Former Bush Aide: McClellan Is Getting Ripped For Telling The Truth

In response to his scathing memoir detailing the "propaganda"-filled run up to war and seedy political machinations behind the CIA leak case, Scott McClellan has received withering criticism from his former colleagues. A money grubbing, attention seeking, devoid-of-principles hack has been the description of choice; "this is not the Scotty we knew," the most popular quote.

One former Bush aide, however, is sticking up for McClellan, arguing that the former Bush press secretary is "getting savaged for saying what everyone knows to be true."

Mike Turk served as the eCampaign director for President Bush's 2004 reelection campaign. As such, his tenure corresponded with that of McClellan's. No longer connected to the administration, Turk is now one of the few (if any) voices with connections to that crowd who are saying, quite simply, that the book "What Happened" is steeped in little more than truth.

"After watching McClellan on Today this morning, I think the reception his book received exemplifies the point he was making," Turk told The Huffington Post in an email. "People had high hopes for President Bush to bring America together after his election and after the attacks on 9/11. They felt disillusioned by the Administration's adoption of the 'win at all costs' partisan mentality in this town. I think the bigger point of Scott's book comes from the lessons he learned while playing a part in the permanent campaign. It's an exploration of how that mindset can lead to some really bad choices."

Indeed, Turk notes, he himself has been on the receiving end of Bush-loyalist scorn. After the campaign and his tenure at the Republican National Committee, Turk criticized the party for not fully embracing technological advances. "As a result I'm already on the watch list for the GOP establishment for some of my own criticisms," he said.

Earlier in the day, Turk left a message defending McClellan on the online service Twitter, which was highlighted by Matt Stoller on the site OpenLeft.

And while he has only seen the major excerpts of the book, Turk predicted that, ultimately, McClellan would be looked at optimistically. He suggested the memoir may stand up better to history than the Bush administration itself.

"While Scott's going to weather a fierce storm for writing it, just as Matt Dowd did with his New York Times piece, I think it ultimately will be regarded as a very personal look into the modern political machinery that so many people are sick of," he said.

Comments

[hoopesaz]

The word "TRUTH" is too often misused...this article is just another example. We can't be certain he is telling the truth, we can only be certain he is telling the story from his perspective. This is a guy that only months ago nobody on this blog thought was even capable of even recognizing the truth if it bit him in the butt. Now, because his words align with your opinion, he's suddenly incapable of lying?

I respect him for standing up. I suspect there is plenty of truth in what he says. I also suspect that his version of the story is colored with his own biases. I'm anxious to read the book, but recognize that the "truth" rarely comes out of Washington...that is in fact the assertion his own book puts forward.

[demomntgirl]

well isn't anyone who says they are telling the TRUTH, telling what is from their perspective?
Or is the TRUTH, something that someone else tells you is the truth and you repeat it?
Woudn't that be gossip then?
If he heard what he heard, and saw what he saw, and he tells you what that was, then that is the TRUTH as he experienced it. Right?

[SharonB]

Please, trust me on this one.
You will live a much happier, safer life if you just know the following:
There are billions of people who will look you in the eye, smile sweetly and tell you they are telling you the absolute truth when they are knowingly lying their a$$ off. And, they will not feel one second's remorse for it.
Have you never bought a used car?

[4Detroit]

Isn't that the truth?

[maxdenn]

Bottom line is that the economy is in the toilet, four thousand American soldiers have died as a result of the Iraq war, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's have perished. Thank you, President Nitwit W. Bush.

[SwingingFromCenter]

Hey George?

Yeah, Scott?

I've got this great idea. Look, the public is getting fed up with us and Cheney skimming this war money and driving up oil prices so we can all profit directly, right?

I guess so

OK, so here's the plan. I'll leave the White House, see? George, put the GI Joe dolls down, this is important.

Oh, sorry.

OK, so as I was saying, I'll leave the White House all quiet like

Ok...

And then, a while later, I'll write this book for me that talks about all the corrupt stuff we did. The public is so stupid, they'll buy it! Itll shoot to tops on Amazon in no time; we'll be rich(er)!

But...won't they be outraged?

That's the best part--they already KNOW about it! But they're so dumb, they'll give me 30 bucks a copy to read what they already know!.

I dunno, Scott. This doesn't sound like something Cheney would approve of. He likes hiding his money making schemes.

Dammit George, you're almost out of office. You need funding for your presidential library. How else--

My what? Libury? What's a libury?

Never mind what it is. You want one. Now how else are you going to get the money for it?

Well, the Saudis gave me this check for helping OPEC out so much. A lib what?

You can't use that, it'd be too obvious! Dammit George, this is the plan.

Well, uh, alright, if you say it'll work. Let's do it!

[Bushpetshisgoat]

So, will there eventually be a copy of McClellan's book at the Bush Library? :-)

[maxdenn]

Probably not. But comic books are a possibility.

[Rondo]

If this book brings no legal accountability to the current adminstration than McClellan's broadside is nothing more than a frat house fart.

I'll buy his book when and if someone is prosecuted.

[UncleJimbo]

In a nutshel: Republicans don't want to hear it....Democrats already knew it!

[wotcanisay]

One point to note:

NO ONE SAYS McClellan is lying. All criticism is limited to calling him names and that "he is not the one we knew".

Second part first - "he is not the.... etc" is evidence of an abject lack of judgment about people. Otherwise, how come, he was chosen to stand on the podium and represent Bush to the world's press? Lack of judgment is still INCOMPETENCE - I just rejected a promotion when the promotion-­wannabe-re­cipient argued it was "an error of judgment". I told him - you just admitted your incompetence. So if Dana Perino or Dan Bartlett say "he is not the ....." it just shows, they were both stupid enough not to know the truth behind the Scott McClellan smile!

Re Calling names - typical Republican response. Have we not heard this before? "Dead-enders, Thugs, Murderers, Defeatocrats" This is just the Republican Spin going into overdrive - call your accuser names if you cannot defend against the accusation!

With this sort of a party in power, America's isolation HAD TO HAPPEN! Wonder why it took so long!

[The5thW]

The Clintons were in Washington for 16 years yet did not see the intelligence report? Amnesty and a reward should be given by the Obama Administration for information about this.

[biglover]

Excuse me The5thW. The clintons were in Washington for 8 years. 1992-2000. Do the math or did you go to school?

[drumz]

bbbbuuuttt clinton

[99hockeyman]

You can tell you are a math wizard. Jesus Christ, the report did not come to Bush until August 2001. Bill was gone by then, but you knew that, didnt you?

[AbstractImp]

Ah ! ! !

Finally ! ! !

The news has begun to spin . . . OUT OF THEIR CONTROL !

[LCLiberal]

They're throwing Mac under the bus because he's telling the truth. If he were cooking this up, then the Bush admin. would know it and let him self destruct like James Frey or something.

http://www.sunstateactivist.org

[HumeSkeptic]

From Afghanistan to Iraq: Connecting the Dots With Oil
By Richard W. Behan
AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/47489/
Monday 05 February 2007

In the Caspian Basin and beneath the deserts of Iraq, as many as 783 billion barrels of oil are waiting to be pumped. Anyone controlling that much oil stands a good chance of breaking OPEC's stranglehold overnight, and any nation seeking to dominate the world would have to go after it.

The long-held suspicions about George Bush's wars are well-placed. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were not prompted by the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. They were not waged to spread democracy in the Middle East or enhance security at home. They were conceived and planned in secret long before September 11, 2001 and they were undertaken to control petroleum resources.

The "global war on terror" began as a fraud and a smokescreen and remains so today, a product of the Bush Administration's deliberate and successful distortion of public perception. The fragmented accounts in the mainstream media reflect this warping of reality, but another more accurate version of recent history is available in contemporary books and the vast information pool of the Internet. When told start to finish, the story becomes clear, the dots easier to connect.
...

----------­----------­----------­----

This is what this fraud called Iraq war has always been about. The rest is all bunk.

It has been a fraud perpetrated by the Bush-Cheney cabal on behalf of U.S. corporations.

[mike53]

Bakken oil field in North Dakota. Up to 700 million barrels of oil. Will Bush invade North Dakota?

[mike53]

Sorry..that was billion.

[ContraEgoiste]

No, but he thought he could easily waltz into Iraq and waltz out with the second largest cache. Not to mention disrupt China's and India's progress while making a ton of money for his buddies at Halliburton and the military weapons manufacturers, etc, that his family is heavily invested on.

[maxdenn]

I may not like McClellan, but I believe what he is saying.

[JoJoKewl]

Right. He doesn't have to be a sweetheart. I think he's an ultra-jerk, but he's telling the truth.

[2farnorth]

I always felt bad for him (and other Bush Press Secretaries) because it was obvious he was being used by the Administration and always knew only just as much as was needed to convey the propaganda set forth by his superiors. I'm not saying he isn't guilty of knowing he was in all probability lying. I'm just saying that I respect him for coming forward even though he knows damn well many still powerful people will be gunning for him. At the very least it shows he has some kind of conscience which is much more then can be said for the rest of his former associates.

[hoopesaz]

Of course you do, because you agree with it. We all have a tendancy to believe the things we agree with and cast doubt on the things that we don't.

[ThePublicRecord]

http://www.pubrecord.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74:bush-at-center-of-intelligence-leak&catid=1:nationworld&Itemid=8

Bush at Center of Intelligence Leak?

The Public Record
May 29, 2008

Editor’s Note: In light of explosive revelations made Thursday morning by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan claiming that President Bush ordered the leak of classified information in the CIA leak case, The Public Record is republishing an April 2006 story by Jason Leopold who first broke the story about Bush’s role in the leak.

Bush at Center of Intelligence Leak, by Jason Leopold, Thursday April 06 2006

Attorneys and current and former White House officials close to the investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson said Thursday that President Bush gave Vice President Dick Cheney the authorization in mid-June 2003 to disclose a portion of the highly sensitive National Intelligence Estimate to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward and former New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

[knowhelpnow]

I've been waiting a long time for them to investigate Bush inc; so someone please tell me it is going to happen soon if not please tell me that they will arrest them for treason after the new president takes office. I'm afraid that he will figure out someway to bomb Iran and then stop the process because of another war.

[ottomatic]

There's really no new information in Scott McClellan's book. We always knew the Iraq war was just retribution for Saddam's assassination attempt on Daddy (OK, maybe the oil too...). What IS new, howevever, is that someone that close to the President has finally had the courage to tell the truth. Now, if only a couple more people in the White House had the courage or the ethics to simply tell the truth, the house of cards would finally start to fall. There still is time to impeach and convict.

[biglover]

What we "knew" is far different from what an insider now has to say. This is good and it is even better that the book came out during the election rather than after.

I saw Bravo Scott

[brick4barack]

Exactly! Even before the Iraq invasion, it was obvious the Administration was propagandizing its reasons for war and jumping on every little misstep of Hussein's to crank up the drumbeat. It was also well known that Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle had put forward the thesis of evangelizing for democracy in the Middle East as an antidote to terrorism - and the opening salvo could be directed at Iraq "because it was easy." But because Bush couldn't tell Americans that his real reason for invading Iraq was to "crusade" for democracy, empower the man on the Arab street and take the wind out of terrorism per the Wolfowitz thesis, he had to make up lies about WMD and Iraqi connections to al Qaeda - and the idea of "coercive democracy" (great phrase from McClellan) never became conventional wisdom.
Until now. It has taken this book by this insider to recast that discussion. Now the press is talking about it. People are talking about it - and maybe now, they'll go "Duh!"
We lost the Bush elections. We lost eight years. The only thing we have to win back is the judgment of history - and historic revisionism does have a way of reviving even the biggest losers. Maybe McClellan's book will help render a more final and lasting verdict on the Bush failures.

[guntotinganglion]

Interesting that the "Saddam tried to kill my Dad" motif has also turned out to be a lie. Recently, it was revealed that there is zero evidence for that claim, after extensive review of hundreds of thousands of internal Iraqi documents. It is clear that Saddam and his fellow Baathists were anal retentive about documentation, and thus it was expected that eventually US auditors would find the evidence for this supposed action that Saddam ordered. The conclusion was, it didn't happen. Another lie used as "proof" to justify regime change (which by the way, is illegal per UN mandates....you know, the same organization that Bush and his crime syndicate used to justify attacking Iraq to begin with.

[Ohioan4truth]

Anyone know what happened to the mosaic that was in the lobby of the Bagdad Hilton? You know, the one everyone who entered into Iraq had to step on? This is the real reason BushCo went to war! It was a daily reminder to the Bush family of what Saddam thought of the whole lot! I'll bet Barbara Bush was the real instigator behind all this insane mess! "No one steps on either Georges but me!", says Barb.

[frappe]

What I find particularly outrageous are those who characterize McClellan as a "traitor" or someone who can't be trusted. We're getting this perspective not only from those within the Bush administration, but also from the mainstream media as well. It's disgusting.

If anyone is a "traitor", it is Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the co-conspirators who have betrayed the trust and allegiance of American citizens everywhere. They are the traitors!...For lying us into an unnecessary war for purposes of ego gratification and blatant profiteering.

Let's face it, if the only reason proffered for military involvement was "democracy and freedom" -- irrespective of the arguments against nation-building -- it simply wouldn't justify the cost. Hell, if ideology was considered sufficient justification for military engagement, we'd be fighting wars all over the globe. No, it was more than that. We are not naive.

They were trying to kill several birds with one stone -- oil, profits -- and, they hoped, democracy -- along with its collateral benefits to Israel and general stability throughout the mideast. The only areas where the Bush administration appears to have succeeded was in the first two categories -- oil and profits. The rest has been a disaster.

[knowhelpnow]

They could care less about Democracy look what they have done to ours, they thought they could put in a puppet government in Iraq that would let them put in so many military bases they could rule the mid-east I guess they never read the fall of the Roman Empire. They were stupid, didn't do their homework about all the warlords, but they did make a hell of a lot of money and destroyed our economy in the process and put us so far in debt that our great grandchildren will still be paying for their greed.

[frappe]

I know. The results have been disastrous for all concerned (except the profiteers who have profited at the expense of U.S. taxpayers). Truly, the Bush administration has been the most vile, undemocratic, secretive administration in our nation's history. And their complete disrespect for our Constitution is unforgivable and, in my view, treasonous.

[starboymikey]

The only real arguments are over McClellan's motives and why he did not come out with this a lot sooner.

There is no sensible argument as to whether or not he's telling the truth. It's obvious enough that he is. His book is important chiefly in that it adds a bit more eye-witness evidence to what we already know happened. The metaphorical noose around the throat of this administration just got a little tighter.

[knowhelpnow]

It took him this long I believe because as a country we are smarter, there are only about 29% who still believe in Bush Inc. It would have been nice if when Bush told him that he ok'ed the outing of Plame that he quit right then and wrote his book. But fear is a hard thing to stand up to and he knew these guys and how evil they are. I still think he should watch his back and hire good security he is not dealing with just anyone here he is dealing with scull and bones and other secret societies.