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DEL.ICIO.USYou don’t say…really?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“If anything, the national press corps was probably too deferential to the White House and to the administration in regard to the most important decision facing the nation during my years in Washington, the choice over whether to go to war in Iraq.
“The collapse of the administration’s rationales for war, which became apparent months after our invasion, should never have come as such a surprise. … In this case, the ‘liberal media’ didn’t live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served.”
— Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, as quoted by politico.com from his new book.
Comments
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By Red Foreman
May 28, 2008 8:25 AM | Link to this
What a joke. He got tossed from the Whitehouse, so he writes a book bashing the President, then every liberal in the country touts it as the truth.
Come on Jay, write about something that matters, like how the price of bourbon is going uo due to the corn shortage…or maybe why Bigfoot is so hard to find.
By Charles
May 28, 2008 8:30 AM | Link to this
“The most important thing the Clinton administration could have done would have been for the president, either himself or by going to Congress, asking for a congressional declaration to declare war on al-Qaida, a military-political organization that had declared war on us.”
“Bill Clinton ignored repeated opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden and his terrorist allies and is responsible for the spread of terrorism. I know because I negotiated more than one of the opportunities. The silence of the Clinton administration in responding to these offers was deafening. Thank Clinton for ‘Hydra-like Monster’. As an American Muslim and a political supporter of Clinton, I feel now, as I argued with Clinton and Berger then, that their counter-terrorism policies fueled the rise of bin Laden from an ordinary man to a Hydra-like monster.”
By Eric1
May 28, 2008 8:43 AM | Link to this
Say something about Dubya and some embicile will inevitably say “well Bill Clinton….yada yada yada. No matter what Bill Clinton did do or did not do it does not change the fact that George W Bush is the absolute worst president in the history of the world. That’s a fact that will be verfied by history. No question about it.
By Red Foreman
May 28, 2008 8:54 AM | Link to this
No Eric1, Jimmy Carter(Iran,The Econmy) was the worst president, followed closley by Woodrow Wilson(The Great Depression).Bush probally runs middle of the pack. Great presidents were more like Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Franklin D Roosevelt.
By the way, have you seen Bigfoot latley?
By Red Foreman
May 28, 2008 9:02 AM | Link to this
Sorry Eric1, I meant Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover on the Depression…In matter of fact, the whole group betweeen Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt pretty much sucked wind…
By Larry
May 28, 2008 12:16 PM | Link to this
The failure of the press extended far past the decision making period.
During the opening days of the Iraq invasion, US and British war planes were striking targets in Northern Iraq, where Saddam had no supporters, and I seemed to be the only person in the county wondering why.
The answer came in the Lord Butler report, released by the British government in July 2004; the targets were Al Qaida facilities involved in the production of chemical and biological weapons.
Our top government officials knew exactly where Bin Ladin’s camps were located – among Saddam’s enemies the Kurds, not in central Iraq cooperating with Saddam.
This should have been front page news since it proves what the administration really knew, but I never saw it mentioned.
By Red Foreman
May 28, 2008 1:14 PM | Link to this
I did not realize Jay was not a true southerner, that explains his liberal bias and bad attitude.
By the way Jay, I wish you would comment on rising corn prices and their the price of bourbon…now that would be news!
ps.It looks like Bigfoot was realy Cynthia Tucker in a fur coat. Sorry for the false alarm and “misleading” information. pss. Congress has an 18.7% approval rating and is controlled by DEMOCRATS.
By Jay Bookman
May 28, 2008 1:32 PM | Link to this
Red, you of all people should not be accusing others of a bad attitude. But yes, I share your concern. I have a great fondness for Woodford Reserve, on the rocks, and will no doubt be sipping a bit tonight to celebrate my daughter’s high school graduation. Wish her well…
By Copyleft
May 28, 2008 2:35 PM | Link to this
Of COURSE the media rolled over and played dead during the run-up to invading Iraq. Everyone was “behind the President” no matter what damfool thing he proposed, terrified of appearing “soft on terrorism” or “unpatriotic” or whatever the slur of the week was from the neocons, who were wetting their pants in excitement.
McClellan’s at least five years late in pointing out the media’s blind, uncritical acceptance of everything the administration had to say. Heck, the media THEMSELVES have already admitted that screw-up.
We need journalists, not stenographers.