ABC reporter Martha Raddatz openly editorialized on Wednesday's "Good Morning America" that she is "disappointed" in former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan for not slamming the Bush White House sooner. McClellan, who has written a tell-all book bashing the President, Karl Rove and other operatives, was prominently featured as GMA's top story.
After being prompted by co-host Robin Roberts for her opinion, Raddatz unloaded: "...I'm really surprised....and disappointed." She lamented that as press secretary, "[McClellan] didn't stand up and say wait a minute, I'm not going to say these kind of things anymore. So, we're surprised." Co-host Diane Sawyer could not restrain herself from describing the new book in the most dire terms. In an intro, she breathlessly announced, "A scathing presidential review. One of the President's most loyal political aides turns on him..."
Later, she termed the book a "bombshell." Raddatz called the tome, which claims that President Bush used "propaganda" to sell the war in Iraq, "brutal" and announced it delivered "one stunning criticism after another."
A transcript of the May 28 segment, which aired at 7:02am, follows:
7am tease
DIANE SAWYER: New this morning: A scathing presidential review. One of the President's most loyal political aides turns on him, saying President Bush is responsible for, quote, strategic blunders, a misguided war and abandoning honesty when it was needed the most.
7:01am
SAWYER: Bombshell book.
ROBIN ROBERTS: It is. It really is.
7:02am
SAWYER: But we begin with the harsh criticism of President Bush, from inside his own camp. Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary is speaking out in a new book, making headlines with this new book, saying the President has made grave mistakes and blunders during his tenure. Our Martha Raddatz has the very latest for us. Good morning, Martha.
MARTHA RADDATZ: Good morning, Robin. There is one stunning criticism after another in this book. But it is all summed up on the back cover.
ABC GRAPHIC: Bush Aide Slams White House: McClellan: War a Strategic Blunder
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: One of these days he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas talking about the good old days of his time as the press secretary. [Screech as tape theatrically rewinds.]
RADDATZ: Well, not so fast. McClellan says through his three years as press secretary, his defense of the President was sincere.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN [File footage]: The President has said no one was to get to the bottom of it more than he does.
RADDATZ: But now, McClellan says some comments were "badly misguided." On the war in Iraq, McClellan is brutal, calling it a "strategic blunder," a "grave mistake." But McClellan says there was a even more fundamental mistake made in the Bush presidency, quote, "a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when these qualities were most needed." He said the administration instead used "propaganda" to sell the war. McClellan says the real jumping off point for writing the book was the leaking of CIA officer Valerie Plame's name to reporters and the deception, says McClellan, in which he unwittingly took part in defending Karl Rove, then the President's senior adviser and Scooter Libby, then Vice President Cheney's chief of staff.
MCCLELLAN: I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. And that's where it stands.
RADDATZ: McClellan says that when his words were exposed as false, quote, "I was constrained by my duties and loyalty to the President and unable to comment." Now he says he was at best misled by Rove and Libby, calling Rove, "an operative who places political gain ahead of the national interest." Last night, Rove had a few words for McClellan.
KARL ROVE [On "Hannity and Colmes"]: It doesn't sound like Scott, it really doesn't. Not the Scott McClellan I've known for a long time. Sounds like a left-wing blogger. Second of all, you're right. If he had these moral qualms, he should have spoken up about them.
RADDATZ: The current White House press secretary, Dana Perino, said similar things. She said, that is not the Scott I know. But, Robin, clearly the White House is stunned by the harshness of this book.
ROBERTS: Absolutely. So, Martha, you were there for so many of McClellan's briefings, day after day after day. What's your reaction?
RADDATZ: Well, I have to say, I'm really surprised, too, Robin. And, and disappointed. Because we did hear him day after day after day defending the President, and he did not exactly walk away from this job. It didn't seem to be willingly. He didn't stand up and say wait a minute, I'm not going to say these kind of things anymore. So we're surprised.
ROBERTS: Martha Raddatz at the White House. Thank you, Martha.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.
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If it was that bad...
May 28, 2008 - 10:38 ET by americaneaglewhy didn't McClellan simply resign from the position? And why should I listen to a former press secretary on the subject of how the freaking war has been managed? Somehow I don't think that Scott McClellan was involved in the planning of the war effort or its aftermath, so what makes him an expert? I suppose that the only thing needed for him to gain media credibility was to turn on the people who elevated him to the position he held.
With "friends" like these...
They aren't fawning over
May 28, 2008 - 11:07 ET by mattmThey aren't fawning over him because he's an expert, but because he's a turncoat.
They'll throw him away when they no longer have any use for him...but he'll be rich, so he won't care that much...and he could get his own "news" show on PBS someday....as long as he keeps up the BDS.
Wow, this must have really
May 28, 2008 - 11:29 ET by SickofLibsWow, this must have really made Robama Roberts' day!
And yeah, I'm as surprised as Raddatz that McClellan didn't just one day yell from the podium in the WH press room that Bush was a lying murderer...
So I guess that would make McClellan, what's that word for a paid whore? ...oh, yeah, prostitute.
If the reference to the
May 28, 2008 - 11:40 ET by RESTLESS 1If the reference to the Plame-Wilson affair is any gauge, then the whole book is worthless. McCLellan claims he had to exonerate Karl Rove and Scooter Libby on the briefing room podium, but that is not true. We all know that Richard Armitage outed Plame. Hell, Wilson had more to do with outing his wife than Rove, Libby or anyone else in the administration.
Mc Clellan
May 28, 2008 - 13:52 ET by merlin61Never liked him when he started and still don't
like him. Ari Fleisher was the best and Perino
is doing wonderfully as Press Secretary. She
has class and doesn't put up with the harrassment
from the press. She says it like it is with no
nonsense like Ari did.
I love how desperately
May 28, 2008 - 12:06 ET by KillgraveI love how desperately they're trying to push this man's "conscience". Like all the money, all the fame, and all the adulation McClellan is going to get from the partisans has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Good old Martha
May 28, 2008 - 14:17 ET by fitzfongGood old Martha Raddatz...when she isn't mining for virtually non-existent Clinton supporters in the military, she's boosting a washout former Bush employee because he's speaking against the Administration (and not a moment too soon in her humble opinion). That's some fine journalism, ma'am.
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Of course
May 28, 2008 - 15:54 ET by DEVILDOCMOMOf course he did not do this sooner Martha. If he had it would have shown he had character and moral fiber. scott has none of these qualities. One can only wonder why the President kept him around; Bush is too loyal, I guess.