into this morning, Fox News pundits were insisting the book is the work of a nefarious, left-wing publisher.

Now several prominent conservatives are dismissing the book by insisting that no one outside of “people who follow Washington issues” really even cares about McClellan’s allegations:

Ari Fleischer: This is a very Washington and people who follow Washington issue, and people tend to read these types of books. What is interesting, Bill, is TV shows, for example, millions watch the news at night, a great selling book only sells about 100,000, so it’s kinda gonna be a self-contained story.

Bill O’Reilly: McClellan says Mr. Bush did not handle Katrina very well. Gee, I’m stunned. He says the president used propaganda to justify Iraq. Again, is that a bulletin? … McClellan also believes that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby conspired in the Valerie Plame case. Forgive me if I’m bored.

Newt Gingrich: No. I don’t want to shock you, Alan, but I actually don’t care. … I mean my lack of interest in Scott McClellan’s personal odyssey of self-discovery is a negative. I’m more concerned about American Idol than I am about Scott McClellan.

Mary Matalin: I don’t care, like Newt, I don’t really care to analyze this kind of betrayal.

Watch a compilation:

Despite what these pundits suggest, Americans are paying attention. McClellan’s book rose rapidly yesterday to become Amazon’s number one bestseller. McClellan’s story has dominated the airwaves, with three major appearances today and at least three more — including a stint on the Daily Show — in the next few days.

The public is sure to pay particular attention to McClellan’s charges about manipulating Iraq intelligence. A poll from Februrary showed that a majority — 53 percent — of Americans believe the White House “deliberately misled” the public about the existence of WMD in Iraq.



56 Responses to “Conservatives Try To Quash Interest In McClellan Book: ‘I’m Bored,’ ‘More Concerned About American Idol’”

  1. Leftside Annie says:

    Look! Shiny keys!!

    Sorry, Pukes. That crap doesn’t work any more.


  2. gummitch says:

    Mary Matalin sums it up: this is a betrayal of the Fearless Leader. McClellan should be shunned! Look over there! American Idol! Pay no attention to the jerk behind the curtain.


  3. MCMetal says:

    Bill O’Reilly: McClellan says Mr. Bush did not handle Katrina very well. Gee, I’m stunned. He says the president used propaganda to justify Iraq. Again, is that a bulletin? … McClellan also believes that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby conspired in the Valerie Plame case. Forgive me if I’m bored.

    Not enough referrences to loofahs and falafels , eh Bill ?


  4. ralph the wonder llama says:

    I guess if you’re fully committed to carrying Chimpy’s water, you’re not gonna care if you’re transparent when you’re doing it.

    You gotta pretend to be bored by it all only twelve hours after denouncing someone as a “traitor”, then that’s what you gotta do.


  5. barfly says:

    The Mighty Wurlitzer doesn’t do so good at ignoring things.

    This tactic will backfire; all the conservative media will soon realize they’re hyping the book even more by their strained nonchalance.


  6. upside99 says:

    A poll from Februrary showed that a majority — 53 percent — of Americans believe the White House “deliberately misled” the public about the existence of WMD in Iraq.

    I wonder if that number will go up after Scotty’s little book release?

    And billo can’t stand when someone else is getting more attention than him.

    Heh Heh


  7. burro says:

    They’re calling him a lot of names but I’m not hearing the word liar much. Maybe they can’t use that one. Maybe it wouldn’t stick.


  8. ralph the wonder llama says:

    I like how BOR acts all bored by the “using propaganda to justify” an invasion of Iraq charge — “is that a bulletin?” — but then he goes on to try to pull off a “Clinton Did It Too™”.

    He doesn’t stick the landing, though.


  9. barfly says:

    They’re calling him a lot of names but I’m not hearing the word liar much. Maybe they can’t use that one. Maybe it wouldn’t stick.

    Maybe Scotty was prescient enough to preserve some evidence.


  10. bumpkis says:

    Arrest Rove and Subpoena Scotty on the same day….I should be a strategist….


  11. MCMetal says:

    Ari Fleischer: This is a very Washington and people who follow Washington issue, and people tend to read these types of books. What is interesting, Bill, is TV shows, for example, millions watch the news at night, a great selling book only sells about 100,000, so it’s kinda gonna be a self-contained story.

    So I see that it is not only Chimpy , but the rest of his godawful administration that doesn’t read nor know jack shit about anything.

    JK Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series books have combined sold close to 1 BILLION copies ; 100,000 ?

    Newspapers sell more than that on a daily basis.

    Sheesh , what a completely uninformed and clueless group this entire incompetent administration truly is……….


  12. ralph the wonder llama says:

    He says the president used propaganda to justify Iraq. Again, is that a bulletin?

    Um… yeah, I think it’s a “bulletin” for the 23%ers, especially when it comes from one of your own, Bill.

    But if you don’t think so, then you don’t think so. After all, you’re the one with the Peabody™, right? You’re the one who brought Paris to its knees, according to the Paris Business Review.


  13. paleolib says:

    Somehow I don’t think the Foxbot audience is gonna be reading this book anyway. Thanks for stirring up interest with your shrill denunciations though Billo.


  14. Kahoneez says:

    I’m waiting for the book that is entitled , ” THE IRAQ INVASION WAS ABOUT OIL “


  15. paleolib says:

    Oh, and by the way, could someone tell Newt that “American Idol” has finished for this season. Geez, the guy’s television knowledge is as outdated as his political views (I hate myself a little for knowing that. . .)


  16. ralph the wonder llama says:

    burro Says:
    They’re calling him a lot of names but I’m not hearing the word liar much. Maybe they can’t use that one. Maybe it wouldn’t stick.

    Yeah, it’s interesting — this new tack by the talking points committee essentially destroys any chance they had of calling Scotty a liar. I mean, if everyone already knew everything he’s saying, then it must be true, right?

    So they’re pretending that it’s “no big deal”.


  17. MCMetal says:

    Newt Gingrich: No. I don’t want to shock you, Alan, but I actually don’t care. … I mean my lack of interest in Scott McClellan’s personal odyssey of self-discovery is a negative. I’m more concerned about American Idol than I am about Scott McClellan.

    As if anyone gives a damn what a washed-up politician who is amongst the world’s biggest hypocrites opinion is on this ?

    It also doesn’t help your case when you’re named after a creature from the salamander family…………


  18. Buckie Boy says:

    Translation – If we bury our heads in the sand it will go away.

    They are all anti-american scum.


  19. StratRat says:

    Oh, and by the way, could someone tell Newt that “American Idol” has finished for this season. Geez, the guy’s television knowledge is as outdated as his political views (I hate myself a little for knowing that. . .)

    Don’t laugh. I know the low information types follow the changing performers on American Idol much more closely than they watch their own government. Its these lazy and uninformed ‘citizens’ which are propping up the last, gasp 23% r’s. They have invested their hearts and souls into chimpy’s illegal invasion. They are not going to suddenly become enlightened. Sadly, it will be their grandchildren who inform them of the harm they have done by looking the other way.


  20. MCMetal says:

    Mary Matalin: I don’t care, like Newt, I don’t really care to analyze this kind of betrayal.

    Interesting that you would use the word “betrayal” , Mary Mentalpatient ; now maybe all you Chimpy suckholes will know how we’ve felt for the last 7 + years………….


  21. leftcoast says:

    Now several prominent conservatives are dismissing the book by insisting that no one outside of “people who follow Washington issues” really even cares about McClellan’s allegations…

    This is precisely the elitist attitude we have come to expect from the right-wing: “Oh, the common folk don’t like to think too much about this stuff, it make their head hurt”.


  22. jjray7 says:

    Didn’t Mary Matlin say the McClellan thing was like Judas on steroids (quoting her husband)? That’s about right and that is why the story has broad appeal. The right will not succeed in pooh-hooing this thing into obscurity. Bring on the Congressional hearings!!!


  23. LumpyDunky says:

    LOL, here we go, lets all get ready for the big white wash thats going to surely follow. Everyone is scrambling to get their ducks in a row. What a joke. the American Sheeple are made the fool once again and wear egg on their faces.

    JJ
    Ultimate Anonymity


  24. StratRat says:

    LumpyDunky Says:

    LOL, here we go, lets all get ready for the big white wash thats going to surely follow. Everyone is scrambling to get their ducks in a row. What a joke. the American Sheeple are made the fool once again and wear egg on their faces.

    Americans, for the most part, are slow to react to the ever changing landscape of the political world. We are taught from a very early age to submit to authority, and look to our ‘leaders’ for answers to our questions. Once we wake up the reality of the situation, I have every confidence we will demand answers and accountability. This is just the beginning.


  25. Abu Ben Hussein Leporello says:

    This is entirely too funny to be believed. From ’someone we just don’t know’ to Left Wing Stooge to ‘Judas on Steroids’ to ‘no one really cares’ in 2 days flat. That has Got to be some kind of record. Scott McClellan always had my sympathy. When he was working for the White House I always believed he had the “Oh my God, they really expect me to say This?!?!?’ experssion. Regardless of the past, anyone who gets O’really, the Newtster, Mary Mateless and the other Mindless Minions of Mendacity in an uproar like this has Got to be doing something right.
    Impeach Cheney and Bush and Save the Constitution!


  26. Aanya says:

    All the preznuts men are soooo innocent! How is Bush going to explain the necessity of issuing a blanket amnesty to everyone he’s ever known?

    Have we ever figured out who writes the daily talking point? I thought it was Rove, but then they would have all been jabbing at liberal lefty bloggers today!


  27. Tired Of Fighting says:

    These idiots can claim all they want in public that they dont care, but in private you know that they’re all about what Scottie has to say. I’m willing to bet that they all have a copy of his book and are having group “readings”.

    These “fools” are scared, and their disciples are even more frightened. Again it’s nothing us “free” thinking folk haven’t known for years, its just that now the ones doing the telling are getting closer and closer to the POTUS.

    The next book will be by Barney.

    RIP
    SGT Stephen R. Sherman
    C CO 1-5 In (STRYKER)
    KIA 3 Feb 2005
    Mosul, Iraq


  28. tanglewood says:

    FWIW: I think they are peeing themselves because the skein of yarn has been unraveling for a long time and the american people are onto not only the Administration but the press.

    If the press had been doing its work and looking at the runup to the war more critically, there would not be 4100 American soldiers dead in Iraq tonight.

    What has happened is criminal and everyone of those who took part in taking us into this war are guilty–how do they look themselves in the mirror knowing they are responsible for the deaths are carnage they have enabled?


  29. SP Biloxi says:

    “defenders repeated they were ‘puzzled’ by the book, “as if,” the New York Times noted, ‘Mr. McClellan had undergone some kind of emotional breakdown.‘”

    LOL! That is too funny. The right wingers are losing it. They know what to make of Scotty. Any retarded reason will do.


  30. SP Biloxi says:

    Correction: They don’t know what to make of Scotty.


  31. republicanSScareme says:

    The Council of Zionist Traitors speaks: We are bored!


  32. Leftside Annie says:

    How is Bush going to explain the necessity of issuing a blanket amnesty to everyone he’s ever known?

    Make that a RETROACTIVE blanket amnesty….


  33. ralph the wonder llama says:

    Agreed, they’re losing their sh!t over this one. They don’t know who to respond, so they’re changing tactics — in coordinated fashion! — every six hours or so.

    It’s really hilarious.


  34. darlineishere says:

    Of course, we are interested and of course, we knew at the time…..at least 50% of us did. I was delighted you listed my 5 most disliked people all in one article. Their time will come as did the Bush adminstration. Of course, Smirky and thugs will get away with it.


  35. McWars says:

    Their faces are really turning red. In fact, the angrier Bill gets, the sorrier I feel for that Loofah at his home. And that new blonde staff producer with the listed phone number.


  36. abarts says:

    So, now that Scottie is the media darling, it’s liars interviewing liars.
    FOX should ask Jeff Gannon and Scottie to participate in a one on one. Interview!…jeez, they’ve already had a one on one elsewhere.


  37. Paul W says:

    The public is sure to pay particular attention to McClellan’s charges about manipulating Iraq intelligence. A poll from Februrary showed that a majority — 53 percent — of Americans believe the White House “deliberately misled” the public about the existence of WMD in Iraq.

    After all that has happened and all that’s been uncovered over the last few years 53 percent is a disturbingly low number.

    http://progressiveworldreview.com


  38. scytherius says:

    The President commits treason and “they are bored”. These people are enemies of America and need to be treated as such. We need to be relentless until they are brought to the justice afforded by free thinking Americans. We aren’t going to let this one go.


  39. Shayne says:

    There is so much “apathy” that the publisher is releasing the book early because so many buyers are … yawn … bored.


  40. Shayne says:

    And thank you Senator Clinton for keeping the heat of McCain by having your people all over the media whining about Florida and Michigan.


  41. Vincennes says:

    Republicans = LOSERS! HA HA HA!


  42. AngryOne says:

    The frothing at the mouth right-wing critics of Scott McClellan sound a lot like, well, Scott McClellan:

    “I think it appears to be more about trying to justify personal views and opinions than it does about looking at the results that we are achieving on behalf of the American people.”
    McClellan, asked if former Treasury secretary Paul O’Neill’s book contained falsehoods, January 12, 2004

    “Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he’s raising these grave concerns that he claims he had.”
    McClellan, on the book by former counter-terrorism tsar Richard Clarke, March 22, 2004.

    For more details, see:
    “A Look Back at Scott McClellan’s Greatest Hits.”


  43. Truthdoctor says:

    Does anyone have a day job?


  44. sectionop92 says:

    Do these right wingnuts know any new tunes…or how to do anything but “cluck” at times like this? I’m bored just reading their lame responses. I would think the RNC could whip up something more convoluted than these cliched cliches for what they pay these people to talk up their causes. I wouldn’t want to tell Billo his “other” check bounced come January.


  45. Buckie Boy says:

    Truthdoctor Says:
    Does anyone have a day job?

    Yes, and it’s better than your “Blow Job”


  46. abarts says:

    Shayne Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    And thank you Senator Clinton for keeping the heat of McCain by having your people all over the media whining about Florida and Michigan.

    May 29th, 2008 at 7:41 pm Recommend (0) | Report Abuse

    I’m surprised you couldn’t find a way to ‘blame Clinton’ for Scottie writing his book.


  47. Jeremy in Denver says:

    abarts Says:

    Shayne Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    And thank you Senator Clinton for keeping the heat of McCain by having your people all over the media whining about Florida and Michigan.

    May 29th, 2008 at 7:41 pm Recommend (0) | Report Abuse

    I’m surprised you couldn’t find a way to ‘blame Clinton’ for Scottie writing his book.
    ——————–
    And why would she blame Clinton for something that’s good?

    If Obama didn’t have to look over his shoulder, perhaps he could actually latch onto this book. And perhaps, after June 3rd, when the last voters have had their chance to pick their candidates of choice and the chips are all down, doubly so if a flood of SuperDs come out and endorse Obama and put him over the magic number, maybe he won’t have to look over his shoulder for the attack from his supposed ally, who has taken a decidedly right-wing attack profile ever since March. Here’s a hint for you. Had she not taken that attack profile, I’d be very comfortable with a Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton ticket. But I don’t like supposed allies doing the Right’s work for them.


  48. flavorino says:

    Boring…so Scotty says the Bush gang used propaganda to deceive us into bombing the sh** out of another country, bringing death, misery, anarchy and maiming to innumerable innocent civilians, squandering U.S. military power for political and war profiteering gains, derailing our economy and costing us a MINIMUM of half a trillion dollars and counting and resulting in @4100 dead American soldiers and tens of thousands of wounded…BORING….
    not worth thinking about…let’s think about American Idol that’ll really help contribute to America’s future.

    The GOP is an cult of loons.


  49. Keith H. says:

    This kind of crap is so typical of the msm on the tube.
    Guess what, no one cares what you ‘think’. Get it ? Your opinion means nothing.


  50. Shayne says:

    abarts Says:

    Shayne Says:

    I’m surprised you couldn’t find a way to ‘blame Clinton’ for Scottie writing his book.

    Who are you defending? Clinton or W, oh what’s the difference?


  51. Alecto says:

    bumpkis Says:

    Arrest Rove and Subpoena Scotty on the same day….I should be a strategist….

    AND GIVE SCOTTIE FLL AMNESTY.


  52. buckrogers1965 says:

    I’m betting a little water boarding could bring back the old Scotty.


  53. Bozo The Neoclown says:

    Geez, these people sure do spend a lot of time obssessing over something they are “bored” over. Most normal people, when something bores them drops the issue and do not give it a second thought.


  54. Kgprophet says:

    I do truly love when a yet another controversy hits the GOP or their mouthpiece goons in the media. They declare as if it is law that the subject is insignificant, and thus won’t ever be talked about again. Keith Olbermann said it most recently, “They may not be talking about it anymore, but we most certainly will”. It is hilarious how these idiots think this stuff will just quietly go away.

    I’m sure Nixon hoped people would dismiss Watergate too…


  55. JerryJerr says:

    Scott’s book is number one on Amazon.com. I guess it’s just another ending area where the public has completely tuned out and dismissed the boring and predictable Conservative talking points.


  56. EdgeOnIt says:

    Agreed, the frame is familiar, but this time and hopefully, for the last time, it is characteristically different-because this time the content is, ‘the content is boring…stupid!’



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