# Scott McClellan: Bad Guy, or Innocent Shill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 19, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292 "2006-04-19T14:14:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/21 "2006-04-19T22:36:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > More reasonable to expect a book where he defends the Admin’s record and his own to the hilt, and insists everything he said as Press Secretary was the truth. As I said, “indirectly.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/22 "2006-04-19T22:58:28Z")
Look, you have to view a Press Secretary sort of the way you view a defense attorney. His job isn’t to get across the objective truth, but to articulate the administration’s position an any given issue. He shouldn’t lie, but the truth he tells is always going to be spun so as to make his boss look good (or less bad). If your assumption is that Bush = evil/bad so anyone working for him is evil/bad, fine. But that’s an opinion, not a fact. Lets be serious here. When was there ever a Press Secretary who said: _Yeah, the president said “X”, but he’s full of shit and really thinks “Y”._ -or- _The president’s position is “X”, but let me tell, you “X” just ain’t gonna work!_ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/23 "2006-04-19T23:01:00Z")
Why is there such thing as a WH press secretary anyway? Why can’t the president be his own press secretary? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/24 "2006-04-19T23:13:08Z")
That would be too time-consuming, wouldn’t it? Also, if the official position stinks, and the press smells it, you can just let them kill the messenger and deliver a different line later on, as if the original idea was the mistake of some underling shooting his mouth off. I always figured the Press Secretary was kind of like a Secret Service agent, a human shield who’ll take a bullet for you if necessary. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/25 "2006-04-19T23:18:43Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Why is there such thing as a WH press secretary anyway? Why can’t the president be his own press secretary? He could, but why would he? What’s the advantage to the president of not having a press secretary? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/26 "2006-04-19T23:27:42Z")
It’ll be nice to hear someone else say “we can’t comment on an ongoing investigation”. Or maybe they’ll stop with that line, but that would really open themselves up for attack. I really hated that strategy. What’s the point of standing up and taking questions if you refuse to answer them for some made-up reason? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/27 "2006-04-19T23:31:49Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > I really hated that strategy. What’s the point of standing up and taking questions if you refuse to answer them for some made-up reason? Only that it looks better than refusing to answer them for no stated reason at all. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/28 "2006-04-19T23:34:52Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Look, you have to view a Press Secretary sort of the way you view a defense attorney. His job isn’t to get across the objective truth… I think we’re all well aware of that. The question is somewhat related to the quandry of the defense atorney. How can they do it, defend that lying murderer? Does defending a serial killer who he suspects really is a serial killer make a lawyer a bad guy? I’d say no, and the reasons are pretty obviously necessary for a fair judicial system. The Press Secretary has, perhaps, a less noble mandate. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/29 "2006-04-20T00:22:03Z")
I see a press secretary in these times as a political hack, a toady. And McClellan is the poster boy. He was Gov. Bush’s press secretary. When Bush made Pres., Scottyboy was made assistant. That should tell you he was the second string. He is steeped in Texas politics, and would do whatever it takes to serve his master. Culpable? Only if you think Charles Manson’s minions were culpable. Oh, wait! That was about criminal behavior. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/30 "2006-04-20T00:24:15Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I see a press secretary in these times as a political hack, a toady. As opposed to when? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/31 "2006-04-20T00:24:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > . . . Eh? Simpsons joke, adapted from Earl Warren being a Supreme Court Chief Justice and a stripper. Best not to worry about it. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/32 "2006-04-20T00:34:34Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I see a press secretary in these times as a political hack, a toady. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > As opposed to when? I was allowing for press secretaries 50+ years ago being a different breed. I haven’t searched for the first ones. I guess I have to go do this now. Thanks a load. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/33 "2006-04-20T01:38:11Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > On the one hand, every administration at every level needs a smooth-talking type who can stand in front of journalists and TV cameras and calmly represent the position of said administration using statements and arguments that have already been advanced by other officials, or at least are consistent with same. But that’s just the thing, he wasn’t by any means slick or well prepared. He would stammer and circle like the President himself. Now that isn’t evidence of him being unintelligent, but given the President’s own problems with speaking, I simply cannot fathom why they hired McClellan in the first place. At least Ari Fleischer had half a coat of polish and sounded better than a nervous third grader behind the podium. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/34 "2006-04-20T01:50:51Z")
Did anyone else see the circle-jerk on the White House lawn between Scotty and Dubya today? Scotty got all choked up while Bush made some lame joke about getting together in Texas to swap stories about their time together in the White House. The whole thing made me kind of queasy. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/35 "2006-04-20T02:22:43Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > Did anyone else see the circle-jerk on the White House lawn between Scotty and Dubya today? Scotty got all choked up while Bush made some lame joke about getting together in Texas to swap stories about their time together in the White House. The whole thing made me kind of queasy. Wow. You get queasy very easily. So, after listening to a number of Whitehouse analysts from across the political spectrum today, it seems that most of the reporters like Scotty, think he’s basically honest but not terribly competent, and that the WH pretty much threw him to the wolves every day. Seems about right to me. I don’t see that new spokesperson is going to make all that much difference. The WH’s problem is the message, not the messenger. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/36 "2006-04-20T02:45:59Z")
> [@Malodorous](#): > > Out of curiousity, how do previous press secretaries compare? I didn’t start paying that close attention before the Bush admin. I always thought that Joe Lockhart, who served late in Clinton’s tenure, looked like he wanted to bust somebody in the jaw, like, ALL the time. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/37 "2006-04-20T06:20:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > More reasonable to expect a book where he defends the Admin’s record and his own to the hilt, and insists everything he said as Press Secretary was the truth. Keep an eye out for a smear campaign. If the Bush apologists start peddling rumors about McClellan’s “incompetence” or “unreliability” next week, then a tell-all book is in the pipeline. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/38 "2006-04-20T06:33:35Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I was allowing for press secretaries 50+ years ago being a different breed. I haven’t searched for the first ones. I guess I have to go do this now. Thanks a load. 35 years ago. Ron Zeigler. 'Nuff said? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/39 "2006-04-20T07:10:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Without question, it’s a situation where if McClellan hadn’t done the job, someone else would have. Bugs Moran’s hitmen could make the same argument. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292/40 "2006-04-20T12:07:19Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I was allowing for press secretaries 50+ years ago being a different breed. I haven’t searched for the first ones. I guess I have to go do this now. Thanks a load. I had the same thought, so found in Wiki that (if Wiki is correct): > [@](#): > > Stephen Tyree Early (August 27, 1889 - August 11, 1951) was a U.S. journalist and government official. He served as the first-ever White House Press Secretary under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1937 to 1945 and again under President Harry S. Truman in 1950. There’s a list of all WH Press Secretaries at [the Wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Press_Secretary). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scott-mcclellan-bad-guy-or-innocent-shill/353292.md?page=3)