McClellan Responds To Attacks: Critics ‘Trying to Shift The Focus’ Away From The Book’s ‘Key Themes’
McClellan Responds To Attacks: Critics ‘Trying to Shift The Focus’ Away From The Book’s ‘Key Themes’
Last week, in response to Scott McClellan’s explosive memoir, former senator Bob Dole sent a vitriolic personal e-mail to McClellan, calling him a “miserable creature.” “[Y]our type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique,” Dole charged.
On CBS’s Early Show today, McClellan responded to Dole’s and the right wing’s attacks on him. McClellan shrugged them off, saying the attacks were “personal” diatribes that still did not refute the “key themes” of the book:
McCLELLAN: These are some unpleasant truths and hard realities that I’m trying to address in the book. And no one is really refuting the key themes and perspectives in the book. What they are doing is taking some of these personal attacks and misrepresentations and trying to shift this focus away from what this book talks about. I think it’s important to get it back on the larger message in the book.
Watch it:
Indeed, it’s difficult to find a right-wing personality directly taking issue with the substance of McClellan’s book. For example, former White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy writes today, “Please forgive me, Scott, if this sounds personal, but you’ve just filleted me and everyone who worked with you.” “I mean my lack of interest in Scott McClellan’s personal odyssey of self-discovery is a negative,” said Newt Gingrich.
Whether McClellan’s charges have some truth to them is left unaddressed by these ad hominem attacks. “The ink [the book] generates isn’t doing much to distract the American public from the overarching narrative that McClellan’s book is a part of: Unpopular president, unpopular war, dispirited party,” notes Ana Marie Cox.
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Newt Gingrich should have been “filleted” a long time ago.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:16 pmAttack the messenger.
Distract the media.
Actual story fades away.
Welcome to the brave new world of a corporate driven media.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:20 pmYea, it is funny how the big issue the MSM seems to have is Scott’s disloyalty to Buscho. Which – like he is pointing – doesn’t do anything to refute what McClellan is saying.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:21 pmI do have to be amazed at how the righties still have not refuted any of the content. To think they can just continue to attack the messenger and that even some of the 21%ers (+/-) will have to rethink their true position in this world.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:21 pmMcClellan Responds To Attacks: Critics ‘Trying to Shift The Focus’ Away From The Book’s ‘Key Themes’»
Who better than he, Scott, would know?
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:23 pmCats! Oooh, Ooh, wait a second (*getting fillet kn!fe sharpener**)
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:24 pmWhy is Bob Dole demeaning Republican greed? Greed is one of their most important values… Didn’t Reagan say “greed is good” or something similar? Unrestrained greed has been a Bush/Cheney corporate theme song for the last eight years…
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:25 pmSee Scott. Now you realize what we have been up against. They don’t discuss the crux of the argument, they change the topic. It’s not that what you said isn’t true,(because they know that it is) it’s that you are a bad guy.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:28 pmI wish the BushBoys would start calling the book’s contents lies… then we’d have even more specific questions for congress to pose to McClellan under oath, in public, with a transcript.
Somehow, I think Scott will forego the typical “I can’t recall” answers and THAT will be fun to watch!
PEACE
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:29 pmI do not remember nearly as many turncoats in the Clinton administration. We seem to have quite a few from the Bush administration. Additionally, (with the exception of Dick Morris) most of the criticisms had to do more with temper and sexual escapades rather than what we see here.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:29 pmScott “Disseminator of the lie” McClellan said:
Like how Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Addington, Gonzales, Yoo, Powell, Ashcroft, etc. conspired to commit TREASON, TORTURE, USURPATION of the Fourth and Fifth Amendment of the USA Constitution and the VIOLATION of It’s Eighth Amendment…?
.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:31 pmGlad to hear that Scott is donating some of his proceeds to the vets. A small restitution, given his role in catapulting the propaganda.
Of course no one can refute what he’s saying, all the untermensch have are insults and invective for someone who betrayed Dear Leader. Lying to the American people is OK; spilling the beans on the Liar-in-Chief is the ultimate crime for the Bush cultists.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:33 pmI often winced, watching Scott talk..or try to…as he spun for the admin.
Perhaps after enough lies, embarrassment, sleepless nights, etc. his inner goodness broke through a bit. One can only hope. Event taken with a grain of salt, the book and his interviews are powerful and eye-opening.
There are some ethical, competent, fundamentally good Republicans (I know some, though I often disagree with their priorities and policies). Scott may be, at the core, one of them…or at least have enough honest and ethics that he took a deep breath, did some research (when out of the spin zone) and stepped forward. Brave man.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:42 pmIn the end; McClellan, ’s book won’t change the fact that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Addington, Gonzales, Yoo, Powell, Ashcroft, Rove and the rest of the GOP clown show will all fade away and spend the money they pilfered from the US Treasury and never have to account for any of the hell they visited on the world.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:42 pmI look at Scotty from a slightly different angle. Read my post, entitled Here’s what happened…
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:54 pmGOP reichwing playbook rule of acquistion #313, smear the messenger, but ignore the contents of the message. Just ask Dan Rather.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:55 pmits also meant to intimidate anyone else who may attempt to speak out.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:58 pmYes, I read Trent Duffy’s WaPo piece and was tempted to write the Editor to ask simply why the WaPo believes it a benefit to its readers to publish Duffy’s extremely personal and hysterical rant when a significant majority of Americans this election year really care more about the economy and a seriously flawed foreign policy.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:03 pmCats r Flyfishn Says:
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Newt Gingrich should have been “filleted” a long time ago.
or atleast gutted and gilled
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:07 pmAnd bobby dole is sitting in his little nest being a good republican without a peep till now? Give us a break, bob.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:15 pmDid somebody just leave a dump @ 21, there’s a bad smell coming from there.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:17 pmrogers Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Y’all nitwits never say Scotty is lying. Why is that?
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:19 pmMe thinks roger squared just broke the TP record for the most errors in a single post at #21.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:20 pmI suppose the basic premise, that the Bush administration lied their way into a war of aggression, and lies about everything on a daily basis, is universally accepted by now. McClellan is just confirming the details. There is no way to factually refute his book.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:23 pmMan that is seriously messed up. How is it going Zooey? I am still trying to get some answers from docs in OH.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:24 pmrogers Says:
the points your making aren’t even anything new.
And the points you’re making aren’t even points.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:29 pmScotts book is one of many confirming the bush/cheney agenda to take us into war, yet “scores” of people welcome bush to speek at their graduation exercises. I wonder which among the graduates cheering bush are joining the military ?
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:34 pmIs the quote supposed to have something to do with the accurracy of the allegations or somehow supposed to support the contention the “mcclellan is wrong anyway”? It doesn’t seem to read that way
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:34 pmrogers Says
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
what a hypocrit scott is…how about adressing the critiscm, and not just side-stepping it the same way your alegging about it.the points your making aren’t even anything new.
Really, why now, why not before, or even earlier after he resighned, and how much did he gain, and was a part of the system he keeps criticizing, and yet somehow was a part of for years.
_________________________________________________
You’re right — McClellan would probably have scored more points with me had he spoken up sooner. But this isn’t a “speak now, or forever hold your peace” situation. I’m glad he is saying something now instead of remaining forever silent.
But let’s assume for a moment that McClellan is a hypocrite, an opportunist, a backstabber, and a money-grubbing author. Does this invalidate the allegations he made? Did he lie? Did he make all this stuff up to stick it to his old boss? Or write a spicier, better-selling book?
If he lied, say so. If he exaggerated, say so. If he made stuff up, say so. If his book is a complete work of fiction, say so.
But nobody is saying that. Therefore, we can only assume that what’s in the book is true — even if it comes from a hypocrite, an opportunist, a backstabber, and a money-grubbing author.
And if this is true, this means that not only did our leaders lie to us to get us into a war, they aren’t even denying they did. Why aren’t you outraged about this? Why is this OK with you?
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:35 pmAsking why he didn’t speak up before is not questioning the accuracy of the “allegations”. Many of us have wondered why he didn’t speak up earlier. However, we don’t question the “allegations” because we already knew the truth before he published.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:36 pmHow many books have to be written before bush supporters get it ? They worship an idol with clay feet.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:36 pmI wonder that Scott didn’t run away when representing bush in Texas, anyone could see what a lying, conniving person bush was. I, too, wonder at Scotts late moral awakening. But again, why are the conservatives shooting personal attacks instead of refuting the allegations.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:39 pmTo them, it doesn’t matter how many books are written, all telling the same sordid tale. They will never read any of them. Strict ignorance must be maintained in order to remain a Bush worshipper.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:40 pmBob Dole is a bitter, failed, pathetic has-been politician who chose to appear in TV commercials getting an erection (along with his dog!) over Britney Spears when she was a teenager… rather than tell the truth about the horrors of George W. Bush of which he was very much aware.
There are thousands of dead American soldiers, over 300,000 more wounded, because of both of these two men — but only one has had the guts to admit it.
God bless Mr. McClellan. God damn Mr. Dole.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:44 pmI love for years how the neocons have said that if the Iraq war was a conspiracy of lies, how come no one has come forward to say so.
When they do, as general after general, as high government official after official has done so, they attack the messenger the identical way each time.
McClellan himself participated in the very same kind of smear campaign that he himself is now facing.
I want you neocons to see what is happening to Scott right now.
Take a good hard look.
See how they turn against you when you do that is right and speak the truth. Or interfere in their plans in anyway.
That is how much loyalty they have to any individual.
None.
As soon as you are no longer useful to these people, you are despicable scum that needs to be shut up and eliminated.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:16 pmLeave it to the NEOCONS to shit the focus away.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:24 pmThey never could fokus anyhoo.
That sounds painful, RUC. ;)
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:26 pmRepublicans are squealing like a demon doused in holy water at their exposure to the truth – especially since the truth is being told by one of their former minions. They’re faux-surprised and mock-indignant. Maybe Boner will cry. Wait until others dish on Chimpy and the Brain Trust – there will be much pants-wetting and poo-flinging on that day.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:32 pmHere Bob, make yourself useful – hold my pen.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:34 pmyeah, that’s a real strong denial of the “accuracy of his allegations” there. And from a politician who retired more than a decade ago to make Viagra commercials, no less.
Teh Stupid is indeed strong in this one.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:47 pmTheodore Roosevelt said – “To announce that there be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but it is morally treasonable to the American public.” President Theodore Roosevelt was, of course, a Republican.
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:10 pmI’m glad to see the Republicans react the way they have to McClellan’s book. It just proves what I’ve been saying for decades: The Republican Party is a criminal organization.
It certainly acts like a Mafia when one of it “made guys” blows the whistle on his friends…exposing them all as a bunch of immoral hoods. Their response is that he’s a stupid crook too, so who’s he to talk?
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:29 pm“[Y]our type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique,” Dole charged.
Bob Dole is an idiot. That’s why we never elected him President. His wife is not particularly smart either.
Isn’t it funny how these oh-so-lame Republican sell-outs glorify money, profit, and greed, but then, when it suits their purpose, they use a person’s need for and desire for money as some awful sin. “Look, the guy’s taking money for writing a best seller! What’s his problem? Doesn’t he still follow the Christ. What happened to his morals? He must be some kind of real loser if he does anything for money…not like the rest of us.
Besides, the Fuhrer deserves his loyalty.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:42 pmThe endless attacks on McClellan have NEVER addressed the accuracy of his “journal” . . . and as for Dole . . please, a useless Viagra peddler and Bush enabler has long lost the “exalted” status of elder political figure – retire and STFU . . .
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 pmI’m not making predictions, but, it’s possible that the release of Scotty’s book will be remembered as the day the sheeple woke up. With all the air time, all the childish character attacks, and all the lame ravings of geriatric outsiders, no one has even tried to dispute the facts he confirmed. I sure hope he inspires others to try to earn redemption through confession. Especially if they do it in open hearings.
Chin up Scotty. The truth shall set you, and us, free.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 pmLoath as I am to admit this…Dole does have something of a point! McClellan was working for Bush even before the White House…so I do find it a bit hard to swallow the idea that McClellan truly had no idea of what sort of a person Bush really is. I stand by what I’ve said before…if he really believed that what Bush was doing was wrong, he should have declined to participate and resigned his position. Then again, at least in my opinion, White House Press Secretary for any administration is probably not a good job for a scrupulously honest person whose foremost concern is his or her personal integrity! (In fact, someone like that should probably not consider pursuing any sort of career in the political arena…)
That being said, however, McClellan’s own somewhat tainted integrity doesn’t automatically mean that what he has to say has no merit. If one man who stole $500 accuses another man of stealing $5000, it does nothing to change the fact that he himself is a thief and just as guilty as the man whom he’s accused…but at the same time, neither does it automatically mean that his credibility is worthless and his accusations baseless. One could convincingly argue — as I myself have on other boards — that McClellan has written this book in an attempt to distract attention from his own participation in this affair…but then again, one could argue that the ad hominems of the pundits, White House staffers, Bush administration insiders, etc. is an attempt at exactly the same thing. It seems to me that the rule qui s’excuse s’accuse could apply equally well to both.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:38 pmNewt Gingrich: I mean my lack of interest in Scott McClellan’s personal odyssey of self-discovery is a negative.
- I’d like to know why Gingrich picked that phrase. Has McClellan ever said anything like it, does anyone know, please? Is there something like an LSD or cult reference lurking here?
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:17 am#30 rogers Says:
Yea, however the question really is; Was Dole on any little blue pills when he ripped Scotty a new one?
.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:17 amJust like the cold war when everyone who didn’t agree with the U.S. was either a communist or a communist sympathizer. toki This poor crazy guy spent half a decade being tortured because a bunch
of stupid politicians araç sorgulama were sure the NVA
was in bed with the Russians (minimal help) and/or the Chinese (ancient enemy of the vietnamese). ssk sorgulama You would think he would have learned from others’
mistakes. Guess not. Republicans need an enemy. key ödemeleri This
century it apparently will be all Muslims, health all of whom must
be alQaeda operatives.
February 28th, 2009 at 7:56 pm