October 10, 2008 4:28:58 PM CDT
(Newser) – Affection and loyalty blinded Scott McClellan in the run-up to the Iraq war, but now the former press secretary has found a higher allegiance—“a loyalty to the truth.” McClellan, whose book is causing a media storm for alleging President Bush ran a “propaganda” campaign about the war, defended his work this morning on NBC's Today.
"I believed the president when he talked about the grave danger from Iraq,” McClellan said. “I believe he believed it was a grave danger, too. He convinced himself of that." McClellan “grew increasingly disillusioned” as Washington's “permanent campaign culture" overtook Bush. “The White House would prefer that I not talk openly about my experiences,” he says. “These words didn’t come to me easy.”
Source Politico
Jul 12, 08 2:34 PM CDT When Tony Snow took over as press secretary 2 years ago, the White House press corps wanted blood. Snow’s predecessors, the hostile Ari Fleischer and misinformed Scott McClellan, had left a bad taste in their mouths. But then came Snow, a breath of fresh air who won over the room with his knowledge and wit, writes Massimo Calabresi of Time. More »
Jun 1, 08 4:35 PM CDT President Bush should have fired aide Karl Rove over the Plamegate affair, Scott McClellan said today. Publicizing his Washington tell-all book, McClellan also blasted Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's ex-chief of staff, for denying they had leaked CIA agent Valerie Plame's name, the AP reports. "We had higher standards at the White House." More »
May 30, 08 3:55 PM CDT The Bush administration's reaction to Scott McClellan's new book should look familiar to anyone with HBO, with one important difference, writes Mike Lupica in the Daily News. "it has become clear by now that even the hoods from The Sopranos would be out of their weight class with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove." More »
May 27, 08 8:24 PM CDT Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan blasts President Bush for not being "open and forthright" about the war in Iraq and using "propaganda" to sell it, Politico reports. The president "veered terribly off course," McClellan writes in his surprisingly harsh new memoir. He also criticizes the press for not challenging Bush enough, even while admitting that some of his own statements at press conferences were "badly misguided." More »
Aug 15, 07 9:47 PM CDT An irate blogger has blown up the fine print in today's news, exposing a plan by Washington to pen a long-awaited report on Iraq’s troop surge. Think Progress blogger Faiz posted a paragraph he discovered deep in a Los Angeles Times story, revealing that the White House will secretly write next month's review and give US General Patraeus the byline. More »
Iraq war • Bush administration • White House • book • propaganda • Scott McClellan • press secretary
