Scott McClellan & David Frum: Tea Parties Bad for GOP

OK, so there are two rational, sane conservatives. Anyone else? Anyone?



Thanks to Stupid Monkey Planet for the link.

Scott McClellan Reviews Bush's Speech

And he ain't too nice about it, neither. (Yes, I know I'm over-using the MSNBC videos, but these are good.)

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Scott McClellan to Testify in Valerie Plame Case

Photo from source, Raw Story

Well, what do you know. Finally, we have a former Bush Administration being called for testimony who may actually show up. It should be interesting!

[Excerpt]

McClellan to testify in House in CIA leak probe

President Bush's former spokesman, Scott McClellan, will testify before a House committee next week about whether Vice President Dick Cheney ordered him to make misleading public statements about the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

McClellan's lawyers said he has accepted House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers' invitation to testify June 20. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Jon Stewart Interviews Scott McClellan

In what I promise will be my last posting of former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's What Happened interviews, the best has been saved for last. Leave it to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to ask the questions we really want to know. . .

Scott McClellan on the O'Reilly Factor

Did you see the FOX "News" Bill O'Reilly interview with Scott McClellan on The O'Reilly Factor? Me neither, in fact I haven't even watched these clips yet. I might, but I think I want a beer first. You do what you want.


UPDATE: OK, got the beer, watched the clips. Four points: 1) O'Reilly is kind of a dick, coming off like an emotionally abusive father, wanting nothing better than to whip off his belt and give ol' Scotty a spanking. 2) Scott McClellan seems to have grown something of a spine, or at least comes off much better when he knows what he's talking about. 3) O'Reilly's set stinks. Those big blue globe logos look like McClellan is sitting in the middle of an O'Reilly boom box, or like two cymbals are about to box his ears. 4) "No Spin Interview?" Really? Not. That's pretty much it.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Once again, the FOX "News" video is causing havoc with my page layout, so I'm putting the videos "below the fold." To watch, just click the link after "CONTINUED."

CONTINUED

Remixed O'Reilly: Keith Olbermann's Revenge

The spotlight shone on Bill O'Reilly on Countdown with Keith Olbermann is harsh and bright--and often funny. Some people don't like it, but it always makes me laugh. And there's the added bonus of ticking off all of the right people--Bill O'Reilly chief among them. Watch.

DNC Ad: McCain with a Dose of McClellan

It's good to see the Democratic National Committee going after John McCain a little bit, finally. And former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's new tell-all book, What Happened has provided them a little fodder.



[Excerpt]

New DNC Web Ad Uses McClellan To Blast McCain

You didn't really think Democratic ad gurus would sit out the Scott McClellan contretemps, did you?

Republican-on-Republican combat is like catnip to the DNC, and this morning, they're hoping to catch Sen. John McCain in the free for all by inserting him into the "political propaganda campaign" the former White House press secretary says was used to sell the case for war in Iraq. By splicing three early McCain remarks on Iraq alongside a comment from Vice President Dick Cheney, the new web ad says the Arizona Republican was "marching in lockstep" with the Bush administration's efforts to dupe the public. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

The Movie Version of McClellan's What Happened?

With all of the Bush scandals receiving new attention, thanks to the publication of Scott McClellen's tell-all book, What Happened, I am reminded of a little art project I slapped together a few years ago, covering a couple of them.

Here's the original post as it appeared in the early days of this blog (June 15, 2007):

Here is another of my creations, from a couple of years ago. Picture it: Spring 2005, and revelations about a man named Jeff Gannon were setting the blogs (but sadly not the mainstream media) on fire. Also, there were rumors that the man the Freepers called "Rove, you magnificent bastard!" was possibly--just maybe--gonna be implicated in the Plame affair. I didn't have an outlet yet for my political and artistic frustrations, but that didn't stop me from creating. So without further ado (and with apologies to and appreciation for John Waters), I bring you Pink Elephants!

So What is Scott McClellan's Story on Jeff Gannon?

Photos from AmericaBlog

Yes, that Jeff Gannon. Like a character in a soap opera, he pops in when you least expect him (or give him some money, presumably). The tell-all book that former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellen wrote has brought to mind several long ignored scandals and scandlets, so I guess it should be no surprise that Gannon would show up.

And that is one story I hope is actually told one day. Maybe in his follow-up, McClellan will clarify these remarks, made by Jeff Gannon (nee James Guckert) at his website:

[Excerpt]

Scott, We Hardly Knew Ye

Add me to the growing list of those who are having great difficulty understanding McClellan’s motives. I spent two years as a White House reporter, much of it during McClellan’s reign. At no time did Scott ever indicate, either publicly or privately, he had the misgivings he expressed in this book. What I hear about the book does not sound like the Scott McClellan I knew for two years. I can say without fear of contradiction, that I knew Scott better than any other White House correspondent or Washington reporter.

Read more at: JeffGannon.com

Keith Olbermann Interviews Scott McClellan on Countdown

Outstanding interview with the man of the news-cycle, writer of What Happened, former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. The interview ran for most of the episode, and has a follow-up with Watergate figure, John Dean. If you missed it, here it is, in its entirety.

White House vs. Scott McClellan (Yes, More)

Photo from source, Huffington Post

Last one, I promise. And this one is mostly for the photo.

[Excerpt]

White House Responds To Scott McClellan's Accusations

In a shocking turnabout, the press secretary most known for defending President Bush on Iraq, Katrina and a host of other controversial issues produced a memoir damning of his old boss on nearly every level _ from too much secrecy to a less-than-honest selling of the war to a lack of personal candor and an unwillingness to admit mistakes.

In the first major insider account of the Bush White House, one-time spokesman Scott McClellan calls the operation "insular, secretive and combative" and says it veered irretrievably off course as a result. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Republicans vs. Scott McClellan

At the risk of wearing you out, here's another Scott McClellan story. I'll try to lay off it a bit after today, at least until a new wrinkle appears. But in my own defense, this is pretty huge news. The Bush Administration--current and former--tend to mindlessly stay on point, as this video from Countdown with Keith Olbermann shows, down to the same words and phrases. So when one of their own--the White House Press Secretary during some of the biggest scandals no less--starts singing, it's hard to not provide him a stage.

Rove Compares McClellan to Liberal Bloggers

Perish the thought! In my previous post, I noted that prominent Republicans are throwing for White House Press Secretary under the bus, after revelations from his book, What Happened became public. Here's one of those prominent Republicans, Karl Rove, on Hannity & Colmes doing just that. I so hope Rove ends up tripping himself up on one of these shows. I really, really do. . .

Wexler Wants Scott McClellan to Testify

Image from source, Raw Story

Yes! Testify, brother! And why wouldn't Scott McClellan comply? The Republicans have been quick--in fact, eager--to throw Scotty under the bus since excerpts of his tell-all (tell-some?) book, What Happened have gotten out. I can't tell you how much I want this thing to snowball.

[Excerpt]

Dem congressman calls on McClellan to testify about book's revelations

Already getting grief from his former White House colleagues, former Bush spokesman Scott McClellan is now being asked to testify before Congress about the revelations contained in his scathing new memoir.

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), a key Bush antagonist and member of the House Judiciary Committee, says McClellan needs to tell Congress the full story about potential White House conspiring around the leak of a CIA officer's name and propaganda efforts that preceded the invasion of Iraq. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Scott McClellan Spills the Beans on Bush Administration

Photo from source, Raw Story

Now this is the kind of political story that makes liberal moonbat bloggers like me salivate. Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan (or Puffy McMoonface, if you're a Stephanie Miller Show fan) has written a tell-all (or tell some) book, and it looks like it's going to be a doozy. I'd like to make a little wish right now, that this is just the first in a series of books from former Bush Administration officials, so that someday we can piece all the lies, crimes and heinousness together.

[Excerpt]

Former White House spokesman: Bush used 'propaganda' to sell war

In a new tell-all memoir on sale next week, former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan writes that the president depended on propaganda to sell the Iraq war to the American public, The Politico reports.

McClellan's "surprisingly scathing" and "often harsh" What Happened: Inside the Bush White House... also contains, as Mike Allen writes for Politico, other standout revelations. . .

Find out what some of them are at: Raw Story

Reporter Finally Gets to Question Dana Perino

Photo from Chron

Poor Dana Perino. She has the same job as any other White House Press Secretary: she's a spokesliar. And in the Bush Administration, that is a doozy of a job. But she doesn't have the slickness of Ari Fleicsher or Tony Snow. She doesn't have the flop-sweat of Puffy McMoonface Scott McClellan, but he genuinely seemed to be repeating what he thought was true, like someone else supplied the lies to him.

Perino is different from all of them. She sputters and stammers, while sounding irritated should she get the odd tough question. One of my favorite (and probably too frequent) sources for this blog is The Raw Story. They have their own reporter in the press room, but he's been shut out of the questioning by Perino after a particularly difficult question he asked some time ago.

Perino was shamed into letting him ask a question today, which resulted in her trademark stammering. From my point of view, it was pretty funny. But I'll bet he doesn't get picked to ask another question for a while.

[Excerpt]

White House Blacklist Breakthrough: Online media team up for free press victory

I thought it was shameful that 10 days after David Barstow's NY Times article about how the establishment media colluded with the Pentagon to sell the war in Iraq and the "war on terror" to the American people by hiring the Pentagon's "message force multipliers" as military analysts, no one had asked the White House about it. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Larry Johnson Dares to Call Bush a Liar

Photo of Larry Johnson from source, TPM Cafe

I've written a number of posts about the Valerie Plame story in the short life of this blog, from several different angles. But I'm just a loony leftist with an opinion. Larry Johnson, on the other hand, is a former CIA agent, and was a classmate of Valerie Plame's. So he has a perspective I could never hope to match, and credibility to boot.

And Mr. Johnson is doing something that few public people seem willing to do: he calls George W. Bush and others in his administration liars. He also throws in traitor. I'm tired of the euphemisms, and this is the perfect medicine.

[Excerpt]

George Bush, Traitor and Liar in Chief

Former Presidential spokesliar, oops, I mean spokesman, Scott McClellan, reminded us this week that the fish rots from the head. McClellan drops the truth bombshell that implicates George Bush and Dick Cheney in the sordid outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. . .

Read his oped at: TPM Cafe