Bush: The Pro-Lie President

Who knew the Pillsbury Doughboy had the cajones to tell the truth about Dubya?

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, whose press briefings I used to check out more regularly than I should probably admit, was almost a sympathetic figure in that capacity. He always came across to me as somebody who was in way over his head for the task required of him...very much like Mr. Bush himself, actually.

I was not surprised when he left. However, I never expected him to be a newsmaker in retirement.

Imagine my surprise when he leaked a bombshell, from his upcoming book about his White House experience, that essentially blames Bush and Veep Cheney as being part of a cabal of 5 that deliberately misled McClellan on the Plame incident. I am referring to the infamous press briefing where McClellan told reporters he had been assured by both Rove and Libby that they had nothing to do with leaking Plame's identity as a covert agent to reporters.

From a story today in AP,

"In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame.

"'There was one problem. It was not true,' McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Tuesday. 'I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself.'"

Interestingly, we get no further details on what this means, as McClellan is refusing additional comment. However, if it is indeed true, the repercussions for whatever shred remains of Bush's credibility is enormous.

Forget about allegedly being pro-life, I have already discussed how ludicrous it is for folks like Bush to even use that term. This would solidify the Commander-in-Chief's standing as the first pro-lie president.

It's amazing what the lure of bucks and the marketing of a memoir will do to transform one's character, eh?