Scott McClellan In His Own Words

Scott McClellan's scathing book against the Bush administration is creating a firestorm. Interestingly, McClellan as Press Secretary sharply criticized those that do what he himself has now just done. First, on January 12, 2004 McClellan responded to Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill," by saying this about the former Treasury head: "It appears to be more about trying to justify personal views and opinions than it does about looking at the results that we are achieving on behalf of the American people."

But wait, it gets even better. This next quote is golden. In response to former Bush White House counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke's "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror," McClellan had this exchange with a reporter on March 22, 2004:

"McCLELLAN: WELL, 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. Certainly let's look at the politics of it. His best buddy is Rand Beers, who is the principal foreign policy advisor to Senator Kerry's campaign. The Kerry campaign went out and immediately put these comments up on their website that Mr. Clarke made. ...

Q: Scott, the whole point of his book is he says that he did raise these concerns and he was not listened to by his superiors.

McCLELLAN: Yes, and that's just flat-out wrong. …When someone uses such charged rhetoric that is just not matched by the facts, it's important that we set the record straight. And that's what we're doing. IF YOU LOOK BACK AT HIS PAST COMMENTS AND HIS PAST ACTIONS, THEY CONTRADICT HIS CURRENT RHETORIC. I talked to you all a little bit about that earlier today. Go back and look at exactly what he has said in the past and compare that with what he is saying today."

This is not me, my friends, this is Scott McClellan in his own words. If you are looking for one more quote that seals the deal against old Scotty boy it's this: "I totally agree." When Nancy Pelosi agrees with you then you know you made a wrong turn somewhere. Tweet