The Ethical Code Violated, the People's Trust Betrayed... [McClellan: Now, Let's Sell Books Based on Trespasses While in Office]

No Ethical Barriers Could Stop the Bushies from Accomplishing their Mission!

Everyone has a sense of what's appropriate regardless of what the law is. I suppose that most people don't commit crimes because they think it's a bad thing to do; and they do so not because of the fear of punishment. Of course, I understand that a civil society relies on both--an ethical code and punishment, but I want to focus on the perception of what's appropriate. What's that ethical guide that makes people do the right thing even if there is no threat of legal punishment?

I just read some excerpts from the book by Scott McClellan (Bush's press secretary from 2003 to 2006), and I now dislike McClellan more than when he was pushing the Bush agenda from the White House podium. In addition to pleading being "misled" by others [like Lewis Libby and Carl Rove] in the Bush administration, he now admits that he played a part in pulling this huge misinformation campaign to deceive the public and plunge the country into a war, because his boss wanted to leave a greater mark in history than his father, Bush 41.

So, in plain language, McClellan is now trying to make money from his disservice to the country! Much like the former CIA chief, George Tenet [see post on this blog] tried to do recently. I bet you, Collin Powell and Condie Rice will come out with nice book deals to try to re-write history and make money while doing so. Yet, when their integrity was needed to serve the country, they conveniently and cowardly violated the ethical code of standing up and speaking the truth--and, if necessary, resigning in protest. We are not talking about minor policy issues or a difference of opinion here, but about propaganda to mislead the country into a bloody war of bad choice, to name one serious trespass.

When too many horrible things happen, they may blend into a mangled painful memory, so let me refresh our memory: Weapons of mass destruction, smoking gun in the form of mushroom cloud, Al Qaeda-911-Saddam, hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans disaster, Valery Plame's secret identity leak, torture & rendition, secret & illegal domestic spying...

Who could honestly tell us with a straight face that they served the nation when they facilitated unethical and illegal government policies? Only those who, with the same face & without missing a beat, told us they came to power to "restore honor and integrity to the White House"!!!

Update, 5/31

Bush&Co always had the same message that everybody repeats like a parot. They decide on a script and they stick to it. I'm talking about the same language and terminology. Now, they've decided that come-too-lately McClellan sounds "like a left-wing blogger"!

• Former White House aide Karl Rove: “First of all, this doesn’t sound like Scott. It really doesn’t. Not the Scott McClellan I’ve known for a long time. Second of all, it sounds like somebody else. It sounds like a left-wing blogger.”


• Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer: “We were wrong about whether Saddam had a WMD but that didn’t mean the president manipulated anything. And Scott uses the very same words that the far-left uses and I find that troubling because I find it inaccurate.”


• Former counselor to the President Dan Bartlett: “But he uses these very infammatory and explosive words like, ’shading the truth,’ ‘propaganda,’ all these touchstones of the liberal left, which really makes me pause to think, ‘are these Scott’s words or are they the words of a liberal publisher who’s the guy behind this book.” [The Mike Gallagher Show, 5/30/08]

Does the truth have a liberal bias? McClellan is affirming what most us understood long time ago, but the conservatives refuse to acknowledge publically and are still trying to play the public for a fool.

PS>In a seemingly unrelated story about appropriate messages to the American consumer, the conservatives were upset that Dunkin Donuts coffee ads would remind Americans of anything even remotely Arabic... This ridiculous claim--that Rachel Ray's scarf looked Arabic--carried weight, because the conservative lunatic fringe is not marginal in the US. So, DD pulled this ad! [Here's the link and a photo, judge for yourselves]