McClellan's Tell-All Memoir Implicates Rove

Back in November, when Scottie McClellan's publisher first started to pitch Scottie's book, he made a stir when he posted the following blurb about the book.

The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

There was one problem. It was not true.

I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the President himself.

That set off a minor firestorm, as people misread the plain language of the blurb to mean that Bush had knowingly asked Scottie McC to lie about Libby's and Rove's involvement in the leak of Valerie Wilson's identity. As I pointed out then, the firestorm probably contributed to making little Scottie rich.

Scottie McC's publisher has pulled off quite the coup--taken a detail that was, largely, already known, and used it to cause a stir about a book that will not yet be published for another 6 months. Already, Dodd is calling for an investigation, folks are calling for HJC or Waxman to hold a hearing. What the left has done is read one publishing blurb designed to generate this kind of buzz, and played right into the plan. Congratulations. You're all making Scottie McC rich.

And while I still don't advocate that you all go out and buy Scottie's book (tell you what--I'll buy it and tell you the interesting bits), this little revelation is interesting news.