Hooey

I haven't read it yet, but from interviews I've heard thus far, I'm not impressed with former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's new book, What Happened.

Not because he was disloyal-- I believe that loyalty doesn't demand a lobotomy, and I think things have gone on in the White House that one shouldn't be loyal to.

No, I'm irritated by the extend to which he absolves everyone of responsibility. Consider the following from his interview with NPR:

"I don't think it was intentional or deliberate," McClellan says. "What happened here was we got caught up in the very thing the president campaigned against when he was first running for president back in 2000 — the destructive, partisan tone in Washington."

and later in the same interview:

"It's not a deliberate effort on the president's part or many of his advisers to go out there and be misleading or engage in spin. It's just the way the game's become played in Washington, and we embraced it too often," he says.

If we don't hold our presidents accountable FOR THE WAY THEY CHOOSE TO GOVERN, who do we hold accountable? Or do we turn all public discourse into a playground free-for-all of "Joey did it first!"

I don't like that Scott McClellan ignored his better angels and lied to the press and the American people. But I'm disgusted at the cowardice with which he excuses himself.