Betrayal by a friend feels hard, but betrayal of a friend must be harder. I mean, how do you look into the eyes of someone who trusts you and has confided in you and spew out all his secrets. In my opinion it takes much more energy to betray than to be betrayed.
This blog is motivated by the betrayal of George Bush by Scott McClellan, a former white house press secretary. Almost everybody in America agrees that the war was ill conceived and America was misled by the President into Iraq. His book has made all the allegations liberals, terrorists and America's enemies have made, but coming from him...
It may look like he has defamed Bush, but take a close listen to what his friends are saying rand you'll get a different picture. For example, current Press Secretary, Dana Perino said; "For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad — this is not the Scott we knew." and a former boss said "There are just parts of here that just do not sound like Scott McClellan.".
Now McClellan might have made some money and some new friends but i wonder if he'll be able to sleep when he lays down at night. It might have been a consolation for him, had the white house returned swinging, fighting back, but i can't imagine how he'll feel after all the white house said was they worried about him.
It is heart piercing to be betrayed, but it definitely can't be any fun to be in the shoes of the betrayer.
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Bush and his friends or the American public? I heard a story on this on WHYY and the guest explained that everyone was so shocked because McClellan was always considered to be quiet and almost "robotic" about the way he did his job, so no one in the administration imagined him doing something like this. They may have been his "friends," but their policy forced him not only to deceive the American public, but the guest from NPR explained that they basically told him to put his own integrity on the line. This is in reference to the Valerie Plame outing. Apparently, they wanted him to smooth it over and say there wasn't any connection with Scooter Libby/Dick Cheney etc. In my opinion, that's not really a fair thing to ask of a friend. It's like you have a group of friends that consistently cheat on tests and get away with wrong doing and you go along with it until you realize it's just too much.
I use the WHYY interview as a reference because I haven't read the book myself. I believe what they said makes sense, and honestly I don't blame the guy. How could he sleep at night knowing he took part in spreading misleading propaganda that allowed the president to start a war?
Whether the book is a betrayal or not depends on how you view the position of white house press secretary. Is it a job of service to the President, or a job of service to the citizens of the U.S.? I believe he served the citizens, and in telling the truth, he's finally doing his job well, after the fact.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Oh really, his 'integrity' which apparently didn't mean as much when he was Press Secretary all of a sudden surged after a book deal ?
If he really felt the way he now claims to feel then if he had the slightest iota of integrity and honor he would have resigned at the time. Instead he stayed and played a key role in the deception. He was very good at it!
He is obviously completely lacking in integrity and honor. This latest is just about money. I think his book is about 100 times more damning of himself then it is of Bush.
...if this opinion was in any way unusual. Similar claims have followed the Bush adminstration from its very beginning.
TTFN,
Blackout
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Yes, I've changed my username from "percivale" to "Blackout." Go here if you want to know why.
Actually, the fact that i called it "betrayal" in the title didn't suggest i wasn't true; although, i don't believe it was, it was assuming it was true. I was examining the effects it might have had on him.
I'm not necessarily sceptical of the truth of the claims. I certainly feel deceived about the cost of the war if nothing else.
My point is that he could have blown the whistle at the time when all of the deception was occurring. He obviously saw what was going on and he was in a position to stop it before we got led into an unnecessary trillion dollar war. At the very least, even if he lacked the cajones to blow the whistle, he should have found the ethics and moral courage to resign. Instead he chose to stay and be an active participant and the chief spokeshole for the deception.
It says absolutely nothing good about his character that he waited until he stands to pad his pockets with a fat book deal before he confesses to his role in this ill-conceived tragedy. If what he says is true, because of him and his failure to act, there are 4000 dead Americans, a lot more wounded and all of us are out a trillion dollars. I think he should be shot for treason but instead he gets rich.
...but if it were me, I would feel bad about "betraying" my friends, but not as bad as I would if I had remained complicit to their unethical behavior.
TTFN,
Blackout
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Yes, I've changed my username from "percivale" to "Blackout." Go here if you want to know why.