If you don’t know you’ve been living under a rock. If you haven’t heard about the firestorm that former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan‘s recent book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception, has caused.
Supporters of the White House trash the book and McClellan himself. Critics of the administration point to the book as confirmation of what many have believed for years now.
Concerning those who criticize McClellan and his book, I have a number of issues with the criticism.
First, two notable political figures, Bob Dole and Dick Cheney, chastise McClellan; however, both concede that they have not even read the book and do not intend to do so. Dick Cheney has attempted to make comparison’s to earlier difficult time in the country’s history. He points to Watergate, the Civil War and other historical challenges. However, he does not actually deny the allegations made by McClellan. Again, since he has not read the book, I am left wondering on what basis he criticizes McClellan.
Next, Bob Dole has apparently shot an e-mail to McClellan. In that e-mail he calls McClellan a “miserable creature” who doesn’t “have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues, and mockingly suggested donating the proceeds to, “a worthy cause, something like, ‘Biting The Hand That Fed Me.’”
Former Bush Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has said, “First of all, this doesn’t sound like Scott. It really doesn’t, not the Scott McClellan I’ve known for a long time, it sounds like somebody else. It sounds like a left-wing blogger. Second of all, you’re right. If he had these moral qualms, he should have spoken up about them.” Again, no denial. Only an attack on McClellan.
My final example is Dana Perino’s comments: “Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House. We are puzzled. It is sad. This is not the Scott we knew.” The administration additionally took exception to the claim that they had misled the nation in the lead up to the war in Iraq, as Perino said, “He’s suggesting that we purposely misled. There is no new evidence of that.” Again, there was no denial. It is simply slamming the author.
And what the hell does “no new evidence” mean? “New evidence”? Doesn’t that imply that there is already some public evidence that supports McClellan’s claim?
What I am waiting to hear from the White House is a denial of the assertions made in the book – not an attack of the author himself. Rather than relying on the denial that he has cited any evidence, why not categorically deny the allegations? Perhaps because they cannot honestly do that?
Here’s the statement I want to see: “We categorically deny the allegations in Scott’s book. They are untrue and unsupported.” Until I hear that statement from the White House, I will continue to give Mr. McClellan’s account of events more credence that I do the White House’s version.
To those elected officials who denounce Mr. McClellan, you should not comment or denounce until you have read the book, Mr. Cheney and Mr. Dole.
