Move To Discredit McClellan For Anti-Bush Memoir Has Begun (UPDATED)

Yesterday we did this post that detailed former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s new memoir that blasts President George Bush, Bush political maven Karl Rove and the White House in general. And we noted that, the if past was any indication, a move would start to discredit him and his book.

It apparently has already begun.

Mark Halperin, noting that the book has dominated the morning news/talk shows, has these tidbits:

NBC quotes a response from a former White House “senior adviser”:

“This book has left many of Scott’s closest friends puzzled and shocked… He never expressed any reservations while serving. To do so in a highly publicized book is what makes people lose faith in those who work in Washington.”

Karl Rove on Fox News:

“That doesn’t sound like the Scott I know, it sounds like a left-wing blogger… If he had these moral qualms, he should have spoken out about them.”

[See the Rove video HERE]

Halperin notes that McClellan will be appearing on the Today Show Thursday — which means you can expect to see a lot more comments aimed at him and his book to take the edge off it and discredit him and his allegations. (He must be acting like a leftist…he must be a disgruntled employee…he must be writing what he’s writing and exaggerating to get money for his book…)

Rove’s comment is particularly telling: he automatically likens McClellan to a “left-wing blogger,” which pushes the political hot button among Fox viewers.

Expect more of the same in the next few days. And you can guess what Rush and Sean will be saying about McClellan on their shows today: they’ll focus on going after McClellan a la Rove and the unnamed quote, but avoid, downplay or dismiss outright the allegations.

NOTE: In our post yesterday (be sure to go to the link and read it) we noted that McClellan was not considered one of the most beloved or skilled press secretaries. That still does NOT obscure or negate his allegations. But The Weekly Standard’s Michael Goldfarb does make a point here:

Ask fifty Washington reporters for an assessment of Scott McClellan and forty-nine of them will give you some version of this: He’s a nice guy who was in way over his head. (Most of them will be tougher in their analysis of his intellect.)

Given the imminent release of McClellan’s “surprisingly scathing” book about the Bush administration, in the words of super-reporter Mike Allen, expect him to be praised as insightful and wise beyond his years in the coming weeks.

So, yes, SOME may well try to rewrite history. On the other hand, the degree of his intellect will not take away from his allegations — except among those who have a political interest in trying to discredit them.

Nor will whether he was a terrific press secretary or change his allegations which fit in with other material written about the Bush administration and it increasingly documented credibility issues. McClellan’s book will be one more confirmation of what historians will write about as a Bush administration characteristic. Many historians are now calling Bush the worst President in American history.

McClellan sweating on camera or whether he was a great press secretary or not won’t take away from his book’s critical content. Except among we-always-play-defense talk show hosts and those who have a political interest in defending the administration.

UPDATE:
–More news stories that offer more allegations that we originally listed here and here.