Scott McClellan– some remorse maybe??

I have been as intrigued as everyone else by the fact that former White House spokesman Scott McClellan has published a book accusing President Bush of having engaged in spin and unfair manipulation of both the facts and those who report them (i.e. the media) during the lead-up to the Iraq war.
I have not yet read McClellan’s book, but hope to some day soon. (I’m reluctant to contribute to his authorial earnings, though. So I’ll have to look for a library copy.)
Obviously his record of what happened inside the White House spin machine is very important.
But I think that a lot of the MSM reporting on the book’s revelations still falls into the trap of treating them as primarily an “inside the Washington Beltway” story, focusing on two major memes:

    1. How could you have done this to us, the MSM journos, Scott?
    2. A sort of gossipy story about ‘Does this mean that all his former White House friends are now mad at him? How mad are they? Who’s mad and who isn’t?’

What’s gotten left out of the reporting I’ve seen has been the fact that the lie-telling in which McClellan engaged while inside the White House contributed materially to inflicting massive amounts of actual harm on millions of people in Iraq and scores of thousands of others here in the US.
Scott McClellan, could you express some remorse to the family members of Iraqi civilians killed by and because of the US invasion of their country?
Scott McClellan, could you express some remorse to the family members of the 4,080 American citizens killed, and the scores of thousands maimed forever, because of Pres. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq?
To me, the Scott McClellan story is not primarily “about” what happens inside the Washington Beltway. It is about the harm the war has inflicted on millions of people outside the Beltway– both in outside-the-Beltway America and overseas. Can Scott McClellan look into a camera and speak to those people and say, “I am truly sorry for the part I played in implementing the President’s plan to prepare for and launch the invasion.”
Will he give the royalty earnings from this book to charities that work to reconstruct the shattered lives of Iraqis and of US war veterans? That would be one solid good move.
I just watched this Youtube clip of McClellan being interviewed on NBC’s “Today” program yesterday. At around 3:30 minutes into the clip he starts saying some significant things about the role he played in the buildup to war, and how he felt about it at the time.
He said (paraphrasing here):

    I felt we were rushing into the war… But we were un the post 9/11 world, and the president had an experienced foreign-policy team that had performed well in Afghanistan… so because of my affection and trust for the president I gave him the benefit of the doubt…
    … I struggled as I wrote this book, to figure out how to explain how it happened…

Well, I guess I’m glad that you underwent that struggle, Scott. But it would be good if you could acknowledge that the struggle you have undergone to do that, undertaken in the comfort and safety of a luxurious family home and surrounded by presumably-intact family members, completely pales in comparison with the struggles for survival currently being undertaken by scores of thousands of badly wounded Iraq war veterans in this country, and their families, and by literally millions of Iraqis inside their war-shattered country.
So maybe a little less emphasis on the difficulty of your own “struggle” might be in order? And a bit more moral plainspeaking? And some plain human empathy for people struggling far outside the Washington Beltway because of your complicity in the war preparations? And some efforts, however small or symbolic, to contribute to the repair of those people’s lives?
Also, just some old-fashioned and straight-from-the-heart remorse?

14 thoughts on “Scott McClellan– some remorse maybe??”

  1. I thought the most telling likely consequence of McClellan’s revelations (or non-revelations) was this anecdote recounted in the Guardian by a US commenter:

    1. I had a conversation with a good friend and client yesterday afternoon. A classic California conservative Republican. Currently president of a thriving company. Retired military officer (field grade). Active in local California politics. As rightwing as one can possibly get, I think. A bit over the top and overbearing with his political views. The kind that sends email blasts to everyone he knows with the latest rightwing, hatemonger drivel, jokes, cartoons, and the like. You know–the kind of stuff that alleges/implies that Obama is Muslim and sympathetic to all manner of miscreants. That sort of hate monger bile and drivel. Regardless of “politics”, we are friends. And, out of respect and mutual understanding, we don’t talk about politics (or politicians) much. Yesterday, however, he brought up the subject of McClellans’s book. He was devastated by the revelations and statements. Why? Because he thought it was hateful and destructive and wrong, and that McClellan had done something amiss? Nope. Because he recognized it to represent the truth–and that it had, for him, brought the whole sleazy, incompetent world of the Decider out in the open. And, as an honorable guy, my friend, who places great stock and faith in truth and honor, admitted that he recognized that our “leadership” has been in the thrall of incorrigible liars.

    I could see that being widespread, the truth getting out into the Republican heartlands.

  5. In this case half a loaf is better than no bread, Helena.
    McClellan already has plenty of enemies: the administration and its machine, plus 99% of the MSM employees who are simply mortified at his implication that they are little more than prostitutes on salary.
    In the circumstances, Scott McClellan’s enemies’ enemy is a good mate of mine.

  6. …and, another thing, the link to “Alex”‘s comment on Comment is Free has a second anecdote related to the Senate race in Texas. Scott should take a look at it, I think that he would find it interesting.

  7. Puleeeeeeze! Scotty McClellan has now joined fellow former-professional-liar-turned-crybaby Colin Powell in the “I was deceiiiiiiiiiived!” whine. Give me a break! He takes a big-bucks job as official White House liar, then tries to play the victim?!
    Just once I would like to see one of these guys say “So, I lied my ass off? So what? That’s what they hired and paid me big money to do, so what was I SUPPOSED to do, tell the truth or something?!”

  8. Kudos to McClellan’s belated epiphany and to all those who are outing Bush for his lies. Many of us have known since 2002 that Bush was lying, but the gladly gullible on the right are shocked, just shocked when told that the President is lying. (Of course, in their view, the previous President was nothing but a monumental liar!)
    But when will someone stop telling us that Bush lied and tell us why he lied? Who will state clearly and unambiguously why Bush led America to occupy Iraq? All these tell tale books add to the mountain of evidence that we did not occupy Iraq for any of the stated, constantly shifting reasons. But they refuse to breach the line in the sand demarcating the real truth. Only Greenspan has gone there, but only because he mistakenly thought everybody already knew.
    Only when insiders have the courage to state the obvious truth–over and over and over again–will Americans finally realize that they have to deal not just with Bush’s lies but also with our oil problem. (Properly done, we could deal with our global warming problem at the same time.)
    Why haven’t the real truth tellers stepped forward yet?

  9. Beating up on Scott McClellan is a legitimate response, but I don’t think it helps if you’re against the Iraq war. Yes, he’s late. Yes, he helped mislead the public. But, now he is confirming the dishonesty in the build-up to the war. That is a welcome development, as the comment about the Guardian article illustrates. Most of the interviews with him attack him for stabbing Bush in the back, and in essence treat Bush as if he were Jesus Christ and McClellan were Judas. So, McClellan took a while to see the light, and maybe he liked his job too much to state his misgivings while he was spokesman. Suppose he had stated them. Colin Powell, a four star general and Secretary of State, couldn’t stop the war. Could deputy spokesman McClellan? If you’re against the war and against the total politicization of Washington, his book is a gift, even if not a wonderful one.

  10. “Colin Powell, a four star general and Secretary of State, couldn’t stop the war.”
    Colin Powell, a four star general, and a four star liar, didn’t TRY to stop the war. In fact, very arguably Colin Powell, a four star general, willingly put the final nail in Iraq’s coffin with that horrid, transparently mendacious presentation he made to the United Nations and the world in February, 2003.
    Colin Powell is one of the most despicable characters in this drama. He not only consistently and willingly pushed the case to the public every chance he got, including presenting the aforementioned pack of lies and illusions, he now presents himself as a victim, having been “deceived” into it all. Deceived my Aunt Fatima! He knew exactly what he was doing all along. He deserves to be taken to the Hague along with the rest of that lot of lying criminals.

  11. Scott McClellan is a Bushite Texan tool publishing for the money, for revenge at being sacked for being the worst WH press secretary in the history of the job and for a contract with NBC to be a dunce political commentator.
    One of Helena’s best posts, imo. Nailed both the dodo and the president who hired him in one go.

  12. I agree with bb that Ari Fleischer was a far superior press secretary to Scott McClellan.

  13. Yeah, Ari Fleischer was far more comfortable lying whereas Scotty’s discomfiture was pretty evident most of the time.

  14. Does McClellan realize he is also in the war-crimes basket, as a willing and participating member of the conspiracy to take the US to war?
    It seems some scales have fallen from his eyes, as he realizes, hey, we were lying and it wasn’t good for the country. But other scales remain, like the idea that he can reveal a little bit and be cleared of wrongdoing – nope, Scotty, you’re in it to the gills. Hope you are more forthcoming from the docket.

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