In his explosive new book criticizing the Bush administration’s Iraq “propaganda” campaign and its handling of Hurricane Katrina and the CIA leak investigation, former press secretary Scott McClellan also disparages what he calls the “permanent campaign” culture within the administration that seeks to manipulate “sources of public opinion to the president’s advantage.”
During an interview on MSNBC yesterday, when asked if the Bush administration is using the same tactics with regards to Iran, McClellan said, “I don’t know,” but cautioned that the White House is still operating in “permanent campaign mode”:
OLBERMANN: 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 think that you would need to take [the administration's] comments [on Iran] very seriously and be skeptical.
Watch it:
Bush administration officials have been ratcheting up harsh rhetoric on Iran signifying that, like McClellan said, they are still in “campaign mode.” In fact, the Jerusalem Post recently reported that Bush will attack Iran before the end of his term. But while White House press secretary Dana Perino told reporters that the article “is not worth the paper its printed on,” others like Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) agreed with the Post’s report.
But it seems Bush is taking his own rhetoric seriously because just two weeks ago, he claimed that holding talks with countries like Iran would be akin to appeasing Adolf Hitler. Indeed, as McClellan wrote in his book, Bush “convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment.”
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