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mcclellan speaks
Published May. 29, 2008Sorry if this issue was discussed yesterday. I wasn't around.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080529/pl_politico/10681
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan, speaking out for the first time since publication of his searing memoir, told NBC's "Today" show on Thursday that he erroneously believed what President Bush was saying about the war but now is answering a higher loyalty: “a loyalty to the truth.”
“The White House would prefer that I not talk openly about my experiences,” he said in a lengthy, at time combative interview with anchor Meredith Vieira. “These words didn’t come to me easy. … I’m disappointed that things didn’t turn out the way we all hoped they would.”He added: “I have a higher loyalty than my loyalty necessary to my past work. That's a loyalty to the truth."
A White House official replied: "No one at the White House ever told McClellan not to talk about his experiences."
McClellan said he "believed" what Bush was saying about the war — and the president did, too. “I trusted the president's foreign policy team and I believed the president when he talked about the grave and gathering danger from Iraq,” McClellan said. “I believe he believed it was a grave danger, too. He convinced himself of that. When the administration was talking about Iraq, it was talked about as a problem that needed to be addressed. After Sept. 11, it was talked about as a grave danger. You get caught up in the White House bubble, you get caught up in the affection for the man you're serving and defer.”
Asked if he’ll ever talk to the president again, McClellan said: “I don’t know. I certainly don’t expect it any time soon. I know this is a tough book for some people to accept.”
McClellan’s book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” has provoked a furious counterattack from his former colleagues, who call it “sad,” “puzzling” and “pathetic.”
McClellan accused Vice President Cheney of failing his boss. “In a number of ways, he has not served the president well,” McClellan said. “Part of it is the secrecy and compartmentalization … in the White House.”
And McClellan said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, when she was White House national security adviser, gave in too often to Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
“I felt that too often she was too accommodating … of the other strong personalities on the foreign policy team … and too deferential to those individuals,” he said.....
Is McClellan a sell-out? Do you trust what he says? You know, it takes a long time to write and publish a book.... why wait all that time to come out and say what you have to say? Oh yeah, money.
31 Comments
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GOLO member since September 20, 2007
May 29, 2008 11:02 a.m.
GOLO member since August 22, 2007
May 29, 2008 10:55 a.m.
On something SO Serious and Devastating to not just our country but, globally impacting, you would think someone so "honest" and with a "conscious" would have come out with the truth AS it was going on to PREVENT it from happening.
LOL not oh... 7 years after the fact. LOL ... yeah's he's being honest.... sure. And I'm Pamela Anderson.
GOLO member since December 18, 2007
May 29, 2008 10:54 a.m.
Now that is a great idea. C'mon Mr. So Concernd Mcclellan give it up.
GOLO member since February 22, 2008
May 29, 2008 10:49 a.m.
GOLO member since July 2, 2007
May 29, 2008 10:45 a.m.
May 29, 2008 10:42 a.m.
GOLO member since September 20, 2007
May 29, 2008 10:40 a.m.
GOLO member since July 3, 2007
May 29, 2008 10:36 a.m.
My final thought, he is just another lying POS politician that dropped a dime!
GOLO member since March 14, 2008
May 29, 2008 10:36 a.m.
This "propaganda" he speaks of was FACTUAL information from the UN inspectors over the last 12 years - and Intellegence gathered. WHICH the 9/11 Commission found to be true - in *some of the ties to Saddam and Al Quida.
But by using that single word - he is attempting to appeal to all the Bush haters and left who can say "See! I knew it all along!".
He's a spin doctor. That's what is does. It was his job. He's still spinning now.
GOLO member since December 18, 2007
May 29, 2008 10:36 a.m.
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