Op-Ed: Scott McClellan's Book, Does He Have An Axe To Grind?

Former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan has recently made the news by writing a scathingly critical " tell all" book concerning The President along with certain members of his cabinet. The book appears to be a sort of payback for his being fired.

Now, being fired from a job one particularly likes is never pleasant, but it is a fact of life. And there are many ways to deal with such a blow. I know of one person who after being dismissed from his job as a used car salesman, showed up at the car lot the next day with a bull horn and proceeded to announced to the customers that this particular dealership was a disreputable place that sold lemons to unsuspecting customers. According to what I was told, as people began to leave the car lot because of his nasty accusations the owner came running furiously out of the building yelling at the disgruntled ex-employee that if he didn't leave the premises immediately the police would be called. The guy then gave the owner the finger and promptly left. What exactly this feat accomplished, well, it beats the hell out of me. But the ex- car salesman more than likely derived a great deal of satisfaction from his disgruntled demonstration. Which brings me to Scott McClellan and his book " What Happened: Inside The Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception". In an article in

The New York Daily News

the former press secretary attacked Bush on the Iraq War by saying,"Waging an unnecessary war is a grave mistake. I've come to believe that an even more fundamental mistake was made - a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed." He also takes potshots at people like Karl Rove and gives us his take on the CIA Leak Scandal in which McClellan claims,"I was caught up in this deception. What I said was not true. I had unknowingly passed along false information." Meanwhile, The White House is firing back at these allegations with guns blazing. Press Secretary Dana Perino told The New York Daily News," I don't think that this is so much writing history as rewriting history." And several other members of The Bush Administration are denouncing McClellan's hatchet job as well. And as you can imagine, the press are having themselves a field day. The general consensus among those in Bush's cabinet is that all of them wonder why McClellan never made as much as one complaint during his years as press secretary, yet now he's pointing fingers and naming names as to the supposed deceptions perpetrated by those in The White House. This is plainly a case of someone with an axe to grind who is using his book as a means in which to accomplish this feat. Look, I 'll be the first to admit that President Bush has made his share of mistakes, as well as some political missteps, but this book is nothing more than McClellan's way of lashing out at an administration that gave him the old heave ho from his much coveted position as press secretary. And I'll bet my last dollar that McClellan will get some form of payback down the road from The Republican Party. You don't turn on your party as savagely as he did and not suffer any repercussions. However, McClellan's book, which is currently at No. 1 on Amazon.com should provide President Bush's detractors with more ammunition as to why they should despise him and his presidency.This book will be a real treat for them to read. After all, if one of his former aides has so much dirt on him, he must be a terrible president, right? The answer to that is, only if you choose to buy into McClellan's pack of delusional lies.