Breaking: McClellan next on chopping block

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/04/03/mcclellan-gone/

Breaking: Scott McClellan ‘Next On the Chopping Block’
CNN’s Kathleen Koch reports this morning that Scott McClellan is “next on the chopping block” at the White House.



Transcript:

According to both administration and GOP insiders, we’re hearing here at CNN that Press Secretary Scott McClellan and Treasury Secretary John Snow could be the next ones to be shown to the door.

Now, why McClellan? Several sources familiar with the thinking of new White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten say that immediately, right out of gate, he began on focusing on improving White House communications in order to regenerate the White House’s — the administration’s message, the performance — you know those poll numbers are really lagging right now. One White House insider says there’s been “a lot of dissatisfaction with the state of communications.”

At the same time, though, very important to point out that there are many who insist that McClellan is very secure because of his close personal relationship with President Bush. We are hearing that if McClellan were to leave, that one name being floated as a possible replacement is White House counselor Dan Bartlett.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Down go all the sacrificial lambs.

How about a few firings with substance?
We want the policy makers... not the errand boys.

[Inland]

14. No, it's all a problem of communication and PR.

All you need is for someone to explain it better, by which I mean, someone with no brain or conscience that will stumble over obvious lies and discrepancies.

[C_U_L8R]

21. That's exactly why they are so fk'd

to paraphrase an old ad guy...
PR and Spin will only make a bad product fail faster

[July]

24. That's all they know, as John DiIulio pointed out in Bush's first year

when he called the Bush gang "Mayberry Machiavellis." They have no expertise, competence, or insight, just smears, PR, and the Mighty Wurlitzer.

[JDPriestly]

41. This is the Harvard business school doctrine at work.

All sales, no product. All talk, no walk. All numbers and graphs, no sense of the human reality behind it.

The bottom line -- here the poll numbers -- is the only value. Truth is what you want it to be, what you say it is. And the only test of merit is how good you look.

Well, McClellan has played that game long enough. He lied and lied and covered up -- and, as he should have expected, his number is up. Bush is "loyal" to the highest bidder -- and McClellan's not got much left to bid. This is no surprise. It is about time.

The new press secretary will get a honeymoon during which Bush will be off the hook. This change is just in time for the 2006 elections. It will throw the press off their axis for a number of months -- just the time the Bush administration needs to pull the hood of the American people for the mid-terms.

The one thing the Bush administration is good at is manipulating the news. And making a change in the press office at this time is yet another means to distract, confuse, control, twist and cover up the lies and failures.

[Inland]

58. When Bob Dole was running for office,

there was a joke being told:

At a conference room at a dog food maker, the boss was chewing out his people.

"We have the biggest product rollout ever for our new and improved dog food. We had the biggest, most expensive promotions, and the biggest and most expensive ad buys ever! But sales are terrible! How can you explain this failure?!?"

There's silence, then somebody raises his hand and says, softly: "Dogs don't like it."

Thus it is with Bush. We don't like how it's going.

[Zan_of_Texas]

61. Yep. Everything JDP said.

Spin IS all the Bushies are good at.

Well, unless you count stealing elections, which requires spin to make people believe they really voted for these creeps.

I have no sympathy for Ari or Scottie -- they took jobs that require lying and distraction as a way of life, and never giving any meaningful information. That said, who would take such a job? Talk about thankless.

[Zan_of_Texas]

62. A little Scottie humor.

My online friend Didius wrote:
"I just found out that Scott McClellan makes $125,000 per year as BushCo's Press Secretary. That sounds like a lot of money, but it doesn't sound so bad when you look at it as piecework - it comes out to about 50 cents per lie..."

My online friend Charles wrote:
"Scott McClellan sounds like a Chatty Cathy doll -- just pull the string, and one of ten phrases comes out. 'Helen, we have liberated the Iraqi people.'"

[cantstandbush]

63. Screw "communications." It's MESSAGE that's the problem!!

And doesn't Scotty and the rest of the media spin the propaganda exactly like the WH orders? My God, they have an entire network enterprise working for them (FOX) and they still want to gripe about communications?

[0007]

2. Rummy will be packing in the next few days.

[BlueEyedSon]

5. Not a chance

[FSogol]

3. Good riddance. n/t

[Earth_First]

4. To be replaced by none other than...The Telescreen n/t

[shenmue]

6. Now Simple Scotty will have to get a *real* job

What's something of his intellectual caliber? Lint remover at the laundromat?

:dunce:

[FormerDittoHead]

32. They'll be lots of openings at future Nuke plants... n/t

[underpants]

7. *** NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.welovescottmcclellan.com/

[Viva_La_Revolution]

10. I'll miss the little turd

not!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

15. Great Graphic ! Love it, Underpants !!!

[goclark]

60. BINGO Award!

That is right on the money.

[madokie]

8. goodbye snotty scotty, I'm tired of hearing how impordant it is

Learn to pronounce your words snotty, mommys boy.

[Kierkegaard]

9. How ironic that the real problem will never be addressed.

Their solution is to replace some PR knuckleheads with people who can lie more convincingly? How about some impeachment hearings for the two top spots? That would go a long way toward cleaning up the communication problems...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

17. Actually, I think Scotty is a great liar, You mean there are better ones?

[Kierkegaard]

26. That's hard to say. I guess it's possible.

My point is that the perception from above, from those forcing the possible resignation, may view it that way.

I don't completely agree with you, however. I think McClellan is a liar alright, but he isn't the least bit convincing.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

33. You are right. I agree, he is not convincing. "Liar" is not

the right term.

The best I could find to describe is that he is a preemptory.
He excels in "putting an end to all debate or action"

Actually, I don't think he is getting booted out. Several days ago, there were rumors that he wanted to leave.

[Kierkegaard]

37. I think you're correct.

That is an accurate assessment.

I doubt he's getting fired. Probably battle fatigue after all that misdirection.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. LOL - Bye-bye Snotty

How I hate to see ya go...

[xultar]

12. I love Scotty! Who else in the WH more signifies the bullshit than him.

He did EXACTLY what he was told.

EXACTLY.

He took it hook line & sinker and he's getting the axe.

They put this shit out so he can go and resign to spend more time with his lover. What was that guys name?

[Inland]

16. Really. He lied as well as he could, better than most.

Not his fault.

[Virginian]

13. Is Bartlett a better liar?

Scotty has lost credibility with everyone. None of us believe him. Has he worn out his position? I half way expected the WH Press corps to start laughing at him when he said things they knew to be untrue.

I guess he is quitting to spend more time with Jeff Gannon?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. ouch. Scotty's gay???

[AllegroRondo]

30. Not that theres anything wrong with that.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

34. that's a given

[Virginian]

48. I have no problem with it unless...

He makes life more difficult for other gays. Then it should come back to bite him. Scotty supports the party that makes gay marriage a wedge issue.
Who was Jeff Gannon's connection int he White House? It has only been speculated that it was Scotty. It is logical that it was Scotty. Scotty called on the hypocrit all the time to get him out of having to call on serious journalists like Hellen Thomas.
IMHO, Scotty's buddy Jeff is having too much fun playing the field to be interested in marriage, but there are lots of other gays who don't live that wild lifestyle who would like to legalize a commitment.

[rainbow4321]

18. Probably will say he is going to help his mother's TX campaign

Her campaign for governor...that way the WH can make it look like it was HIS decision to leave, as opposed to them kicking rats off the sinking ship.

[MichiganVote]

19. No More Marshmellow McClellan?!? Horrors!

[shenmue]

47. Yeah...

Who am I going to laugh at now?

:cry:

:dunce:

[MichiganVote]

55. Best straight man comic on the air. Jeez.....Maybe he'll go to Colbert

[Cooley Hurd]

22. Not for nothing, but McClellan is hardly the problem with this admin...

:shrug:

[xultar]

29. True. They are killing off the face of the monster not the monster itself

[MikeNY]

45. Well it's gotta be the people thats the problem

I mean it can't be the policy direction or lack thereof... Why would anyone think that? I mean, with the war going great and all...

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. There's only one man left who's up to the job

You know it makes sense!

[underpants]

31. OR

Now his recent appearances is making sense.

[giant_robot]

51. How about....

It also makes sense!

[muriel_volestrangler]

53. I'm really not sure who that is

but there's a certain similarity to Patrick Malahide playing the Reverend Casaubon, the boring, stilting, repressive cleric in 'Middlemarch':



maybe after a bad night ...

[giant_robot]

67. That's Grima Wormtounge from the Lord of the Rings

Come to think of it, Grima Wormtongue wouldn't be a good man for the job, since he was an evil advisor who put an honorable king under a foul spell. So I'm withdrawing my nomination of Grima in favor of another LOTR character, the Mouth of Sauron, who was an evil bastard who was the mouthpiece for an even bigger evil bastard.

[deutsey]

25. Here's a picture of his replacement

[xultar]

28. ...

:rofl:

[DS1]

27. They should get Tony Clifton

[Norquist Nemesis]

35. Bush won't be 'chopping' anyone loyal

McClellan just might be hinting that he wants to go work on his Momma's campaign...the one who chose to sidestep party affiliation by running as an Independant in Texas.

McClellan's been sweating bullets though and he has a terrible poker face. So, if he's going, it's because he decided not Bush or Bolten.

If Bartlett took his place, it's just another example of office shuffle...but not a shakeup as the Rove talking points like to coin it.

[KG]

36. how would replacing one bald-faced lair with another improving chimpys

image?

[npincus]

38. or.. could it be the WH knows Fitzmas is coming...

those so-called rumored indictments coming down the pike (recent Rawstory report)and with Rove back in the spotlight, it is a reminder that Scotty's credibility is shot, as when he guaranteed that Rove was not involved in Plamegate.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

42. Hmmm. Maybe Scotty will be actually named in the indictment,

a la Tim Russert. Because Rove told Scotty he had "nothing to do with it" or something to that effect.

[me b zola]

56. And if more indictments are imminent...

...They install the WH council to field questions. :think:

[peekaloo]

39. Bartlett is such a smug arsewipe. But he seems to have better

language skills than Spotty, who seems to have taken "adjective overuse" class from Pickles.

[HughBeaumont]

40. You mean Scotty 2 Snotty is only a year older than me?

I thought he was in his mid 40s. Damn, I guess all of that lying and tornado-spinning ages you something fierce, in addition to making you a pasty fleshmound.

[Zorra]

43. They should make Rush Limbaugh Press Secretary.

Other than chimpy, he's about the only person I can think of that can lie more unabashedly to the American people than McLielan.

[bullwinkle428]

44. If the message isn't good, always kill the messenger!

Yeah, that's the ticket!

[catmandu57]

46. They're killing the messenger, but, the message still sucks

Great big green ones at that, there's no way in hell to improve this assholes image, the whole damn thing is crumbling, the more blocks they pull out the better. Like a jenga game, they may think that they have the right block, but suprise the pile collapses on them.
Go for it boys, pull that next block out.

[savemefromdumbya]

49. Lots of removal vans running to and from the WH

[brooklynite]

50. So, if people don't like the message...

...you shoot the messenger?

[Bake]

52. Not so sure about a "honeymoon"

Snotty Scotty may be sent packing, but I'm not so sure that the WH press corps will give Bartlett (or whoever) a honeymoon. They SEEM to have found their collective spines, and with the stories about "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" I'm not so sure they'll just roll over.

But I've been disappointed before.

Bake

[lies and propaganda]

54. ah, the messengers.

Poor Scotty the Liar, youre expendable as well! Just like soldiers! and people from NOLA!

[WI_DEM]

57. Kill the messengers, but keep the same message

until the chimp goes nothing changes.

[radio4progressives]

59. wtf? McClellan was planning on leaving early, to run his mother's campaign

in Texas.. i forget the office, i think it's for State Secretary of Treasury (?) some office in Texas .. She wanted her son to run her campaign months and months ago this was reported.

Not every position is a "chopping block" ...

I think McClellan wanted to leave a long time ago - particularly when he was lied to by Scooter Libby and Karl Rove. When his mom decided to throw her hat in a campaign ring, she asked him to run it for her, or to be his communications person (i forget now) .. this story was out months ago..

[Cleita]

64. I don't think he could find a bigger liar than Scotty and that's

what they need. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. LOL

[TheMadMonk]

65. Has anyone considered what sort of opportunity ...

these "shakeups" and the confusion that goes with them might present to a bunch of crooks who might just want to "lose" a whole pile of paperwork: From the overzealous "kid" in IT purging all a "retiree's" computer records; to the papers "accidentally" boxed with his personal things; and how many critical records of interest that get returned to archives will end up lost forever, misfiled in the 1963 ag reports?

[windy252]

66. Why do I get the feeling nothing will change?

And that his replacement will just be someone worse?