Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Laughing All The Way to the Bank?



"History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided -- that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. ... What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary."

Scott McClellan, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong with Washington





I don't think it's hit the store shelves yet. I think you can pre-order it, but I don't think it arrives in stores until next week.

I don't sell books for a living so I don't know what the schedule is. If you're in a hurry to read it, you might be able to find it in a book store. Or your best bet may be to order it online.

Anyway.

Scott McClellan's book about his experiences in the George W. Bush White House is not drawing very good reviews from his former employer.

Guess the former White House press secretary doesn't mind, since Barnes & Noble has McClellan's book at the top of its speculative best-seller list.

In the book, McClellan says Bush is guilty of "self-deception" in the run-up to the Iraq War.

Dana Perino, the current occupant of McClellan's old office, calls McClellan "disgruntled" over his White House experiences.

And Karl Rove, who is apparently one of McClellan's primary targets in the book, says the writing style "sounds like a left-wing blogger."

Newsweek’s White House correspondent Richard Wolffe wasn't surprised by the tone of the book excerpts to which he has had access.

"He promised when he first started writing this book that he’d engage in some truth-telling,” Michael Calderone quotes Wolffe in Politico. “And that’s what he’s done.”

McClellan may not be an authority on the Middle East ... or Iraq ... or much of anything.

But he had a front-row seat. He's hardly a "left-wing blogger."

No "left-wing" anything could get into Bush's Oval Office for five minutes. McClellan was Bush's spokesman for nearly three years.

And, like it or not, the Republicans are going to have to contend with this book during the election campaign.

Because, if anything, Fred Kaplan writes in Slate, John McCain is more of a neocon than Bush is.

So this book is going to be a topic of discussion in the 2008 campaign. Many discussions.

Unless the totally unexpected happens -- and America pulls its troops out of Iraq.

Don't think that's gonna happen, huh?

Me, neither.

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