Sam Stein

BIO

Sam Stein

The Huffington Post

Dems Lash Out Over McClellan Revelation

November 21, 2007 11:27 AM


stumbleupon :Dems Lash Out Over McClellan Revelation   digg: Dems Lash Out Over McClellan Revelation   reddit: Dems Lash Out Over McClellan Revelation   del.icio.us: Dems Lash Out Over McClellan Revelation

The Democratic presidential candidates lashed out today over revelations that President Bush and other high ranking administration officials misled the public about their direct involvement in leaking CIA operative Valerie Plame's name.

Senator Chris Dodd, D-CT, was the first to weigh in on the matter, which was disclosed by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan in his upcoming book. Noting that the president deliberately kept McClellan in the dark so that the spokesman could unknowingly lie about the White House's involvement in the leak, the Senator implored newly appointed Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate.

"During his confirmation process, Attorney General Mukasey said he would act independently," the Senator said in a statement. "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."

Dodd's primary opponents were not far behind him in condemning the Bush administration's actions.

"The President should immediately come forward and explain any action taken by him or his administration to mislead the American public. The American people deserve the truth," said Sen. Joe Biden, D-DE. "President Bush himself said that he would take action against anyone who leaked the name of an American agent. Far from punishing anyone, it appears from McClellan's account that the President himself was "involved" in spreading false information. That is outrageous."

Added Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico: "It is a low point in our history when the leader of the free world fights to deceive the American public. Rather than defend the Constitution, President Bush has bamboozled the country. Whether it is outing a CIA operative, illegally spying on Americans, or advocating the use of torture, the Bush administration has made a mockery of our legal system."

Sens. Barack Obama, D-IL, Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and former Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, were all contacted for comment. Among Republican presidential candidates only Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has publicly weighed in on the McClellan revelation.

In an excerpt from his forthcoming book - entitled "What Happened" - McClellan details how he was set up to lie to reporters in 2003 news conference, in which he told reporters that 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. "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 and the president himself."

Comments for this post are now closed

 
Comments
75
Pending Comments
0
iPhone App Promo

Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to

View Comments:
Page: 1 2 3 4 Next › Last » (4 pages total)
- caj I'm a Fan of caj permalink

Try again. Publisher has said that Scott was 'misunderstood'. Bush didn't know a damn thing about what was going on with his gang of 'good ole boys. Poor man.

Get it straight. Bush didn't lie. He was just stupid.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:35 PM on 11/21/2007
- caj I'm a Fan of caj permalink

Bush didn't lie according to the publisher's backpedaling.

He just didn't know what was going on.

Poor thing.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:31 PM on 11/21/2007
photo

This may be the Mother of all smoking guns.

Bush must not be permitted to issue pardons related to his two-term pattern of gross misconduct, and he must be required to retract those he has already issued for Libby and Blackwater.

As president, Bush automatically becomes a traitor if McClellan's allegations are verified. What prompted McClellan to take these steps now? Why didn't he go to the FBI?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:11 PM on 11/21/2007

Now why would this surprise anyone, especially the Dems in Congress, or the MSM? This Adm has never misled the public concerning their guiding philosophy....it has always been.. We Don't Care, We Don't Have To. They have redefined laws, liberites, and moral consequence and seem to proceed with whatever actions further their agenda. And, according to Mccellean, this seems to include intentional deception. If the Dem candidates want to be outraged, they should start with themselves and their party for failing miserably at their position of oversight and direction. If they intend to win in 08, they better start showing the American Public that they side with the interest of the people over special interest. My money is on the candidate who adopts the philosophy of Truth Above Politics.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:06 PM on 11/21/2007

They just figured this out? What a bunch of idiots, seriously, I knew he was lying, I knew all of them were lying, and the Dems just now found out? Fire the lot of them if that is truly the case! If they want to win all they have to say is say "I will investigate this administration, all of it, and find the truth" but they won't do it. We have no borders.... doesn't anyone get it? Jeez louise, this is so frustrating. The people see it.... now if only the Dems would DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, NOW.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:04 PM on 11/21/2007

I'm puzzled. Why should this statement from McClellan just now be coming out? Didn't Fitzgerald subpoena McClellan in the Plame investigation, and if not, why not? He would seem to have been one of the most logical people to be brought before the grand jury. And if he did, wouldn't this information have become public knowledge then and have led to prosecution of others in the White House and possibly a move for impeachment back then? If other passages in McClellan's book support what we have already heard, it would seem to be enough to prompt Fitzgerald to re-open the investigation. My mouth shouldn't be watering over this, but I'm so angry with this crowd in the White House, that I can't help myself. I want that remaining 32% who still support this idiot president and sinister vice-president to finally have to face the fact that they, indeed, are dangerous, corrupt, and incompetent people and should, in Wilson's words, be frog-marched out of the White House.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:03 PM on 11/21/2007

I noticed that there were three democratic presidential candidates that were "contacted for comment", but apparently did not comment on this act of treason by all the president's men.
Are the voters now suppose to look to Clinton, Obama, or Edwards for leadership when they won't even comment on this issue? They don't mind commenting on the percieved shortcomings of their opponents, how about weighing in on this episode of president numb-nuts and his cabal?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:41 PM on 11/21/2007
photo

Oh man is Scotty going to make a killing with this book. Here I was thinking that McClellan was just a total rube the Bush Administration dredged up to use as a punching bag.

That said, it has to be infuriating that this sort of information didn't come out a lot earlier. McClellan has effectively played all sides of this by debuting it in a book...the Democrats get stuck reacting to his book, the Republicans will shill against it, and all that free, timely advertising will go right back into McClellan's pocket. Which is twisted as well, because McClellan knew what he was saying was false and said it anyway. When you act as the voice of a liar, you're no better than the liars themselves. And he even held out right up to the beginning of the election cycle to really play havoc. He waited right until the majority of the country was building up to a partisan fever pitch, and dropped this bomb like a pro. I respect that the guy came out and finally owned up to what most people thought was obvious...but the WAY he did it is pretty freaking slimy.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:40 PM on 11/21/2007

On the surface it appears that McClellan had his Truthometer turned off back then.
But how do we know he was "kept in the dark"?
How do we know he was "set up"?
Because he says so?
What, specifically, makes him more trust-worthy, now?
That he's telling us what we want to hear about something that's over and done with?
We don't need more "reasons" to impeach.
Let's use our time on getting it to happen.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:17 PM on 11/21/2007

We all have to comb the shit out of our hair day after day with this crew. It never ends.

But the Dems' "outrage" is akin to Claude Rains' "shock" to see gambling go on in Rick's bar. We all f***king knew it. Why didn't they?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:02 PM on 11/21/2007

Perhaps Judy Miller would have been more objective if she hadn't had an affair with the 'Scooter'. Maybe she could have exposed the Bush administration for its treason. I don't want 'w' to leave office. I want him in prison with a cellmate who is fixated on Texas rumps. They lied about WMD and ties to Bin Laden. They lied about Iraq, Yellow Cake and Niger. When Joe Wilson wrote his op-ed column for the Times they struck back blindly. They could care less that Valerie Plame was covert. That it cost the taxpayers millions to train her and to establish her 'legend'. All they wanted to do was to discredit Joe Wilson. Minimize him. Well we know that Valerie Plame was covert, We know that Joe Wilson was sent by the CIA; not Valerie Plame. That Joe Wilson was right. And, we know that Bush, Cheney, Rove and Libby committed treason. They should be tried for treason. They should be punished for treason.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:41 PM on 11/21/2007
photo

McClellan and his publisher want to sell his unimportant book.

SO, they leaked a vague passage that may possibly suggest, but not clearly, that he's kind of saying that Bush was in some way (but we don't know how)involved. Get it?

McClellan and the publisher will not clarify anything until the book is out. Of course!

Then, McClellan will say that people read something he did not write and that the president acted UNKNOWINGLY. He's such a man.

He will also say that Bush is the greatest leader that ever lived and that it was a privilege to be his spokesman. What else!

Mark my words!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:39 PM on 11/21/2007

The Dems are in for a big surprise next year. I truly believe they have no idea how many people who have considered themselves Democrats or who are Independents that have generally voted Democract are going to abandon them next year. I know I am one of them. That's it for me. We sent them to do a job and they blew it. Enough. Maybe they will be able to rid themselves of closet neo-cons like Rahm Emanuel.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:38 PM on 11/21/2007
photo

Why are these dem presidential candidates acting surprised? The majority of Americans now doubts most of the crap they hear and they've been yelling it loud and clear for years.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:37 PM on 11/21/2007

I knew this before he wrote the book. This is not a surprise.

The next phoney 911 attack will not be a surprise either. Does anyone remember the nuclear warheads that were being transfered to an airforce base for decomissioning? One did not get there. One is missing. Yeah, you bet on it.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:29 PM on 11/21/2007
Page: 1 2 3 4 Next › Last » (4 pages total)
Comments are closed for this entry

You must be logged in to reply to this comment. Log in  or  Connect