McClellan suspected Bush used cocaine
Scott McClellan recalls a time when Bush specifically addressed the issue of his cocaine use. Based on Bush’s evasive answers on the subject, that he ‘didn’t recall’ whether he did or didn’t, later suggested to McClellan a pattern of evasive behavior where Bush would claim “he did not remember” - a lie disguised as a ’self-deception’.
McClellan tracks Bush’s penchant for self-deception back to an overheard incident on the campaign trail in 1999 when the then-governor was dogged by reports of possible cocaine use in his younger days.
The book recounts an evening in a hotel suite “somewhere in the Midwest.” Bush was on the phone with a supporter and motioned for McClellan to have a seat.
“‘The media won’t let go of these ridiculous cocaine rumors,’ I heard Bush say. ‘You know, the truth is I honestly don’t remember whether I tried it or not. We had some pretty wild parties back in the day, and I just don’t remember.’”
“I remember thinking to myself, How can that be?” McClellan wrote. “How can someone simply not remember whether or not they used an illegal substance like cocaine? It didn’t make a lot of sense.”
“So I think he meant what he said in that conversation about cocaine. It’s the first time when I felt I was witnessing Bush convincing himself to believe something that probably was not true, and that, deep down, he knew was not true,” McClellan wrote. “And his reason for doing so is fairly obvious — political convenience.”
In the years that followed, McClellan “would come to believe that sometimes he convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment.” McClellan likened it to a witness who resorts to “I do not recall.”
“Bush, similarly, has a way of falling back on the hazy memory to protect himself from potential political embarrassment,” McClellan wrote, adding, “In other words, being evasive is not the same as lying in Bush’s mind.”
Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson remarked about McClellan: “This is not someone standing off in a corner, he [McClellan] knew the president intimately.” Further noting that McClellan was in a small group of Texans that then-Governor Bush trusted and rewarded with jobs in his administration.
Meanwhile… the swiftboats have been launched, just as they had been against other Bush insiders that have told the truth like Richard Clarke, Paul O’Neil, and Matthew Dowd.
UPDATE: Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) member of the House Judiciary Committee, calls for McClellan to testify before Congress.
(RS) Wexler says McClellan needs to tell Congress the full story about potential White House conspiring around the leak of a CIA officer’s name and propaganda efforts that preceded the invasion of Iraq.
“The admissions made by Scott McClellan in his new book are earth-shattering and allege facts to establish that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby – and possibly Vice President Cheney - conspired to obstruct justice by lying about their role in the Plame Wilson matter and that the Bush Administration deliberately lied to the American people in order to take us to war in Iraq,” Wexler said. “Scott McClellan must now appear before the House Judiciary Committee under oath to tell Congress and the American people how President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and White House officials deliberately orchestrated a massive propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraq to the American people.
“The allegations by this former top White House aide – that Rove and Libby deliberately coordinated their stories in order to obstruct justice in the Plame case, that the President deliberately disregarded contradictory evidence related to Iraq, should outrage every American and Congress must respond by initiating immediate aggressive oversight starting with an appearance by McClellan before the House Judiciary Committee,” he continued. “Any continued obstruction by this Administration to prevent White House officials from appearing before Congress cannot be tolerated by this Congress in the face of these shocking revelations.”
William, this is getting to be embarrassing.
yes, I agree. I’d be embarrassed too, voting for a president twice that lied and used cocaine.
I’m no fan of Dubya, but you need to be careful if you’re an Obama supporter when you start talking about drugs, etc.
Hey, what refreshing honesty! As I recall, Obama said of smoking pot, something like “sure I inhaled, that was the whole idea.” He admitted using cocaine as well. I have no problem that Bush used cocaine, just the fact that he lied about it, unlike Obama.
I’d be careful about vouching for Obama’s honesty as well. You never know what’s going to turn up.
True, every candidate can misspeak, but when an administration has a proven and repeated record of lies and deception, coupled with a repeated effort to shirk accountability and oversight, you have to remember an election campaign that revolved around moral values and the pledge to restore integrity to the White House.
I’m not talking about misspeaking.
I think you’ll find the honesty base being played up by Obama as well. If an trail of lies is uncovered about Obama, I think you’ll find the dissonance you’re trying to resonate between the current occupant and the presumptive democratic nominee might back-fire in the end.
We’ve seen politicians and their supporters trying to cast themselves as the only honest person in the field….and we’ve seen almost all of them fall on that sword. It’s just a heads up.
BTW … if McClellan testifies before Congress, he will be a hero. Standing up there day by day defending the Bush administration’s leak of Plame, the Iraq War, etc… he was lied to like the rest of us. Ari Fleisher, former Press Sec just refuted the White House swiftboat saying that McClellan was justified in his feelings of being misled on the Plame leak and that he was privy to discussions on foreign policy and could see what was going on. The White House and Fleisher are saying now “that’s not the McClellan we knew” … well well, maybe the guy has some integrity and can think for himself and puts the truth above authoritarian loyalty.
What’s wrong with cocaine?
I presume these paeans of integrity here are also in favor of decriminalizing it unless it can serve as a tool to bash their opponents.
Play it again, William.
I presume these paeans of integrity here are also in favor of decriminalizing it
I am, which is why I support Bob Barr for POTUS, ‘08.
.
Sour Note William.
Should I change the instrument, #9?
The 12-string might be a bit complex for our Mr. Bill.
The swift boaters are out in full force agaain.Gee what a surpise. “He’s not the Scott we know”
That talking point is simply intended to paint him as a phony whose word can’t be trusted. IE he’s a flip flopper! He NEVER expressed these views when he was in the White House?! What a shocker! He changed his mind as he learned more along the way?! Who does that? Certainly not a Republican?
Yes, they’re awkward in the way they characterize it but that’s their point or where they’re going with it. Looking “puzzled” into the camera and saying things like “it doesn’t add up” and “it’s not the Scott we knew.” This is code for he used to be one of us and now, for a buck, he’s sold his soul to some publisher who’s telling him what to say. That’s what they’d like people to think. Among other things, like, he wasn’t in a position to know what he’s talking about. Oh. So that would mean that ALL the press secretaries, inc Dana Perrino, are OUT OF THE LOOP and simply lip syncing the administrations talking points. Good to know.
The Coke comment was like the Clinton “I didn’t inhale” and that was McLellan’s point. He didn’t remember? That’s bad news. That’s like saying, “Man we was so f#!## up, I could be snortin’ heroin off some girl’s a.. with a bottle a scotch in my free hand. Jesus those were good times!. Who remembers details?”
I have always said, every one has missed the boat and given him a free ride on being an alcoholic. As they say in no uncertain terms in AA, and in AAA if your driving, once an alcoholic ALWAYS an alcoholic. And Bush has admitted to having BEEN an alcoholic. Ipso facto, he is STILL an alcoholic by the expert’s definition. If I were on the air, I would only refer to him as the Alcoholic in Chief just so no one ever forgets for a moment that our country is in the hands of an alcoholic imbecile. And given the way things have gone under his command, that should help put things in perspective.
William, I suspect many things about you. I keep them to myself.