McClellan: Bush broke promise to U.S. by not firing Rove

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

"I think the president should have stood by the word that we said, which was that if you were involved in this in any way, then you would no longer be in this administration. And Karl was involved in it," McClellan said.

White House press secretary Dana Perino declined comment Sunday, as did Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin.

The White House had said in 2003 that anyone who leaked classified information in the case would be dismissed. Bush reiterated that promise in June 2004.

By July 2005, Bush qualified his position, saying he would fire anyone for leaking classified information if that person had "committed a crime."

Rove was never charged with a crime.

McClellan writes in his book that Bush backpedaled to protect Rove, a point McClellan repeated in the interview.

"We had higher standards at the White House," McClellan said. "The president said he was going to restore honor and integrity. He said we were going to set the highest of standards. We didn't live up to that. When it become known that his top adviser had been involved, then the bar was moved."

Click here for the rest.

Sigh.

Hey, remember back in the roaring 90s when politicians on both sides of the aisle were pissed off and indignant that a President would lie about a private sexual matter? Never mind whether it was an impeachable offense: Democrats and Republicans alike went on and on about how awful lying is when you're in the Oval Office, how it sets a horrible example for American children, how the Commander-in-Chief should hold himself to a much higher standard than everybody else.

In some ways I'm very happy those bullshit days are long behind us. On the other hand, these new bullshit days in which we are now condemned to live are far worse. In often absurd ways. I mean, the President lies so much now that it seems difficult for the news to even keep up--that is, when the news is actually trying to keep up. Perhaps that's all a function of how both parties don't really seem to care that Bush lies all the time. Like I said, absurd. Clinton lies about a blowjob and Senators and Congressmen turn blue in the face, blowing steam out their ears; Bush lies about weapons of mass destruction, Ariel Sharon being a "man of peace," global warming, tax cuts, Brownie and FEMA, Social Security, nuclear energy - it just goes on and on and on - and business continues as usual.

This info about Rove and Bush from McClellan's book is not new or surprising. But it is a reminder of the massive, massive hornswoggle to which we have all been subjected these past seven years. Facts don't matter anymore. The ruling elite just make shit up, the news media funnels it through a megaphone, and we have to listen to it. It doesn't even matter whether we believe it or not.

Frankly, I don't even really understand how politics actually function anymore. I mean, we're certainly not living in a democracy--what we call democracy is just an elaborate stage show. But as to the actual ebb and flow of governmental electoral power, I just don't get it anymore. It's like everybody's lying, or, at least, "managing" the truth, you know, spin and all that shit.

I've always loved John Lennon's early 70s political howler "Gimme Some Truth" but it means more to me now, today, than it ever has.

Anyway, dig it:



"Uptight short sighted narrow minded hypocrites," indeed.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$