May 28, 2008

McClellan's Losing Campaign - Part I

Hatched by Dafydd

I believe that McClellan's campaign will turn out to be a disaster, not for the president but for McClellan himself.

(And I assume you all realize I mean the campaign by Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary until he was ousted by incoming Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten -- and not a minute too soon! -- to damage the GOP enough that Barack Obama wins the presidency in 2008... not the failed presidential campaign of ousted -- and not a minute too soon! -- Civil War Gen. George McClellan in 1864.)

Alas, I was scooped on the following observation by John Hinderaker at my favorite blogsite, Power Line; but I shall persevere, secure behind the lizardly firewall of "Never first, always final."

What has struck me is "the Case of the Missing Evidence": McClellan is quoted as leveling numerous charges against President Bush and members of his administration, from "misleading" us into the Iraq war by spreading "propaganda," to McClellan's accusation that Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby conspired together to out Valerie Plame and then lie about it to the grand jury, to -- this is truly bizarre -- McClellan's psychic claim that Bush lied about never having tried cocaine. Yet in not a single accusation in a single article I have read (I've read six) is there even a shred of evidence offered for the claim, other than the rather dubious word of a man hawking his new "tell-all" book.

Nothing. Nada. Bagel.

Here is a typical example from our ancient enemy, the Times:

Mr. McClellan writes that top White House officials deceived him about the administration’s involvement in the leaking of the identity of a C.I.A. operative, Valerie Wilson. He says he did not know for almost two years that his statements from the press room that Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby Jr. were not involved in the leak were a lie.

“Neither, I believe, did President Bush,” Mr. McClellan writes. “He too had been deceived, and therefore became unwittingly involved in deceiving me. But the top White House officials who knew the truth -- including Rove, Libby, and possibly Vice President Cheney -- allowed me, even encouraged me, to repeat a lie.”

Of course, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald extensively investigated Karl Rove in that case, calling him back numerous times for more testimony. Rove even corrected some of his testimony, which almost certainly led to even more intense investigation by Fitzgerald. Yet after all that, Fitzgerald -- who was highly motivated to find some legal victim higher up the food chain than the chief of staff to the Vice President -- couldn't even gain an indictment from a grand jury... which hears only the prosecution's case.

But I'm sure McClellan knows better. I wonder whether he shared whatever evidence he has with Fitzgerald, who obviously considered it pretty unconvincing (or he would have used it) -- or whether McClellan only discovered this "evidence" of perjury and obstruction of justice after Fitzgerald failed to indict Rove.

Here's another good one:

[McClellan] is harsh about the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, saying it “spent most of the first week in a state of denial” and “allowed our institutional response to go on autopilot.”

Does anyone else detect a pattern here? Systematically, McClellan is working his way, one by one, through every anti-Bush fairy tale promulgated by the "reality-based community," the nutroots of Daily Kos. (I fully expect that somewhere in the book, which I will not waste time reading, McClellan will express his doubts that 9/11 was really carried out by al-Qaeda -- maybe it was Mossad! -- and will suggest that the Pentagon was hit by a U.S. missile and that the World Trade Centers were taken down by controlled demolition...)

Anent Katrina, I was going to make some scathing response about how effective President Bush really was, in contrast to the Demo-lib caricature; but then I remembered I already did -- two years ago. I'll stack my evidence up against McClellan's any day... or I would, if McClellan could find any.

Maybe McClellan should start reading Big Lizards before writing future books.

Although I did independently come up with this observation, I must confess that John beat me into print phosphor with this addendum to an excellent (if short) post by Paul Mirengoff:

JOHN adds: McClellan was a lousy press secretary. A much better spokesman, Tony Snow, once told me that the best thing about his job was the opportunity to follow President Bush around and observe his conduct of the Presidency. Tony said that he came away with a deep appreciation of President Bush's character, judgment and knowledge of the issues. Unless McClellan can come up with some facts to back up his claims--facts have been notably absent from the press accounts I've seen of his book--I think Tony's assessment is considerably more reliable.

I could not agree with John more... especially the part about McClellan's squirmy "talents" as a presidential press secretary; he always came across to me a lot less like Ari Fleischer, or even Clinton's Mike McCurry, and a lot more like Jon Lovitz's pathological liar character from Saturday Night Live in the late 1980s ("Yeah, yeah, the Queen of England... that's the ticket!")

But I also agree with Paul: McClellan's tabloid trash is going to get a full-court press of reviews, news articles, and free PR by the Democratic Party (both political and journalistic wings)... making the contrast all the more stark with the brilliant insider tome War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism, by former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith.

Feith's book received no reviews by any major elite-media source except for Bret Stephens' review at the Wall Street Journal... despite the fact that War and Decision was written by the man who actually made (in consultation with his direct boss, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld) the important decisions he discusses; while What Happened -- say, if this is about McClellan's career, then didn't the printers accidentally leave off the question mark that should have been at the end of that title? -- is nothing but the ramblings of a man whose only function was to explain other people's decisions to the press.

Say, has anybody else ever noticed that life isn't fair? (Darn... I think I was scooped on that observation, too.)

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, May 28, 2008, at the time of 5:12 PM

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Comments

The following hissed in response by: MarkJM

Exactly Dafydd. If life were fair, 80% of Congress would be in prison.

The above hissed in response by: MarkJM [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 29, 2008 8:02 AM

The following hissed in response by: Rovin

And let us not forget the hypocrisy of the liberal media:

“It will be known as the latest example of disloyalty at the top, an attempt to cash in on trickle-down celebrity with an instant book”………Margaret Carlson commenting on the book released by George Stephanopoulos's "All Too Human: A Political Education" about Bill Clinton. Link

The above hissed in response by: Rovin [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 29, 2008 8:12 AM

The following hissed in response by: Frank Laughter

Expanding on McClelland's remarks about Hurricane Katrina and people spending the first week in denial: Was McClelland with Bush on the West Coast where the president was trying to get support for his SS reform plan, or did he stay behind in the W.H.? One way or the other Scott was out of touch with a lot of administration big wigs.

The above hissed in response by: Frank Laughter [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 29, 2008 10:05 AM

The following hissed in response by: David M

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the - Web Reconnaissance for 05/29/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.

The above hissed in response by: David M [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 29, 2008 12:01 PM

The following hissed in response by: Geoman

The greatest fault of the Bush presidency again rears its ugly head - too much loyalty to incompetents.

I think it humerous to watch how the press, who hated McClellen as a press secretary, fawn over him for his "tell all" book. Say, that couldn't have anyhting to do with McClellen parroting the anti-Bush bias of the liberal media could it? Yeah, I thought so.

The contrast between Feith and McClellen couldn't be more stark. One has foot notes and checkable information. The other innuendo and vague feelings. Guess which book will get all the press? And what does that say about the level of reporting in this country? Disgusting.

The above hissed in response by: Geoman [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 29, 2008 12:03 PM

The following hissed in response by: scrapiron

Money has became the largest motivator of the American people. McClellan just proved that men will sell their soul for a few dollars. Didn't someone in the bible do that, 30 pieces of silver? Now he is a judas, man without honor and will never be trusted by anyone inside or outside of his family. The money will only bring great misery to him and his family. By the way, how many fools rushed out and paid $30 for a book of opinions, fantasies, half truths and outright lies? I'll bet Commie George Soros, aka democrat funder and sworn enemy of the U.S., won't refund their money since he funded McClellans fantasies.

The above hissed in response by: scrapiron [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 29, 2008 4:54 PM

The following hissed in response by: Rovin

And what does that say about the level of reporting in this country? Disgusting.

Nixon lied----Journalist died!

The profession of journalism evolved into a new level of degradation when "deep throat" began feeding two young reporters the inner workings of an administration. The feeding frenzy that followed produced a thinking that the media had as much power to manipulate the course of events as the power-brokers that were elected by hiding behind the first amendment. The "my source must not be revealed" became a valuable tool that allowed "journalist" to distort the facts to shape their own bias or agenda. Scott McClelland is just part of a long list of incarnated Jason Blairs that found a willing public, (and a disgruntled publisher) to line their pockets. Who would have thought 30 pieces of silver would have stood the test of time.

The above hissed in response by: Rovin [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 30, 2008 5:17 AM

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