(2008-05-30) — Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan today admitted that his book “What Happened” is filled with un-truths, half-truths and misguided statements because he “got caught up in another culture of deception.”
“When I left the White House,” said Mr. McClellan, “I hoped to escape the world of deceit where even good people convince themselves of things that just aren’t true and then get others to repeat those un-true things at news conferences.”
By writing about his White House experience, Mr. McClellan said he had “really wanted to bring civility to the tell-all memoir genre. Sadly, I became what I wanted to change.”
Early on in the process of writing his book, Mr. McClellan said things “veered off course” and he noticed that “everyone at the publishing house seemed to be in permanent marketing mode to such an extent that they really seemed to believe their own spin.”
As a result of Mr. McClellan’s demoralizing experiences, he now plans to create a TV show, tentatively title What’s Happening?, “to explore why good people like me repeatedly do bad things and then blame others.”
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27 responses so far ↓
1 JamesonLewis3rd // May 30, 2008 at 6:48 am
Memoir-writing is, like, the latest craze in entrepreneurship, man.
2 onlineanalyst // May 30, 2008 at 7:04 am
If OhBummer can cash in on the memoir-writing craze in order to create his own image and pay off those exhorbitant college debts so that he and his harridan wife can for the first time be proud to be American, then any disgruntled twit can win the approval of the media.
Is this a great country…or what?
3 Beerme // May 30, 2008 at 7:28 am
I’m sure he became disgruntled for a reason (you don’t so thoroughly betray those you’ve worked with for so many years for no good reason-even money) but watching him treating Keith Olberman like a serious newsman and feeding him in his BDS-fueled hysteria was almost more than a body could stand!
4 Fred Sinclair // May 30, 2008 at 7:50 am
“What’s Happening?” What a loaded question. Whew! Back in the “Golden Days” when “pot” was something you either cooked in or sat on and closets were for hanging clothes and not “coming out of….”
We would come riding into town, tie our Tyrannosaurus’s reins to the hitching rack, go into the saloon, down a few shots of boysenberry juice and you know, McClellan, even back then, we had a name for gents like you. Of course we couldn’t use that word in ‘polite’ company, or around the ‘fairer sex’ but we scraped better than you off of the floor and dumped it into the nearest spittoon!
Admittedly we didn’t have much school learning so our vocabulary wasn’t extensive.
But McClellan, we did know words such as loyalty allegiance, faithfulness, devotion; steadfastness, dependability, reliability, trustworthiness, duty, dedication, commitment and patriotism. Words totally unfamiliar to yourself, and wholly outside your ken.
Or McClellan, to quote a famous Amish leader, upon meeting one of your stripe, is said to have, in parting remarks told the miscreant; “When thou dost return to thy kennel, I prayeth thou mother doeth biteth thee.”
Heirborn Ranger
5 Hawkeye // May 30, 2008 at 8:44 am
“to explore why good people like me repeatedly do bad things and then blame others.” Great line Scott.
If you check out the “misguided statements” link, Scott McClellan says “uh” about 32 times and “um” about 8 times. That doesn’t sound like a professional spokesman to me. Me-thinks he really doesn’t believe his own story.
payment tracing — probably leads to George Soros?
6 Ms RightWing, Ink // May 30, 2008 at 8:51 am
The morose look of Soros has fallen on the book*
*Lyrics from my Unfair Lady
Sing it, say it, play it
7 boberinyetagain // May 30, 2008 at 9:21 am
Way easier to kill the messenger than give any credence at all to the message.
Bravo to one and all.
If George claimed that eating babies was the mark of a “true patiriot” y’all be frying up the grandkids by mid afternoon. Pass the gravy!
edith proposition…”hey Archie…are you feeling lucky?”
8 boberinyetagain // May 30, 2008 at 9:49 am
Push/pull/slide it sideways
9 boberinyetagain // May 30, 2008 at 9:51 am
He’s hardly the first to suggest that the “evidence” was “manipulated”. If he were I’d grab a stone and line up behind you (perhaps) but he’s just another in a long line that began long ago with common sense and just escalated from there. Someday…
10 mig // May 30, 2008 at 10:01 am
“When Morgan Freeman comes over to greet Obama, the senator begins bowing down both hands in worship. ‘This guy was president before I was,’ says Obama, referring to Freeman’s turn in Deep Impact and, clearly, getting a little ahead of his own bio. ”
11 da Bunny // May 30, 2008 at 10:24 am
McClellan is a proven liar. Either he was lying when he worked at the WH, or he’s lying now. I’m inclined to believe the latter, since so many who worked with him are genuinely puzzled by his betrayal of their trust. If he’s telling the truth now, why didn’t he speak up about these matters while he was working at the WH, or shortly after he left his post there? Why wait until now to join in the “Bush-bashing?”
I have to disagree with you, Beerme, about the money issue in your post #3. There are some people who truly lack any integrity, character, or morals when it comes to getting a big payday…and McClellan appears to be one of those people. This situation has the stench of a Soros-funded jackpot written all over it. There’s nothing new revealed in this book, it’s simply a rehash of all the liberal talking points from the past few years, and it follows the liberal playbook to the letter. McClellan has shown, either way, that he’ll do anything for money.
12 Fred Sinclair // May 30, 2008 at 11:40 am
As Rush pointed out yesterday, McClellan’s book is virtually line for line straight out of the Liberal’s Playbook.
Now if a Conservative had pretended to author the book, today the Lib’s lawyers would be queing up to file their lawsuits charging plagiarism and the media would be playing Katie Couric/Matt Lauer loops on a 24/7 basis.
Since he;s a RINO the press is playing him up like he’s a heroic whistleblower instead of a lowlife rat-fink.
Heirborn Ranger
13 boberinyetagain // May 30, 2008 at 12:15 pm
The messenger is dead but the message lives on
14 upnorthlurkin // May 30, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I finally found that last best reason to vote for McCain!! Susan Saranwrap has threatened to leave the USA if NObama isn’t elected!! Yipee!! Every journey starts with a single step….maybe all her America hating friends will line up and join her!!
I’m tempted to start a fund for their one-way tickets!
15 Fred Sinclair // May 30, 2008 at 1:15 pm
unl #14 - There are a few reasons (very few) reasons to vote for McCain but so far the best reason seems to be his wife, Cindy (ex-cheerleader, ex- rodeo queen) current mega- distributer of Budweiser. (sounds good to me).
Heirborn Ranger
16 Just Ranting // May 30, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Was there ever a time when Scott McClellan was talking to the press and didn’t have the appearance of a deer in the headlights? He seemed perpetually afraid of what the WH press corp might say or infer to embarass him.
I would love to see him have a just a few minutes of interview time with the likes of Tony Snow. “As press secretary to press secretary, what in the he** were you thinking?”
wv: tempers much … I suppose so. They don’t call me Just Ranting for no reason.
17 boberinyetagain // May 30, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Was there ever a time when Scott McClellan was talking to the press and didn’t have the appearance of a deer in the headlights?
Kinda goes hand in hand with “will they possibly buy the nonsense I’m spewing?”
Apparently they will/did…
18 RedPepper // May 30, 2008 at 4:38 pm
upnorth #14: IIRC, Alec Baldwin promised to leave if Bush was elected in ? 2000 ? 2004 ? Both ?
Glad I didn’t hold my breath …
19 Darthmeister // May 30, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Mark Twain preciently described the relationship between President Bush and Scott McClellan: “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.”
boberyetagain: The evidence was manipulated? Buwahahahaha. That’s straight from whacko left-wing blogs, Demoncrats in CYA mode for having authorized President Bush to take out Saddam’s regime, and the liberal media. Hardly authoritative sources. Where’s an official non-partisan/bi-partisan study that has concluded such a thing.
In fact, the official studies or reports that I’ve seen have concluded quite the opposite. If there was a failure, it was with the intelligence communities of virtually every free world country including Russia, Syria, and even the United Nations. The claim that the Bush Administration “manipulated” the evidence by “cherrypicking” the intelligence reports the Congress saw is pure bunk. It’s typical left-wing cowardice on the part of Demoncrats and RINOs who haven’t the guts to admit that they too say essentially the same intelligence the Bush Administration saw AND THE SAME INTELLIGENCE UNDER THE PREVIOUS CLINTON ADMINISTRATION!
Here are the reports which document the problem being with the various intelligence communities and not a concerted effort on the part of the Bush Administration to “cherrypick” intelligence in order to fool the U.S. Congress: the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Robb-Silverman Commission, the 9/11 Commission, the Lord Hutton Report, the Lord Butler Report, and the Australian Intelligence Report.
Until you can produce at least two official reports (okay, make it one) that aren’t the result of a bunch of leftist hacks or whacked out journalists afflicted with anti-Bush Derangement Syndrome, then you should do the honorable thing and desist in your ignorant regurgitation of radical left-wing talking points. You’re not fooling anyone here, we’re too well informed. Sorry, no cigar for you today.
20 Darthmeister // May 30, 2008 at 4:57 pm
… Alec Baldwin ate my comment!
21 da Bunny // May 30, 2008 at 7:08 pm
unnorthlurkin, what makes Susan So-damn-dumb think that Canada or Italy want her in either of their countries? And, why has she stayed during the “Bush 43″ years? She and her idiot shack-up, Tim Robbins wouldn’t have been/won’t be missed here, nor would Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Weasley “Tax-Cheat” Snipes, Julia Roberts, Streisand, Leonardo DiCaprio, et al. Why don’t all these self-important buffoons move to Venezuela or Cuba? They LOVE commie dictators so much, why don’t they put themselves and their money where their mouths are?
22 Darthmeister // May 30, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Scott, you’re probably closer to the truth than you know. This whole Scott McClellan episode is fraught with any number reasonable explanations for McClellan sounding like some whacked out left-wing blogger who just escaped from a Daily Kos re-education camp.
Now Powerline has this possible explanation why McClellan sounds like he just stepped from a communist “re-education camp.”
Apparently McClellan’s editor, Peter Osnos, has unwittingly admitted to be engaging in what appears to be classic communist thought control (and given that he’s a flaming liberal this view isn’t too much of a stretch):
In this process, one offers the prisoner better food but most importantly helps him understand where his thinking was wrong, and then leads him to “right thinking.” The process is easier if, as here, the captive’s knowledge of fact and his convictions were weak to begin.
In this account, McClellan’s editors helped him come to believe that he was doing the right thing (using their guided thoughts), not just making a buck.
This probably explains how his rants now sound like left-wing talking points and why anti-war liberals immediately embraced these “confessions”, the reality being that there is always an almost supernatural affinity between socialists/commies/collectivists/”progressives”.
However, I still think it may simply be a combination of factors, the biggest one being that this book is either a concious or unconcious payback for his mommy not getting GOP support for her run as governor of Texas.
23 upnorthlurkin // May 30, 2008 at 9:50 pm
I’ve been painting this room today and wasn’t able to leave my computer running so have missed a few comments. Da Bunny - as usual, in total agreement….
For a total belly laugh, and in memory of Harvey Korman, take a few moments to watch the sketch here ! My husband came in from outside to see what was wrong with me….
Not sure if the link worked…. if not this is the long address: http://www.cybersalt.org/d/dentist-sketch
24 upnorthlurkin // May 30, 2008 at 9:52 pm
And, there it is….. so, when I try and link something, I get put on holllllllddddddd……
[Editor's Note: The vast IT staff at ScrappleFace is still mystified by this phenomenon. It seems to afflict some commenters more than others. The settings on the website allow some outside links without flagging the post for moderation, so this should not cause a problem. The IT staff is now boning up on equidistant letter sequencing on the off-chance that some kind of secret code is embedded in those comments which move to the moderation cue.]
25 MargeinMI // May 31, 2008 at 9:32 am
bob-Eating babies? Ummmm, no. Although I have been known to nibble on their cubby little pecs and their tasty toes! Baby nummies-YUM!
26 MargeinMI // May 31, 2008 at 9:37 am
oops! make that cHubby pecs. Does zerberting their tummies count too?
27 MajorDomo // May 31, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Re: Scott McClellan says “uh” about 32 times and “um” about 8 times: I watched the first half-hour of the Democrat zoo trying to figure out a way to violate their own rules without violating them. Howard Dean’s opening remarks included seven “extrordinarys” (extraordinarys) in the first five minutes, and twelve of them overall in his opening comments. I was particularly amused by his charge about the Republicans “stealing” the presidential election…all the while trying to plot a way to steal the primary from Clinton. Democrats are just nothing if not hypocrites!!
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