Scott McClellan

Last week, partisans from both sides of the aisle seemed to suggest that Scott McClellan's new tell all book was insignificant and somehow did not speak well of the man. From the Right, the talking points went out and we heard things from "puzzled" to much worse in Senator Dole's comments: "There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don’t have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues. No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique." Rather talking about the issues raised in the book, the attack machine pointed the barrels at their former native son.

On the Left, the general criticism was "too little, too late" questioning why he didn't speak up during his years in the White House when it could have done some good. These criticisms are fair, but we ought not look a gift horse in the mouth. I agree with Jim Ramelis that there's very little new in what the former Press Secretary said (http://www.crossleft.org/node/6252), but I do believe the fact of who was discrediting the warmaking enterprise is extremely important.