Scott McClellan, the doughy, oily little pasty white boy, throwing his god and master under the bus. He must have been cackling evilly with every galley proof. "Cut me out of my share, will ya? We'll SEE about that."
mcClellen's castigation of the press as being somehow culpable for not calling bullshit reminds me of an exchange i heard at a carney booth:
rube: this thing don't do nuthin'.
carney: you bought it.
rube: but it don't do nuthin'.
carney: rube sucker.
it also brings to mind my favorite nautical proverb which was first told to me by the legendary master chief boatswain's mate norr. to set the scene i was in the bowels of a river boat furiously manning the pumps in an attempt to maintain some measure of equilibrium long enough for us to meet up with another boat. the chief looked at our efforts with grim approval and said:
when the water passes your knees lad, follow the rats.
Wanderer,
"Republicans-hurling-other-republicans-under-the-
bus."
Olympic sport for the foreseeable future. :o)
He's got people running around the West Wing with their faces a rich “Buchanan Purple” in rage. Got 'em tossin' around words like “Traitor!”, “Benedict!”, and “Shot in the gut!”.
-------------
i'm laughing hard because even the bush criminal cabal dare not call mcclellan "liar."
from what i read elsewhere yesterday, apparently bush figured that the tone of the november draft of mcclellan's book would be "softened." looks to me like they should have been nicer to scotty because whatever they said to him back then seems to have had an effect opposite to that which they were desired.
hahahahahaha!
its colapesign prety hard isn't it...they swung the pendulum very hard...very hard adn now its swinging right back at them...
my only worry is that we will give it another push and laugh on the ride up without admiting that its goign to swing right back again...we need to slow the pendulum down not accelerate it to the left.
OT, McCain has a bit of an issue going, with his accusing Obama of not going to Iraq.
Obama need to make a cogent and thoughtful reply to this.
And, he needs to have the courage to stick by the truth, which is that we are not "winning" there, and that the only reason for the increase in "stability" is that bush has crammed in eough troops, has put enough of the country into lockdown, and has bribed enough of the factions, that violence there IS down.
And then Obama needs to ask McCain if he wants to continue sacrificing 15-20 of our troops lives each month (if not more) AND that $3 billion a week, to try to sustain this.
I welcome the details he provided but all is not forgiven between me and Scotty. He spent too many years feeding us lies and bullshit and he's going to have to do a lot more to atone for his evil mendacity.
Fabulous post, LM.
Yah know, Scott McClellan always struck me as someone who would want to clear the air, even if it's to polish his own apple. He was probably mocked to his face by the Bush team, scorned and ridculed to the same degree he's been mocked by us lefties. And I bet he would have taken those jabs and slights to his grave IF only he hadn't been lied to, repeatedly.
Like the Nixon White House, the incessant lying is going to stick in someone's craw. And lying mixed in with caustic scorn has got to cut pretty deeply, partiuclarly if Scottie was a true believer.
I suspect his outrage is similar to the Nixon true believer I knew when I was a kid. She was one of my mom's best friends, but they completely disagreed on Nixon, loudly, pointedly, to the point they couldn't talk about it for a while.
And then every single thing my mom had said about Nixon was proven, over and over, and then much worse. I watched Kay's belief in Nixon crumble before my 11-year old eyes. It was an awful thing to behold, scary really, for a child to see in an adult.
I think old Scott has had his illusions wiped out. And so, with only the truth to hang on to, the book comes out. He knows he's entered the land of political exile (he'll never be involved with GOP politics again, and the Dems should NEVER trust him). But he does have a measure of truth to hold on to.
I hope for him, it's enough.
Fun to watch them all, from the enablers in the MSM to the direct participants, scatter like cockroaches after the lights come on. Some make a direct run, some jink and weave, and some try to gain favor by eating their own.
"my only worry is that we will give it another push and laugh on the ride up without admiting that its goign to swing right back again...we need to slow the pendulum down not accelerate it to the left."
Very true, especially since we're not riding that razor sharp pendulum, but are strapped down under it at the bottom of a very dark pit.
Oh, OT, this story on Kos about a lame attempt to Swiftboat Obama is too darkly funny to pass up.
LM,
Fantastic post as always, but I owe ya dinner somewhere decent if any of these mofos actually see prison oranges. Really.
It seems like McLellan didn't offer anything new since we all knew that Bush was a stubborn, incurious, lying warmonger. The only new detail was that Bush said he couldn't remember if he did coke which translates into Dubya was doing 8balls on the regular.
The only good thing about this is that, in order to sell, each successive book that comes out is going to have to offer juicier and juicier details.
Right this minute Cheney's making plans to have a horse's head placed in Alphonso Jackson's bed tonight.
when obama uis eklected he will knock down the final wall of the hous of bush...he anounced his plan for the first 100 days in office...hes goign to revie every signing statemne, every executive order..every thing bush did to see if they are constitutional...those that arn't (all of them is my guess) will be overturned.
Thanks for the pick-me-up, mg. Just what I wanted to hear from Obama.
This is a very good sign. It not only indicates that he's not afraid to acknowledge what a complete disaster his predecessor was regarding the Constitution, but also that he'll take practical measures to restore it.
From the article:
"Other goals for his first 100 days: work out a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq; make progress on alternative energy plans and launch legislation to reform the health care system."
Sounds good to me. I wonder what Hillary's priorities would have been? Banning GTA IV and making Lieberman her Secretary of Defense?
besides the blatant unConstitutionality in the face of all their "unitary executive theory" checks&balance-busting, aren't bushs signing statements specifically illegal & unConstitutional as a result of 1998 court rulings? 'a line-item veto by any other name'...
i dunno if we'll ever get there, but it sure would be fun to watch em play 'pin the charge on the omni-criminal donkey' (or in bushs case, ass)...
LM, it seems to me like you really relished writing that post. Glad to see you've recovered from all the dental pain of the recent past. 
LM, this is not to find any fault at all with your writing talent, but honestly, since way back in the summer of 2000 it was impossible to see the Cheney Bush regime {that's right, even before they were elected} as anything other than lying bastards and we don't mean in the generic politico sense, we mean in the profound existential sense. They were and are the basest of beings. Scotty's book contains next to no revelations other than that he's still pissed. I do think that Bush will skate right out of there, there will be no orange suits, no war crimes trials, no severe public humiliation.
Not that all of that shouldn't rightfully occur, but if so little accountability has been meted out by now, I don't have much hope for a windfall of karma in the next six months.
Perhaps I am wrong. That would be nice.
I first learned of ‘feminine rhyme’ in a long-ago course on ‘the dour Poe’:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door …
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before …
`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
When you get a bunch of complete scumbags working together, the only thing that keeps that "team" working together is fear of getting kneecapped. Once that fear is replaced by the knowledge that:
1. the "boss" is vulnerable,
2. YOU are vulnerable,
3. the hammer's coming down,
You stool so fast your pants fill up. And continue to bleat that "I was framed!!" while shoveling the shit out so fast and hard that it looks like a sandstorm.
Look for others to start "jumping ship"
Sweet, & about to get even sweeter.
I suspect Bush will have to skulk back to Crawford in the dead of night, unless he wants a replay of his near-lynching in 2000 on his way to his first swearing-in ... if he's stupid enough not to sneak away, look for a brisk market in eggs & tomatos in DC, starting in December (gotta let them get "ripe" enough, after all).
Somewhere, Driftglass is looking HARD for a shot of rats, crawling down a hawser-line. :o)
Beautifully, beautifully written.
And, since rule #5 for this gang is "Always exact vengeance of 200%+ for disloyalty", I'm marveling at the implied information that they don't have enough dirt on Scotty to destroy him. I don't mean the made-up stories they excel in: When it comes to vengeance, they make it real enough to draw pints of blood.
Did they overlook collecting his skeletons because he seemed such a bottom (no offense to you bottoms out there)? Did they think because his mother was so enmeshed and ambitious in Texas Repub circles, Scotty wouldn't risk her career? We'll see, as the punishment unfolds.
Incidentally: Rules 1 through 4
(1) Whatever you support, it has to make money for the elite, your base. LOTS of it.
(2) Next to making money, your actions have to shore up and expand power.
(3) Lie every chance you get. Big lies are better. Sincerity is for women (not the word they'd use.)
(4) Never reward competence. Get them as used to failure as deceit. Lowered expectations is Dubya's claim to fame.
Jen...Heck I don't live in NYC..but I'd help you buy LM dinner. Not just because of the appearance of those WH dudes in orange jumpsuits...but because LM is a freaking incredible writer. I loved "Buchanan Purple"... it's got a future as a hot decorator color.
Mama; Pat's been in pundit-CYOA mode for a while now, and regularly gets in a knock on bush, on AW.Com.
http://www.antiwar.com/pat/?
arti...articleid=12917
As we're saying; rattus norwegicus...heading for the gangplank. :o)
RC its not the mesage its the messanger...image is important, white, middle class looking, unhip, republican male saying that there are lies will get listend too...it will start to crack open the true belivers
Getting back to Poe, who could also be as funny as hell ("Never Bet The Devil Your Head" and "The Devil In The Belfry"), who's gonna be the Madeline Usher (or maybe Martha Mitchell) who snaps and precipitates the collapse? For symmetry, that would have to be Katherine Harris admitting she fixed the 2000 election. On GOP orders.
I dunno, I watched Olberman last night, and since Scotty was never a credible liar, which is why he got bus flattened in favor of that unctuous slime mold, Tony Snow in the first place, he seemed credible as hell to me. And while none of the revelations in the book are news to us, they sure as hell are to the general public, and the fact that it is getting such wall-to-wall coverage is letting some sun in to some things that the general public SHOULD know about, and doing them at a very fortuitous time as well.
I won't give him a pass for what he did in the White House, but then again, I don't suppose any of us can fathom how terrifying it would be to do what he has done, to these people. I have mental images of little Post-its preprinted with photos of Wellstone's plane with handwritten notes to the effect of 'nice fambly you got there; shame if something were to happen to them' stuck to the computer monitors of folks that started to look like they might wander off the rez... The boy has great big brass ones that have to be pushed around in a wheelbarrow, and he just handed a mountain of ammunition to our side, so I think I'll cut him some slack. Keith apparently came to the same conclusion last night...
Hopefully, Scotty will keep the latest minister associated with Obama off the news, though fat chance of that happening. Anyone know why the people associated with his church are so hell-bent (hmm) to scuttle his chances at the presidency? If nothing else, he sure is getting the opportunity to separate his friends from the herd. I want to grab them and shake them and scream in their stupid faces, "CELL PHONES TAKE F-ING VIDEO YOU IDIOTS!!!" Perhaps the fact that this is a white man will help, but his misogynistic screed ain't gonna win Obama any points with the Hillary crowd...
Punkster, the reason that some people, not just some preachers associated with Obama, get out of their shorts, is that there are so many of us who are PISSED THE FUCK OFF at this bullshit of having to STILL be kissing the ass of Sen. Repubican-lite, who, a few days ago, practically invited some psycho to take a pop at Obama.
She and her people, still in their self-righteous crap of thinking that Obama has stolen something that belongs to them, are playing with fire. They much overrate their power and influence.
Most of all the democratic "leaders", Pelosi, Reid, Dean, and Green Al, need to get off their neutral asses and tell Hillary how the hog ate the fucking cabbage. If she keeps on after Tuesday, they need to publicly threaten her with reading her out of the damn party. At this point, the democrats, including but not limited to, Obama, perpetually kissing her ass is starting to cost us more independent votes than we'd lose if we told her to make up her mind if she wants to be a democrat, or if she wants to be New York's Joe Lieberman.
We can do this with her, or we can do it without her. And, one more time, I don't think those feminists who have been shreiking "misogynist!" ever since Iowa, are going to like hitting the touch screen for John McCain, or even sitting out the election. Hillay is the one who needs to be mending fences, not Obama.
SHE's the one who was talking that insanity about her assassination contingency plan.
"Benedict?" Did some Evangelical Bush staffer just compare McClellan to the Pope?
Punkster This was a catholic preist, a very well respected catholic preist who was a guest at the church....no connection to obama what so ever...after what happend with african americans in south carolina you would think that hillary would knwo better tehn to attack anotehr group that she needs for teh election (catholic voters)
According to the news reports I saw this morning, the visiting priest was attached to the Obama campaign until yesterday, when this Youtube video surfaced. They may be incorrect - wouldn't be the first time the MSM got something wrong (heh), but it IS what was reported. Frankly, blaming Hillary for this involves a few more contortions than my advanced age allows. While this might have been fine for a stand-up comic in a club (which is what he sounded like), it ain't okay for someone attached to a campaign that is in desperate need to consolidate the party around the candidate. And if this priest is indeed attached to the campaign, that now makes TWO clergymen associated with this church that has decided that Obama's popularity might be a handy way for them to grab some of their own fame. I'm sorry. Your friends don't haul themselves to the top by hurtling you under the bus.
Leave the f-ing politics OUT of the church (or start paying taxes) and when you are about to open your mouth to say something really clever, think about how it is going to sound the one millionth time it is played on TV...
Fantastic post as always, but I owe ya dinner somewhere decent if any of these mofos actually see prison oranges. Really.
So do you think they'll try to make Pruno out of their prison oranges, Jen? 
(I know what you mean by "prison oranges", but the play on words is just too good to pass up.)
Punkster he isn't attached to that church, he is a catholic preist...not a protastaint minister...there is a difference...he was jsut a guest, not a memeber of that church or any offical copacity there...not one once....jsut a guest speaker. he ran catholics for obama...not officaly connected to the obaam campaign. Just a very opinionated catholic preist.
again he isn't a protistiant minister he s a catholic preist. he is not a clergy man attached to a protistiant church.
Stop tossing mud in the water. stop tryign to ubscure facts to gin up a nonissue.
Moonglum, knock it off. We are dealing with some pretty brutal people on the other side of the aisle, people I would like very much to see in a tiny, insignificant, minority status for a long time. It doesn't NEED to be an issue, or haven't you noticed? You and I are supposedly on the correct side of that aisle, and when you start swinging and hurling accusations every time someone asks a freaking QUESTION it doesn't help anyone. One of many reasons I would never get into politics is the aspect that everything you say, and that people associated with you say, and that people erroneously claim you say, COUNTS. Since my one and only goal is to have a "D" after the name of whoever resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave for a long time, I pay attention to this stuff. Every politician and his or her orbit of people should have been painfully aware of the YouTube effect after the "Macaca" moment, and it frustrates the shit out of me when my side repeatedly shoots itself in the foot.
As I said, I hope that Scotty is better red meat for the press than this dude is, and I think he may be right now, but I am sure we will be seeing him again and again as the season goes on. They seem to have an elephant's memory for stuff like this and amnesia when young white female lobbyists are concerned.
By the way, is he a catholic priest?
Watching McLellan on CNN Situation Room now. What a weasel, still trying to have it both ways. He drops a few juicy tidbits about the Bush White House and then parrots "Washington permanent campaign culture" as an excuse for the thuggery of his former buddies. Because, you know, his buddies were such great guys until they succumbed to that "W.p.c.c." which naturally affects Democrats too, but that doesn't injure his ideals anyway, because Dems are corrupt anyway.
McLellan didn't mind when his employers disrespected the press (however deservedly) and the public, but when they disrespected him, well that was too much.
Blitzer's a tool because he raises the cocaine question (because even he can't skip it) and then lets McLellan get away with the pop-psychological nonsense about it being important only as an example of Bush's wishful thinking.
I would like Rove to ream McLellan but good, as an example to the others, but, frankly those days are over for now. Everyone, from Bush to Rove to the GOP, has bigger things to worry about. Nobody's going to act on what McLellan has to say anyway, so why worry about it?
BJaques; they don't need to ACT on it. That bush's house liar turned on him and ratted him out, is plenty good enough. The repubs are dumping pantsloads over this. Of course, the media is way more interested that some visiting priest had the bad taste and foolishness to speak outright, what a lot of us are thinking, about Senator here's-my-backup-contingency-plan.
"Walking down 23rd Street to an appointment...."
Hmpfh. Is that all I am to you?
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