Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Scott McClellan’s Bushwhack

Scott McClellan’s new memoir of his time as President George W Bush’s press secretary professes continued admiration for the President, but also includes some telling and candid admissions. Money quote #1:

“History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided: that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact. What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.”

Yep.

Money quote # 2:

Bush was “clearly irritated, … steamed,” when McClellan informed him that chief economic adviser Larry Lindsey had told The Wall Street Journal that a possible war in Iraq could cost from $100 billion to $200 billion: “‘It’s unacceptable,’ Bush continued, his voice rising. ‘He shouldn’t be talking about that.’”

The inability to tolerate dissent is one of Bush’s major failings. As is his inability to consider the possibility that he might be wrong.

Go read Politico’s review, from which the quotes were snatched. This looks to be the most important book on Bush since Bruce Bartlett’s Impostor.

Meanwhile, <SARCASM> kudos </SARCASM> to the Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes for being the first right of center blogger (to my knowledge) to charge McClellan with being a lightweight unworthy of credence.