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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Hey, Wha' Hoppened?

[via Talking Points Memo]

A trip down memory lane…



His reaction to Richard Clark's tell-all book is especially priceless, uh, considering.

2 comments:

Michael Anissimov said...

Heh. You know who was better than McClellan, and actually funny? Tony Snow.

Also, it's gotten to the point of being sort of sad to see an American administration flame out so spectacularly in its death throes.

VDT said...

From the transcript of Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees: One on One with Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan:

COOPER: There's irony in the way that the White House is attacking you. It's got to be painful irony for you. But it's exactly the way that you attacked others who wrote books. When Richard Clarke came out with his book very critical of the White House, here's what you said.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

MCCLELLAN: 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.

And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. He has written a book. And he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: The exact same could be said about you word for word.

MCCLELLAN: And it has been said about me by the White House.

COOPER: Not quite as eloquently, though.

MCCLELLAN: Well, thank you.

Those were the talking points at the time.

And, like I said, I was caught up in that game.

I actually -- I actually -- I actually saw Dick Clarke last night here in New York City. And we had a brief conversation. And I expressed my regret for what I did back then.

You know, I -- a lot of people out there at the White House, and allies, former colleagues are talking about my motivations and talking about the content, and they haven't even read the book themselves.

Now, you had. You had a chance to do that. And others have had a chance to do that. And I think, when people look through the book and read it, they're going to see my sincerity in the book, based on my upbringing and based on my commitment to public service and making a positive difference.

---

Although I am willing to accept Scott McClellan's mea culpa at face value, my question is what "positive difference" does he truly believe he or, more precisely, his Republican masters have ever done?