Why Is The Regime So Concerned About McClellan? And Who Are The Real Benedict Arnolds?

Today the dead-enders still clinging to the hem of Bush's ermine have worked themselves up into a frothy frenzy of righteous indignation over the revelations-- none that are new to anyone who pays even a little attention-- in Scott McClellan's book. It's "total crap." He's a "traitor," a "turncoat," and a "Benedict Arnold." One Bush Regime propaganda tool has even managed to blame their bete noir, George Soros, and the always helpful National Review points out that Scotty is and has always been an agent of Hamas. Yesterday we wondered why none of the Regimebots had been calling Scotty a homo. Well, today the first shot in that direction from the Bush Regime's in-house male prostitute, Gannon/Guckert: "What I hear about the book does not sound like the Scott McClellan I knew for two years. I can say without fear of contradiction, that I knew Scott better than any other White House correspondent or Washington reporter." Oh dear. Why are they so upset?

Cable TV news shows competed to grab Bush allies and enemies to chatter about the McClellan they knew. On CNN, Dan Bartlett, Bush's former counselor who worked with McClellan for nearly a decade, said the onetime spokesman gave voice to "an outrageous accusation that mostly was coming from the left wing of the Democratic Party."

Sure, we all know what the Bush Regime has been up to, but there are still that 25-30% of Americans who think Bush is doing a good job and who form the base of the McCain electoral push. They still have no idea and this kind of stuff, coming from the familiar Regime insider, could be more damaging that the far more revelatory leaks that come out monthly.

But if you want to have a serious discussion of who's a Benedict Arnold or a traitor-- not to the personalities inside the criminal regime-- but to America itself, let's start with what White House correspondent Jessica Yellin had to say about news coverage in the run-up to war:

I think the press corps dropped the ball at the beginning. When the lead-up to the war began, the press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this was a war that was presented in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president's high approval ratings.

And my own experience at the White House was that, the higher the president's approval ratings, the more pressure I had from news executives-- and I was not at this network at the time-- but the more pressure I had from news executives to put on positive stories about the president.

Team Bush Can Call Scott McClellan Every Name In The Book-- Except One

Earlier today we were talking about the pre-Stonewall-- if not 19th Century-- reluctance of the corporate media to mention that someone is g-a-y. Charlie Crist is a "bachelor." Condoleeza Rice is "hard to get to know." Mark Foley is a fun-loving e-mail prankster. Lindsey Graham is a little "light in the loafers." David Dreier is a frequent flyer.

Today the press and the White House and the right wing echo chamber are all in a giant kerfuffle over Scott McClellan's "expose" about the Bush Regime. From Rush Limbaugh to the craziest of the right-wing propaganda bloggers, they're throwing everything they have at poor Scotty. Well... almost everything. He may be a traitor to the Empire but no one wants to call him a homo.

The "revelations" aren't all that revelatory.

In excerpts from the book, set to be published next week, Mr. McClellan writes that President Bush “convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment,” and has engaged in “self-deception” to justify his political ends. He calls the decision to invade Iraq a “serious strategic blunder,” and says that the biggest mistake the Bush White House made was “a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed.”

But Dana Perino, the current White House press secretary, had harsh words for Mr. McClellan, calling the situation “sad” and suggesting that he mischaracterized his years in the West Wing to sell books.

“Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House,” she said. “For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad. This is not the Scott we knew.”

Dana is the first to accuse him of having his brain eaten by the bodysnatchers, although watch Rove and Hannity and Townsend tearing him apart on TV today-- politics of destruction, a hallmark of Bushism:



All that hatred going poor Scotty's way, but no one is calling him a homo. Even if it's just about people who live in glass houses on Rove's part-- after all Scott knows exactly who male prostitute Guckert/Gannon was visiting in the White House on those long overnight stays. But most of the Republican professional smear artists on his case today aren't gay. Is it still the word that dare not speak its name to these crazy reactionaries. Is it really that terrible? In 2008? I think most people, especially people under 50, are moving towards acceptance of gays as just another part of the crazy quilt that makes up the country we owe so much to. Just today a poll shows that a majority of registered Californian voters oppose changing the constitution of the most populous U.S. state to bar gays from marrying. Even an old reactionary like McCain (on Hardball) said he approves of gay marriage-- "I think gay marriage should be allowed if there's a ceremony kind of thing if you want to call it that. I don't have any problem with that." (After an aide explained to him that they even have cable TV in the Bible Belt these days and that that kind of "straight talk" wouldn't go over well, so he tried to take it back.)

IT'S A FAR CRY FROM THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL REID SHOULD BE CONVENING, BUT AT LEAST SHOWS THE DEMOCRATS HAVE A BIT OF A PULSE

Apparently neither Pelosi nor Hoyer heard about Scott McClellan's admission yesterday that Bush and Cheney, as well as several of the top cronies in the criminal enterprise known as the Bush Regime, were guilty of outing Valerie Plame, a clear crime. How do I know they didn't hear? They haven't put impeachment back on the table, where the Founding Fathers left it for just such an occurrence. Fortunately Chris Dodd was paying attention and has already asked for a thorough investigation.

"Today's revelations by Mr. McClellan are very disturbing and raise several important questions that need to be answered. If in fact the President of the United of States knowingly instructed his chief spokesman to mislead the American people, there can be no more fundamental betrayal of the public trust.
"During his confirmation process, Attorney General Mukasey said he would act independently. Accordingly, today, I call on the Attorney General to live up to his word and launch an immediate investigation to determine the facts of this case, the extent of any cover up and determine what the President knew and when he knew it."

And Huckabee agrees that this egregious example of Bush criminality needs to investigated. Maybe if all the Republicans running for president tell Pelosi it's ok...

That few Americans-- outside of arch-enablers Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer-- trust Bush any longer is reflected in his rapidly sinking poll numbers, currently in the mid-20s, the lowest of any American president ever.  And today's NY Times reports on another first, the Senate refusing to recess over the holidays, worried-- and rightfully so-- that Bush will go back on his worthless promise not to make recess appointments. And the Democrats know just which sack of crap he plans to burden the American people with this time.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, chose to schedule the so-called pro forma sessions because Mr. Bush took advantage of past recesses to install nominees including John R. Bolton, as ambassador to the United Nations, and, most recently, Sam Fox, a donor to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, as ambassador to Belgium. This time, Democrats were particularly suspicious of plans to appoint as surgeon general a nominee they oppose.

“This is the first time that pro formas have been used to block recess appointments,” said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Mr. Reid.

McCLELLAN FINGERS BUSH, CHENEY, ROVE, LIBBY... IMPEACHMENT STILL OFF THE TABLE, MS. PELOSI?

Lucas got it exactly right over at the Battle School. Scott McClellan's bean spilling today goes right to the heart of Bush Regime competence... uh, incompetence. McClellan's new book is making waves today-- and probably something worse than waves over among the den of vipers still holding the White House.

He is quite clear that Libby and Rove lied about outing Valerie Plame and he puts the blame exactly where it belongs-- even beyond where cowardly Democrats like Nancy Pelosi put it: Bush and Cheney.

In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame.

"There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Tuesday. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff [Andrew Card] and the president himself."

At what point do wonderers start wondering if Ms Pelosi's insistence that impeachment is off the table mean that she is an accomplice to their criminal behavior. I'm there.

McClellan isn't doing interviews today and the hack who replaced the hack who replaced him, Dana Perino, has "no comment." Scotty's book, What Happened comes out in April.

Apparently now is the time, "now" being after a lucrative book contract:




UPDATE: VALERIE REACTS

"I am outraged to learn that former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan confirms that he was sent out to lie to the press corps and the American public about two senior White House officials, Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby who deliberately and recklessly revealed my identity as a covert CIA operations officer.

Even more shocking, McClellan confirms that not only Karl Rove and Scooter Libby told him to lie but Vice President Cheney, Presidential Chief of Staff Andrew Card, and President Bush also ordered McClellan to issue his misleading statement. Unfortunately, President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's felony sentence has short-circuited justice.

Vice President Cheney in particular knew that Scooter LIbby was involved because he had ordered and directed his actions. McClellan's revelations provide important support for our civil suit against those who violated our national security and maliciously destroyed my career."