Wednesday, May 28, 2008

McClellan: Publisher Using Me Unwittingly to Sell Books

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, who claims in a new book that Bush administration officials used him to promote the president’s policies and to defend top officials, today said he suspects he’s being used unwittingly by his publisher to pass along information “just to sell books.”
“I’m afraid I’ve become the innocent accomplice to another propaganda effort,” said Mr. McClellan. “It turns out that my publisher is engaged in a highly-choreographed campaign to move books through distribution points in cities throughout the country, as well as through internet portals.”
The author of What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception, said that during visits to his publisher’s headquarters he has seen editors and marketing people stepping into offices for “mysterious private conversations as if they were plotting something.”
“I’m concerned,” said Mr. McClellan, “that, like Bush, I may have engaged in self-deception and convinced myself to believe what suits my needs at the moment — mostly my need to convert my undistinguished White House tenure into an endless stream of cash.”
Mr. McClellan said he plans to “ask a lot of questions and get to the bottom of this, as soon as the checks all clear.”

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