Scott McClellan has joined the growing list of Bush's insiders that have come out against actions taken by his Administration. You could call it Bush-Bashing if it came from Democrats or liberal bloggers, but when so many people that Bush appointed or commanded bring with the same general message, it's hard to dismiss them all. As the story unfolded yesterday, we saw the White House's immediate response saying that McClellan was "disgruntled" and his statements are "puzzling". I've compiled a list of several others that have come forward, and you may notice that many of these witnesses were also personally criticized and characterized by the Administration as being opportunists or grudge-holding critics. The chorus is getting louder, and Karl Roves "shoot the messenger" playbook is wearing thin.
Many of Bush's military appointees shared the view of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Shinseki and others who strongly disagreed with the civilian leadership's plans for the invasion, and more and more seem to agree with McClellan that this war was avoidable and intentionally misrepresented to the America public. There is just too much consistency in what these men have brought up to simply shrug off all of their statements as personal vendettas or desperate attempts to sell books. We are talking about people appointed by the President, four-star generals, and people who are sacrificing their own legacies by telling the truth about what went on during those fateful years when this war was sold and mishandled by the Bush Administration.
I don't mean to be harsh, but consider that Bush has been treated better than Clinton, and his crime was merely trying to hide an affair. We have watched Bush politicize everything, and Rove and company carry out swift character-assassination against individuals that have come out against them. Consider what they did to Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame, and how they fired several U.S. attorneys that Bush had appointed because they would not let the Executive and Legislative branches pressure them to use the Judiciary against their political rivals. His own Attorney General Ashcroft refused to sign off on the wiretap program, then he was replaced by yes-man Gonzales. He has gone through so many generals and commanders, some of which had to step out of their customary political silence to urge the President to fire the clearly inept Defense Secretary in the early years of the war.
I don't know who will be the next person to come forward, but I predict the White House will carry out a personal attack to discredit them, and people will unfortunately chose sides based on what they already believe.
