Scott’s Big Day

By Jay Newton-Small | @JNSmall | June 23, 2008 | +

All of the fireworks over Scott McClellan’s turncoat book finally culminated in last Friday’s kabuki testimony before the House Oversight Committee where Dems indulged in the word “impeachment” and the GOP tried their best to eat one of their own. But for all of the outrage, Scott’s book shouldn’t be that surprising. He’s just one of several former Austin Democrats* who drank the Bush Kool-Aid, believing he was the path to the Third Way, and came away from the experience disappointed and disillusioned. Just look at Mark McKinnon and Matthew Dowd – who did more to elect Bush than Scott ever did. Scott’s biggest sin isn’t, then, the betrayal, it’s the writing of the tell-all book.

*Correction:
I stand corrected by a colleague — Scott’s mom (a former Austin Mayor) was once a Democrat, but Scott never was. And McKinnon, while quitting McCain’s campaign because he would not work against Obama, still supports McCain and has never publically broken with Bush.

Related Topics: bush, Scott McClellan, testimony, turncoat, Uncategorized

@TIMEPolitics

Latest on Swampland

Closeup May 25, 2012

Political Picures of the Week, May 18-25

TIME’s photo editors bring you the best pictures of the past week from the Beltway and beyond.
From our Partners
Obama Administration Blocks Global Health Fund To Fight Disease In Developing NationsHuffPost Politics

The Cowardice of Colin PowellSlate
Ryan Crocker Says Cases Of Afghans Killing NATO Military Counterparts Can Be 'Personal'HuffPost Politics
2012 Election May 25, 2012

The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy

More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.