GOP Insiders Fret About What Former White House Spokesman Will Say

[Hissyspit]

Source: U.S. News & World Report

GOP Insiders Fret About What Former White House Spokesman Will Say

Ex-Press Secretary Scott McClellan is scheduled to testify before House panel on Friday

Posted June 18, 2008

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, scheduled for Friday, has some Republican insiders worried.

McClellan is expected to talk about his charges—made in his new book and in media interviews—that President Bush ordered the 2003 leak of portions of a classified intelligence document in order to discredit Iraq war critics. The committee members are also expected to quiz McClellan about the inner workings of the White House and what McClellan calls Bush's lack of candor about the need for the Iraq invasion.

White House officials are trying to play down the hearing. Spokesman Tony Fratto told the Wall Street Journal that "congressional Democrats will look for any bright, shiny object to divert attention from their embarrassing lack of accomplishment over the past two years."

But other GOP strategists say McClellan's experience could underscore one of the weak points of the West Wing—the conversion of the press secretary's job, at least under McClellan, into what some call a propagandist. "The press secretary has become the mouthpiece and not the fact checker," says a former senior adviser to a Republican president.

Read more: http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2008/06/18...

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[tridim]

1. Ha ha!

Suck on it GOP. Did you really think you'd get away with the past 8 years without someone blowing the whistle?

[kestrel91316]

2. Scotty needs to stay out of small airplanes. And I hope he has a bodyguard

so he doesn't get "suicided" before he testifies.

[Ian David]

10. I predict that if this happens, it will be by alleged "auto-erotic asphyxiation."

You know.

So it seems credible.

[The Doctor.]

17. I expect they'll find him like so;

"A 34-year-old white male found dead in the basement of his home died of suffocation, according to police. He was approximately 6'2" tall and weighed 225 pounds. He was wearing a pleated skirt, white bra, black and white saddle shoes, and a woman's wig. It appeared that he was trying to create a schoolgirl's uniform look. He was also wearing a military gas mask that had the filter canister removed and a rubber hose attached in its place. The other end of the hose was connected to a one end of a hollow wooden tube approx. 12" long and 3" in diameter. The tube's other end was inserted into his rear end for reasons unknown, and was the cause of his suffocation. Police found the task of explaining the circumstances of his death to his family very awkward."

http://www.funny.co.uk/stuff/art_172-948-The-Darwin-Awa...

[redqueen]

3. Will HE be required to testify under oath?

Or is this another dog and pony show?

[librechik]

16. he voluteered and it will be under oath--as Rove's would be, too, since any Congressional

testimony is assumed for legal purposes, to be under oath. Rove's desperate claims otherwise are merely some kind of inoculation, or cheapening in advance of the power of Congress to interrogate.

They are just disgruntled, since they will no longer be able to claim Scotty's revelations are merely some tell-all book--they will be sworn testimony!

[redqueen]

19. About that 'assumed for legal purposes' stuff...

if that were the case... why the insistence, starting just after 9/11, IIRC, about refusing to testify under oath?

[librechik]

20. I think they were just spinning, hoping to escape accountability

and our weak Congress and DOJ let them, even though it was a farce--but I can't say for sure. It also must somehow bolster their exceptionalism, to declare the executives are "above" the requirements of ordinary citizens.

Weasels.

[Judi Lynn]

4. So Bush's spokesman Tony Fratto's response is to insult Democrats? So predictable.

"...bright, shiny object to divert attention from their embarrassing lack of accomplishment over the past two years."



Fratto
Sounds silly, doesn't it? Consistantly venomous, but stupid! As insults go, embarrassing in its lack of focus.

[jaysunb]

5. Embarrassing in it's lack of

common sense.

Exactly who has been blocking any and all progress ????

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

6. Indeed...

I hope he sings like a mob informant.

[jaysunb]

22. Welcome to DU

[asjr]

7. In fear for his life I expect Scotty to cave

and not tell us anything of value that we do not know already.

[W2Hague]

8. McClellan Testimony

Being that a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words are there in a Flash animation?
-Titled "SCOTTIE'S NEW TEETH", this is my homage to Mr. McClellan's upcoming testimony before Congress.
Disseminate as you see fit.

Peace,
D.L. "Bear" Bruin
http://www.bruindesign.com

[rosesaylavee]

9. Sing McClellan. Belt it out.

K & R

[Javaman]

11. Now that will be some must see TV. LOL nt

[Cali_Democrat]

12. Excellent!!

[tanyev]

13. Gracious. Not so smug anymore, are they?

Whatever happened to the new reality they were going to create?

[katty]

14. o yeah, like 'f/u cheney' really cares...now, at the final hours

after we've all been screwed by the bush/cheney cultists.

[babylonsister]

15. Bwhahaha! Let 'em sweat! nt

[Stinky The Clown]

18. Will *this* be on teevee?

Or will they show Russert reruns?

[pacalo]

21. I have a feeling Scott resents having been used as a propagandist.

I just wonder how many ex-WH officials had spoken to Scott since the book came out.

"They didn't let him (McClellan) see things for himself. They just told him what to say," the former adviser says.

And he doubts that McClellan had the walk-in-anytime Oval Office access that the best of his predecessors had, such as Marlin Fitzwater, who served Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and Mike McCurry, who served Bill Clinton.

I hope he has fire in his belly when he testifies.