dday at Drum’s:
The spate of memoirs that always roll out near the end of an Administration will take on an even greater “every-man-for-himself” quality in this one. From the lowest-level staffer to his personal food-taster, Bush will see half of his underlings or more trash him to every publisher in the country. If someone like McClellan, who was at Bush’s side from the Texas days, is willing to go nuclear to preserve his own reputation, it’ll be a free-for-all.
Here’s the deal: early bailers get some credit for being first (or second or third) out of the gate. Rats that take longer to get off the ship won’t get the same bonus, and anyone still supporting the administration by inauguration day is left holding the legacy. It’s like a game of musical chairs where every seat has a rusty tack on it.
Given the magnitude of Bush’s failure, I doubt the legacy is a smoldering bag that smarter Bushies will want sitting on their porch for the rest of their lives.
Incertus
At this point, no one gets credit. They’re all fucktards who enabled the worst US president in history. Even Colin Powell has been tainted forever by this stench.
rob!
hell, at this point i bet Bush will (ghost)write a book about Cheney!
Jess
Or a whoopie cushion…
wasabi gasp
The only book I’ll interested in is The Bush Gang Prison Tats Coffee Table Book.
El Cid
Taken beyond the personal measure of McClellan’s timing, the overall contribution is positive.
For the right wing, the rehabilitation of the Bush Jr. story will rival that of their obsession with proving that we really were winning Vietnam and also would have won until those damn liberals got in the way.
The more members of his own regime who speak with any vaguely relevant degree of honesty will help prevent that ideological reconstruction.
Incertus
Nah–I’ll bet Bush is the first person ever to try to pardon himself on his way out the door.
Soylent Green
Is Devil’s Island available? I hope negotiations are underway with French Guiana.
Aaron
No.
Anyone who was involved in implementing an official policy of torture or was complicit in the illegal invasion of Iraq which resulted in the murder of one million Iraqis (more or less) needs to be executed promptly after a fair trial.
Anyone who touched any of Bush’s mess is scum. And that includes f–ktard treasury secretary paul oneill who wrote his book in 2004 before the election and still said he would support bush.
dr. bloor
No; most of them will consider it a job well done, and nothing short of a vacation to The Hague might convince them otherwise. These people do not think and feel like moral beings.
Punchy
Bush’s legacy could perhaps change….I’d guess for the much, much worse
TenguPhule
Shoot them all and let somebody else figure it out on the other side.
I wish Iraqis seeking revenge against the people who authorized the destruction of their country the best of luck.
Elvis Elvisberg
He pressed the Powell Doctrine on the Clinton administration, through a series of leaks to the media, while he was in uniform. Once he was a political appointee, he rolled over, allowed a poorly planned war to go forward, and lent his credibility to our terrible intel with his now-cringeworthy performance before the UN. All because his boss wanted him to.
He knew better.
TenguPhule
I wish the Iranians the best of luck. May they change our regime faster then we change theirs.
Queixada
Why Hillary is REALLY staying in.
I didn’t think it possible to actually make light of those statements, but the above link must be viewed for great justice. (P.S. I didn’t have a current open-thread to post this on.)
jake
They might not want the bag but the bag is what they’ll get.
And “Smarter Bushy” gets filed with “Environmentally Friendly Oil Exploration.” We’ll only know the less stupid BushBeasts 20 years or so from now and we’ll only know them by their absence. They’ll be content to spend the rest of their days gloating over their stock portfolio. The more stupid ones will pop up again and try to run for office or get back into the Admin. somehow.
Fortunately for those of us who like laughing at stupid people, the BushBeasts don’t understand the Internons and that looking up dirt no longer necessarily requires long hours over a microfiche machine.
No one could have possibly foreseen that being a filthy lying rat in 2008 would keep you out of the House of Representatives in 2028!
r€nato
Well, in case Simple Scotty’s tell-all has reminded you DFH’s yet again of how badly it sucks to be Cassandra, Tim’s post reminds me that we are going to find out about a whole lot of criminality, lying and corruption after Bush leaves office.
We’re going to turn out to have been right about pretty much everything… and pretty much nothing will change as a result.
Neo-con warmongers will continue to get prominent media placement while those who really were proved fucking right will continue to be marginalized.
Few if any of the lawbreakers will be put on trial.
Bush will retire to his ranch and make speeches in front of select groups of radical Christian zealots and neo-cons for big money.
The GOP slime machine will plot the impeachment of President Obama beginning on Jan. 20, 2009 and our so-called liberal media will happily play along.
The media will continue to uncritically report GOP talking points and spin as fact.
About 30% of the population will continue to believe whatever tripe Rush Limbaugh and Fox News spew forth.
The executive power grabs of the Bush regime will not be repudiated.
The Iraq quagmire will drag on.
The military-industrial-incumbent-reelection complex will continue to devour our taxes.
Sorry to be the turd in the punch bowl, but I’m really pretty pessimistic that the American people and the American media will learn much, if anything, from the 8 wasted years of the illegitimate Bush presidency.
KCinDC
The problem with rushing for the exit and the book deal is that if you’ve been involved in anything illegal (and in this administration who hasn’t?) you have to stay on Our Leader’s good side until the December blanket pardon of everyone for everything (also known as “pulling a Fletcher”).
Incertus
Off topic, but what the hell–Clinton can’t get all of Florida and Michigan seated because the DNC Rules don’t allow for it. Best case scenario–she gets half.
r€nato
Yeah but if we played by GOP rules, she’d have been
anointednominated already, so she should be given all of Florida and Michigan’s delegates./kool-aid
ResumeMan
You mean the Rules and Bylaws Committee can’t change the, uh, rules to fix that?
Seems weird, but in any case I kind of doubt that they would decide to do that anyway, between charges of favoritism and concerns about future elections.
Incertus
I would assume that the R&B Committee can’t make changes to the rules on its own–it can only forward those changes to the full National Committee for a vote.
KC
Let me be a dissenting voice here. I always thought that Scott McClellen was an alright guy, a person sort of thrust into an intense spot in history unable to fully grapple with it. He could never bob and weave like Ari, and definitely could not bite like Dana Perino does. He was clearly uncomfortable during the whole Plame matter, barely able to contain his anxiety, and genuinely looked like someone tossed under the bus when details of the whole affair became known. This is in no way to excuse all he did, but it’s not as if the job of press secretary for any president isn’t about pushing at least a little bullshit. He just happened to be a small part of bigger bullshit than most.
croatoan
Frankly I’m amazed he got out of the White House before David Gregory went crazy and drove a pen into his neck.
Anyway, Scotty just turned 40, so she’s under the recruitment age limit. He should sign up and ship his tubby ass off to Iraq.
JGabriel
Incertus:
That article is from Needra Pickler at the AP. It’s probably right, but I’d look for a confirming source before accepting it as fact. Pickler’s not the most reliable reporter out there.
.
Chuck Butcher
The main penalty is 50% with the additional 100% tacked on for essentially egregious violation. The State Parties could have avoided even the 50% by making a concerted effort to comply. They raised the middle finger to DNC – oooops. My bet full seating at 0.5 vote, properly the supers should lose seating for their egregious behavior, but you know about insulting important people. My bet on MI is 0.5 vote with UC going BO.
By absolute principle it sucks. The votes are invalid and unreliable but in the end run, pragmatism is going to win. Hillary won’t like it and will stomp feet. 6/3 will be what it is. Within a couple days Hillary will have had a conversation regarding Convention and political suicide. That’ll be it.
Jeff
Ouch, so they have NEGATIVE delegates? Maybe that was a bit too harsh.
Kevin Hayden
I’ll bet Bush is the first person ever to try to pardon himself on his way out the door.
And he’ll fail at that, too. I mean, if the dude tried to masturbate, his hand would fall asleep.
Dennis - SGMM
My money says that Cheney (And his followers) – not Bush, will be the bad guy of choice. McClellan seems to have singled him out for some of the opprobrium already. Making Cheney the eminence grise will let them all off the hook: they were supporting the compassionate, simple country governor whose good intentions were twisted by the evil Cheney. He was the Svengali that ruined all of Bush’s perfect plans – Bush was too trusting and good-natured to realize the harm that Cheney was doing.
This fits their M.O. perfectly. They’ll absolve themselves of any personal responsibility and they’ll be able to blame Washington Insiders for everything that went wrong.
Texpope
What’s interesting down here in Austin is that McClellan comes from as politically connected a family as there is – one brother is also in the Bush Admin and Mom has been a major figure in Texas politics for decades.
My guess is that Carole Keeton Rylander Strayhorn – or “one tough grandmaw” as she labelled herself in her 2006 campaign to unseat Rick Perry for Governor – wouldn’t have allowed Scotty to go forward with this book unless there was a perception that the Bush Junta no longer has coattails throughout the Republican Party.
In which case, maybe there is hope for the Repubs to someday rehabilitate themselves.
jake
Perino bites all right. Perhaps you have gotten her confused with Tony Snow.
Ye Bobble Heades were discussing that when the clock radio came on this morning. It turns out Scotty didn’t know the full story so his anxiety could be attributed to working without a net (how can you lie if you don’t know the truth?) and anger that he was being kept out of the inner circle.
Andrew
I still Perino is hot, in a Stepford fascist kind of way.
TR
I think it requires motions by two-thirds of the Pips and three-fourths of the Temptations to secure a change there.
SnarkyShark
Big trouble for John McSame
The Money Shot-
You got some splainen to do Johny boy. Is this on topic?
Yeah, lay down with dogs, get up with fleas. Lil Scottie needs a flea collar.
To all you gloom and doomers out there-
I would way rather be on the team that supports the O-man. We got a full house, Kings and Queens. We’re in the drivers seat.
If I was a McCain backer, well lets just say there aint enough Zoloft(tm) in the world.
Buck up, the dickheads are in for a world of hurt.
SnarkyShark
BTW- I was late to the group hug yesterday, but it was a beautiful thing.
I’m all choked up and shit.
I love this freakin blog.
SnarkyShark
More ugly for McCranky.
Don’t forget that Gramm is Johny boys main economic adviser. But in his defense, McSame does have Greenspan’s book and intends to read it
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
SnarkySnark – the Phil Gramm story along with Lieberman still kissing Hagee’s ass really need some airtime.
Is there a more detestable human being than Joe Lieberman?
SteveinSC
I’m not so sure. With the developing right-wing meme that shrub was the one who fucked up an otherwise glorious neocon war, I think shrub is slipping into “I’ll martyr myself for jesus mode.” The orders coming from cheney’s crowd are to preserve the policy, not the man. The cheney followers will slither their way out of town to try again later.
SnarkyShark
Right now, Lanny Davis comes to mind. But I do have a soft spot for traitor Joe.
So the answer would be-no
Lieberman stands alone.
crack
Bush is going to resign in November to go haul brush. Then Cheney will be 44. Who knows what Cheney does.
SnarkyShark
I agree with this
Shrub was never the brains in that particular outfit, and all the GoOpers I know are already spouting the “Bush was never a true Conservative” line.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to mock and ridicule anybody who tries to sell that wormy can of shit.
Bush=conservatives=McSame
wash, rinse, repeat
P.S. Until actual conservative reject, denounce, and distance themselves from everything that happened from Nixon onward, they deserve to die by the bumpersticker slogan. They certainly lived by it.
Heres another t-shirt ready saying-
If your ideas are so good, than sell them on the free market of ideas.
Dennis - SGMM
Shit, Gramm has been a snake for a long time. He was one o the authors of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed portions of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act and allowed the banks to consolidate (Goodbye, local bank, hello Citigroup) and to offer insurance, investment and commercial banking services (Hello, meltdown).
GLBA was passed in 1999 and signed into law by Bill Clinton, near the end of Hillary’s eight years of White House experience.
Tim Fuller
Interesting that all these ‘rats leaving the sinking ship’ are in effect, admitting to the conspiracy themselves, yet no mention of prosecution. Scotty admits to knowingly going along (as does Powell in his retrospectives) of not only going along with the lies but being in positions of ACTIVELY PROMOTING THEM. Their defense is that ‘the boss told me to do it’. That defense doesn’t even work for a soldier in wartime when the act itself is illegal. War crimes tribunals or no justice.
Enjoy.
SnarkyShark
Yeah, he’s up to his ass in Enron too. McKranky is a stoOpid motherfucker for shacking up with this disease-ridden whore.
Fish in a barrel people.
SnarkyShark
Hee hee, thats some good snark there Dennis. Very subtle and very damning.
You’re good. Remind me not to piss you off anymore than I already have.;)
Scotty
Too bad McClellan’s story will outshine the more important one today, that McCain had an actual lobbyist writing his mortgage policy.
Dennis - SGMM
I’ve already heard some McCain apologists state that Gramm was de-registered as a lobbyist by UBS. That he is still a UBS vice-chairman renders his status as a lobbyist moot.
“Here, John, I wrote this policy even though it may hurt my employer.”
Riiiiiight.
biscuits
Cheney will finally die. He will then be blamed for every nefarious deed a la William Casey in Iran Contra.
Scotty
According to the article:
Therefore, Gramm supposedly stopped lobbying slightly more than a month ago, but was still advising McCain about economic policy two years prior to that. Still a big story.
SnarkyShark
Cyborgs can die?
BTW, that knocking you hear is probably the SS. Invite them in and brew some tea.*
*(yes I know that was ripped off from another commenter…sue me)
SnarkyShark
Yep. Your next mission, should you choose to accpet it, is to educate your fellow food units about how and who is fucking them economically. Since a lot of the who is on the straight talk express, I’m thinking they won’t be getting a warm fuzzy feeling for MCSame.
biscuits
Snarky, I have yet to receive a visit from the SS and I have posted my previous comment about Darth Cheney on other blogs.
I honestly believe he will not live long after he is out of office. What’s the point really? I don’t think there is any other position he could hold and do the same amount of damage. He will have nothing to live for.
pfrets
And, was helping McSame craft his policy / response to the mortgage crisis BEFORE he was de-registered. UBS has BIG exposure ($30B writedowns already) in that market.
Barbara
Haven’t Paul O’Neill and John Di Iulio more or less grabbed all the available honors? I mean, after their books, what possible excuse is there for the others to claim that they were hoodwinked for more than a day longer than it took to read them?
binzinerator
I want a copy too. And one for each of my kids. And some to put away as future gifts for any grandkids.
Sadly, it won’t undo the legacy the Bushies are leaving to them. But it may help lighten their spirits as they are forced to bear that onerous burden.
binzinerator
Then you thought wrong. “Unable to fully grapple with it” is such bullshit. He could have refused, he could have resigned, he could have written his book 5 years ago. He knew it was wrong, and he cravenly went along with it, aiding the deception. He became an accessory.
Allen says “McClellan charges that Bush relied on “propaganda” to sell the war”, but McClellan then admits he was part of that propaganda effort.
This is like Lord Haw-haw writing a book after the war lamenting the unfortunate use of propaganda to sell that war.
How can you say McClellan is an “alright guy” when in the book he continues to describe Bush as “authentic” and “sincere” yet admits to the world in the very same book Bush used lies to deceive an entire nation into an unjust war — and that he, McClellan, had helped Bush to do exactly that?
Your own cognitive dissonance can no where near come close to McClellan’s, but I’d say you’ve got some going on there.
That defense was tried before, at the Hague. It didn’t work.
This guy’s got it right:
We did as much to nazi and imperial japanese war criminals, for the selfsame crimes.