[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Happened]LINK[/url] to a basic summary of the important parts of Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's book What Happened.
This guy is awesome. Seriously, quite brave, too.
What's the worst that's going to happen to him? Tens of others have written similar books saying similar things and they're still alive and well. Not all that brave.
None of the others were White House Press Secretaries, with personal ties to George W. Bush.
Why's that make him brave?
/because it puts him in a position of not only extraordinary credibility, but also in a position to know the sort of anger that would be generated by the release of such information.
the beast is the most frightening when you know how it works
Or because of his involvement in the Bush administration he could know for sure that writing this book would bring him more good than harm. It can work either way.
I'm glad he wrote about some truths in his book, but I'm curious about the author's motive and perspective.
$ = Motivation
Perspective = w/e would sell his book. He's a PR guy, so he knows how to reflect any view point that he wants to to suit the audience. Looking at Bush's current approval rating, writing a book that bashs instead of praises (especially with his background) he knew would sell like hotcakes.
McLellan has put forth a totally logical and believable reason for authoring this book.
My understanding that George W. Bush was a remarkable governor in Texas. He got things done in a bipartisan manner and was a noteworthy leader for the state. McLellan says that he joined the governor's staff before Bush became President. He believed, as did many others, that Bush would do to Washington what he had done to Austin. Turn things around and get stuff done. But then he started going a different direction, and McLellan did his job and eventually Ari Fleischer's job as Press Secretary. According to McLellan, he presented what he had determined was fact to the press. When he lied about Scooter Libby, he was under the impression that he was being truthful.
He claims that he decided to resign as Press Secretary when he begun to realize that he was being instructed to lie to the press. He didn't get into politics for fame. He got into it as an idealistic guy, and things just went wrong once Bush arrived in Washington with Dick Cheney.
However, such a story is to be expected from a guy who wrote a book like the one McLellan has written. But given the way things have unfolded, it seems entirely likely that McLellan is being honest at this point.