Frank Rich: McCain’s McClellan Nightmare

[RamboLiberal]

THEY thought they were being so slick. When the McCain campaign abruptly moved last Tuesday’s fund-raiser with President Bush from the Phoenix Convention Center to a private home, it was the next best thing to sending the loathed lame duck into the witness protection program. John McCain and Mr. Bush were caught on camera together for a mere 26 seconds, and at 9 p.m. Eastern time, safely after the networks’ evening newscasts. The two men’s furtive encounter on the Phoenix airport tarmac, as captured by a shaky, inaudible long shot on FoxNews.com, could have been culled from a surveillance video.

But for the McCain campaign, any “Mission Accomplished” high-fives had to be put on hold. That same evening Politico.com broke the news of Scott McClellan’s memoir, and it was soon All Bush All the Time in the mediasphere. Or more to the point: All Iraq All the Time, for the deceitful origins of the war in Iraq are the major focus of the former press secretary’s tell-all.

There is no news in his book, hardly the first to charge that the White House used propaganda to sell its war and that the so-called liberal media were “complicit enablers” of the con job. The blowback by the last Bush defenders is also déjà vu. The claims that Mr. McClellan was “disgruntled,” “out of the loop,” two-faced, and a “sad” head case are identical to those leveled by Bush operatives (including Mr. McClellan) at past administration deserters like Paul O’Neill, Richard Clarke, John DiIulio and Matthew Dowd.

So why the fuss? Mr. McClellan isn’t a sizzling TV personality, or, before now, a household name beyond the Beltway. His book secured no major prepublication media send-off on “60 Minutes” or a newsmagazine cover. But if the tale of how the White House ginned up the war is an old story, the big new news is how ferocious a hold this familiar tale still exerts on the public all these years later. We have not moved on.

Americans don’t like being lied to by their leaders, especially if there are casualties involved and especially if there’s no accountability. We view it as a crime story, and we won’t be satisfied until there’s a resolution.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01richedit.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

[creeksneakers2]

1. K & R

Great editorial.

[Bob Dobbs]

2. Lots of Americans LOVE being lied to by their leaders

and have been loving it since ronnie ray gun made it an art form with his "great communication" of an endless stream of falsehoods to a huge majority of willfully ignorant citizens. Even when most of his administration was convicted of treason, stupid America couldn't get enough of Bonzo's less intelligent co-star.

Americans apparently love being lied to so much that they lapped up the blatant lie of the 2000 election, the absurdly unfeasible official conspiracy theory of 9/11, the completely discredited prevarications that led up to the war in Iraq, and the reprise of election fraud in 2004, none of which any reasonable person could possibly have bought into. All an even quasi-perceptive individual has to do is look and listen to busholini mewl to be abundantly certain every syllable that oozes from his lie hole is inveracity.

Americans are the most absurdly willfully ignorant society in the history of the universe.

[Cha]

3. Thanks RamboLiberal.. Rich's piece is riveting..

<snip>

"Mr. Rove is to the McCain campaign what Bill Clinton was to the Hillary Clinton campaign: a ubiquitous albatross dispensing dubious, out-of-date political advice and constantly upstaging the candidate he ostensibly supports. Like Mr. Clinton, Mr. Rove is a camera hog who puts his need to vehemently defend his own administration’s record ahead of all else. So what if he’s under subpoena by the House Judiciary Committee? He doesn’t care if he reminds voters of administration scandals or of Mr. McCain’s association with Iraq any more than Mr. Clinton cared if he reminded voters of his continued ties to suspect financial donors and the prospect of an out-of-control co-presidency."

Yet, hilary got on board with this albatross..to what end?

<snip>

"As F. Scott Fitzgerald would have it, we will be borne back ceaselessly into the past. Or so we will be as long as Americans continue to die in Iraq and as long as politicians like Mr. Bush, Mr. McCain and Mrs. Clinton refuse to accept responsibility for their roles, major and minor, in abetting this national tragedy."

Finally, there's a starting of some accountability after so many have died.

[leveymg]

4. We view it as a crime story, and we won’t be satisfied until there’s a resolution.

Jail to the Chief.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

5. Frank Rich

a consistent window into truth and sanity. K&R.