"The White House would prefer that I not talk openly about my experiences... I have a higher loyalty than my loyalty necessary to my past work. That's a loyalty to the truth -- Scott McClellan.
There are no revelations in Scott McClellan's new book. No fresh information, no new insights. Just the tinny bleatings of a man who abetted a lying, disastrous presidency because it seemed like a good gig, but doesn't want his name maligned by the historians. But truthtelling is powerful and redemptive when it's hard, as it was for Richard Clarke, who broke with the administration when it was powerful and popular. They smeared his name, of course, Implied that he was lying. They asked, "why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he's raising these grave concerns that he claims he had." Those words, of course, were Scott McClellan's. George W. Bush is now the most unpopular president since the advent of modern polling. His disapproval rating passed 70 percent last week, higher than any leader before him. It has been 40 months since a majority of the country supported his presidency. And now, now Scott McClellan tells of us of his dedication to the truth, and his disgust with the propaganda used to sell the war. But he was there. He was there in 2000, when Bush ran for president, He was there in 2002, when the war was sold. He was there in 2004, when the president sought reelection. And through all of it, he was an eager soldier. History will do with him as it will. This doesn't come close to clearing his name.
