McCain's McClellan Nightmare: Frank Rich

THEY thought they were being so slick. When the McCain campaign abruptly moved last Tuesday's fund-raiser with President Bush from the Phoenix Convention Center to a private home, it was the next best thing to sending the loathed lame duck into the witness protection program. John McCain and Mr. Bush were caught on camera together for a mere 26 seconds, and at 9 p.m. Eastern time, safely after the networks' evening newscasts. The two men's furtive encounter on the Phoenix airport tarmac, as captured by a shaky, inaudible long shot on FoxNews.com, could have been culled from a surveillance video.

But for the McCain campaign, any "Mission Accomplished" high-fives had to be put on hold. That same evening Politico.com broke the news of Scott McClellan's memoir, and it was soon All Bush All the Time in the mediasphere. Or more to the point: All Iraq All the Time, for the deceitful origins of the war in Iraq are the major focus of the former press secretary's tell-all.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[South19]

Marc Garlasco (chief of high-value targeting for the Pentagon)gave a non-partisan interview on NPR radio April 8, 2008 which supports McClellan's claim that the WH cherry-picked intelligence in its report to the Congress. Don't Believe go to NPR.org and check it out (21min into the interview).
"Assessing the Human Cost of Air Strikes in Iraq"
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=894608 67

[DRaymond]

McClellan criticizes a press that didn't ask the tough questions. But equally shouldn't we be expecting our senators to be asking the right questions too?

But even more than that, if the runup to the war was a deliberate propaganda campaign, to what extent did McCain intentionally and knowingly participate in the propaganda campaign? And to get to the answer to that question you need to look at the relationship between McCain and Ahmad Chalabi.

Chalabi, for those unfamiliar. Was the centerpiece of the Neocon justification for war. He supplied the (now completely distredited) stories about mobile biolabs, done planes spreading bioweapons, secret nuclear weapons and so forth. He was also the source of the assurance that Iraqis greet us as liberators and that his INC was a viable government-in-exile that could step in, handle everything, and become an instant oil-rich ally of the US at the hub of the middle east. Chalabi said everything the 'we should have continued to Baghdad' crowd wanted to hear and they rewarded him for it. During the Clinton admistration the CIA and State Department saw through Clalabi as a fraud but potent allies in congress championed his cause, promoted his credibility despite the CIA's evaluation, and forced through millions of dollars in aid past the State Department's objections. And who was one of Chalabi's top cheerleaders in the Senate?

[marc1antony]

McCain is GWB's siamese twin - nothing will change, and McClellan has proven that to America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48KVZXroyjA

[Centaur]

I know there were some of us here that saw this "train wreck" coming 8 years ago. How many other lies have been told? I bet there are more lies and cover-ups yet to be discovered. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg. Don't be surprised if there is a connection with what's going on with oil. Remember, Cheney has met with oil companies in secret. I'm sure eventually there will be an "oil slime" leading back to him, in my opinion.

[xargaw]

Frank Rich is an American treasure.

[LorettaSingbiel]

"Americans don"t like being lied to by their leaders, especially if there are casualties involved and especially if there"s no accountability. We view it as a crime story, and we won"t be satisfied until there"s a resolution."

YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN!!!

OBAMA '08!
HOPE & CHANGE!

Stay safe, healthy and happy,
Love, Loretta

[WmC]

Frank Rich: "Americans don"t like being lied to by their leaders, especially if there are casualties involved and especially if there"s no accountability. We view it as a crime story, and we won"t be satisfied until there"s a resolution."

I'm not sure this is an accurate characterization, but it does suggest a course for Obama once he's elected: Set up a Truth and Reconciliation tribunal as in South Africa. Any Bushco pond scum willing confess their crimes would suffer no punishment. Those who refused would be sent to the Hague--after a five year stay at Guantanamo, naturally.

[rcat99]

HuffPost's Pick

Of course we should focus on the future. That's the only sphere which we may have at least a tiny chance of influencing. We can't do anything about what's already happened. Let the past go and concentrate on this moment forward. Good general philosophy for life.

But the reasoning and rationale that went into yesterday's decision surely should have an impact on our thinking in regard to what is seen as acceptable behavior today and tomorrow.

If we embarked on a cause for good and just reasons and those high-minded ideas are true and constant, then continue we must regardless of the obstacles and trials we meet along the way. Noble causes deserve steadfastness and perseverance. If we don't see the honorable task through, then the Bushies would be right: we're quitters. We cut and run and abandoned a grand ideal. Shame on us.

But if the whole basis of yesterday's decision was fraudulent, built on lies and deception, then viable outcomes available today are and should be perceived differently. Winning or losing becomes moot. That's not the choice. Doing the right thing, for our citizens and the foreign populations we've abused is the issue.

We can't ignore the bases of our prior decisions and come up with a legitimate course of action for the future. Lies beget more lies and actions built on lies were wrong yesterday and will be wrong tomorrow.

[madron]

McCains big nightmare,is McCain hemself....

[plages]

Question. Can the POTUS pardon himself of all crimes? And if he can't, then who can do such a dastardly deed? Or should the new president pardon POTUS, and those around him of crimes, and have them sent to The Hague in The Netherlands, to face the International Commission of Crimes against Humanity?

[wndrwrthg]

Yes he can. That question came up during clintons impeachment, and the repubs. demanded and got a promise from bill not to pardon himself. I think cheney has already gotten pardons signed and sealed for himself and the other criminal hierarchy of this administration.

[findingthetruth]

This is truly sad. If McCain's the GOP's best candidate ---- my goodness ---- were the others "dipsticks"?

[JulieSA]

From today's WaPo:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/31/AR2008053101927.html

"THERE'S BEEN a relative lull in news coverage and debate about Iraq in recent weeks -- which is odd, because May could turn out to have been one of the most important months of the war. While Washington's attention has been fixed elsewhere, military analysts have watched with astonishment as the Iraqi government and army have gained control for the first time of the port city of Basra and the sprawling Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, routing the Shiite militias that have ruled them for years and sending key militants scurrying to Iran. At the same time, Iraqi and U.S. forces have pushed forward with a long-promised offensive in Mosul, the last urban refuge of al-Qaeda. So many of its leaders have now been captured or killed that U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, renowned for his cautious assessments, said that the terrorists have "never been closer to defeat than they are now."...

"When Mr. Obama floated his strategy for Iraq last year, the United States appeared doomed to defeat. Now he needs a plan for success."

[LorettaSingbiel]

U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, renowned for his cautious assessments, said that the terrorists have "never been closer to defeat than they are now."...

"Mission Accomplished" AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN?

Victory is just around the corner?
VIOLENCE is just around the corner!

The surge is working?
The SCOURGE is working!

DEMOCRATS MUST GROW A BACKBONE
AND BRING OUR TROOPS BACK HOME!

OBAMA '08!
HOPE & CHANGE!

Stay safe, healthy and happy,
Love, Loretta

[wesinohio]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/31/AR2008053101927.html
A pro-war editorial. I've seen those quite a bit before. This one too appears to be filled with talking points composed from White House contrivances based on selective information instead of reality. Those kinds of "facts" ignore that most Iraqis want us out, the false rationale for war, the cultivation of hate and related damage to our system of government.. The talking pointers have always ignored evidence that we can't "win" this occupation and have consistently said we're close to victory. People who want to resolve this in other ways are dismissed as wanting surrender. Maybe we just need one more "surge", eh? This is continous "winning" that never really wins. I don't give this editorial any more credibility than other pro-war editorials before and during the war by columnists, many of whom I suspect are paid by the pentagon - a suspicion that is not a huge leap since we know that the Bush administration has propagandized on a massive scale (RICO anyone?) . Then the policy makers say we can't argue the facts because we don't have the facts - but it's because they don't give them to us and when they do they distort them! Their time of reckoning is coming. Perhaps the greatest enemy of American liberty and truth and justice and fellowship the Bush Republican machine. When that is dismantled there will be good reason to ring the Liberty Bell again.

[FeloniouslyAnnoying]

I love it when news media reports on the lack of coverage of a particular subject.

[hyderoplane]

Forget it.
He can't go there to see for himself because he'd have to admit he was wrong and his Party was wrong.

*********************************************************************************

Here's a prediction about the Democratics. And I'm never wrong about the Democratics.

There will be a point when they can no longer make believe it isn't working.
You will know when that time has arrived because they, and you, will be saying something like
"Sure, things are much better but we wasted 3 years."

Unless, of course, one of the Bobbsy Twins is elected.
In which case, if he/she are really so stupid as to keep their campaign promises, you will be able to see the fire in the Middle East from the space station.
Posted 04:19 PM on 04/09/2008

[izAriver]

It's this kind of misleading reporting that allows repugnicans to support the war. This lull has more to do with the heads of factions positioning themselves to gain as much influence as they can within the government. To do that, they have toned down the violence. Since it is unlikely that they will get what they want (The US will never allow an honest "election". The outcome would not be favorable.) the fighting will continue. There is no "winning" in this situation.

[hyderoplane]

UhOh, Frank.
Obama may not give you the tumble you so desperately crave.
You're pretty divisive and he's all about bringing people together.

[kasinca]

McClellan has repeated what I have read in the approximately a dozen books I have read about this crime family and this war. If McSame doesn't know already that this is a group of thugs he has joined with, he is the most stupid man on earth.

[JustADumbFireman]

Bingo!

[The Impartial]

McSame is not that stupid but, forgive him, OLD men tend to suffer from mental alienation.

[lornejl]

I've had countless anti McCain posts purged, it makes me wonder....