WASHINGTON — Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan, under attack from former colleagues, mounted an all-day defense Thursday of his decision to go negative on a president who had been so positive for him.

"For the most part, it's what I expected," he said of the administration blowback against his book, "that the White House would prefer I not talk about events and circumstances that I experienced at the White House openly and candidly."

AP Photo/Richard Drew (ENLARGE)

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan is interviewed Thursday by NBC 'Today' television program co-host Meredith Vieira.

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But in a phone call from a 10th-floor New York hotel room that offered a brief respite from dawn-to-post-dusk media interviews, McClellan said the reaction was hotter than expected.

"It's a little surprising the personal nature of some of it, but it's the way Washington works today and you expect it," he said, noting he has received several supportive e-mails, including some from former colleagues he declined to identify.

The tone of McClellan's day was set at dawn on the "Today" show.

"I have a higher loyalty than my loyalty necessary to my past work. That's a loyalty to the truth and it's a loyalty to the values I was raised on," he said on the show.

It was a day of attention that helped push McClellan's book -- "What Happened. Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Corruption" -- to the top of Amazon.com's best-seller list.

And it was a day that put McClellan back on a hot seat he thought he had left after his appearance at the podium in the White House Briefing Room.

"It is the book I wanted to write," he said in the phone interview. "This was a long and tough process as I sought to understand some of the larger truths more clearly."

He denied accusations that the book was torqued up under pressure from a publisher more concerned about profits than history.

"This is the book that I wrote," McClellan said, noting some input from an editor but saying there was no ghostwriter. "It was a constant work in progress, but the overall narrative was always focused on how things went so badly off course and, as I was working through the process, looking at this permanent campaign culture."

Now firmly entrenched in promoting the book, McClellan said he has made no plans beyond it. He recently ended his relationship with California-based HHB Inc., where he served as senior vice president for corporate and government affairs for the technology firm.

McClellan, who said he's always voted for a Republican for president, also noted he's not ready to commit to doing it again this year. He professed "a lot of admiration and respect" for probable GOP nominee Sen. John McCain but said he is "intrigued by Senator (Barack) Obama's message, which is similar to President Bush's message in 2000."

"But I think whoever it may be, if they are seriously committed to changing the way Washington works, then they need to have a plan in place. It's a very difficult thing to do and if you aren't constantly engaged and focused on doing it, it is probably not going to happen, as we came to learn," he said.

The "Today" appearance put McClellan in split-screen counterpoint with longtime friend and former White House counselor Dan Bartlett, one of many current and former Bush aides upset about McClellan's book, which charges the administration misled the nation into the war in Iraq, a war McClellan once defended but now deems "unnecessary."

"He never communicated to us that he had these personal misgivings," Bartlett said. "There's not a lot of specific evidence about the most explosive charges."

In the book, McClellan said Bush and top aides engaged in "shading the truth" and other misleading tactics in order to garner public support for the war.

"I was in doubt, like a lot of Americans," McClellan said on "Today." "I felt like we were rushing into this. But because of my position and my affection for the president and my belief and trust in he and his advisers, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Looking back on it, reflecting on it now, I don't think I should have."

Asked if it was cowardly not to speak up at the time, McClellan said, "I think my views were different then ... you've got to be able to step back and look at the big picture and see what you can learn from this so you don't make the same mistakes in the future."

"I don't think this is a book I could have written two years ago," he said. "These words didn't come easy to me in terms of putting them down on paper, but they were very important to openly and forthrightly share with the American people."

The White House, responding to a second day of questions about the book, continued to push back against it.

"Do we defend the president's record vigorously?" said press secretary Dana Perino. "Yes, you bet we do."

She challenged "parts of the book that suggest that there was propaganda" to support a rush to war.

"I just don't know how substantiated that is in the book ... where, when, how, specifically?" Perino said.

Asked about the book Thursday at a Stockholm news conference, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a target of sharp criticism from McClellan, denied that Bush misled the nation into the war in Iraq.

The president, she said, was "very clear about the reasons for going to war" and that the United States was not alone in relying on faulty intelligence indicating Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Predictably, McClellan got solid support Thursday from his mother, a politician who knows a thing or two about evolving allegiances. Former Austin Mayor and State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn started as a Democrat, became a Republican and then opted for independent status for a recent unsuccessful gubernatorial bid.

"He can be Scott now. He's not speaking for the president. He's speaking for himself," said Strayhorn, adding that she reviewed the chapters as he finished them.

"He was taught to speak up," she said. "He was taught you just don't criticize, you also offer solutions. I know it was tough on him, but I tell you, I think it was the best thing to be done for Scott. He knows who he is."

Strong opinions from readers

Like most things about Bush, the book has sparked deep polarization. As the controversy sizzles, customer reviews of the book have popped up on Amazon.com.

"It was as certain as heat in a Texas summer that Bush's choke hold on those who know the ugly truth about his administration would not last forever," reviewer C. Chesser of New York wrote. "We are finally realizing as a nation how badly Bush's criminally incompetent, arrogant, dishonest presidency has come to destroying our prosperity and our very way of life."

Others saw McClellan as more opportunist than truth-teller.

"The word 'principled' will never be used to describe him," wrote D. Stevenson of Philadelphia. "While it's true that wisdom gained late is better than wisdom never gained, it is hard to imagine that Mr. McClellan had a mea culpa epiphany, not with a fat advance staring him in the face."

McClellan, who has declined to talk about how much he could make from the book, has professed continued admiration for Bush but said on "Today" he didn't know if he'd ever speak with him again.

"I don't know. I certainly don't expect it any time soon. I know this is a tough book for some people to accept," he said.

'Tears were streaming down both cheeks'

Deep in the book, in a passage about his forced resignation, McClellan recounts an Oval Office meeting with Bush a few days after Chief of Staff John Bolten told McClellan he was out as part of an effort to re-make a "White House that is severely crippled."

McClellan wrote that Bush was complimentary and "went on speaking for a moment or two about how much he appreciated my service and how much he would miss me."

"His charm was on full display, but it was hard to know if it was sincere or just an attempt to make me feel better. But as he continued, something I had never seen before happened: tears were streaming down both cheeks," he wrote. "I found myself in the uncomfortable position of consoling the president: 'It's OK, sir,' I said. 'I am ready to go. It's been a long ride.' We visited a while longer and had a warm embrace."

-- Austin American-Statesman reporter W. Gardner Selby contributed to this report.