AndrewKrause

I’m normally not surprised when certain facts escape the mainstream media. They are usually either too incompetent, too lazy or too politically motivated to report them. Part of me is still fascinated that not a single outfit in the media has sought to differentiate itself by breaking from the lemming chorus of talking-point memo’s issued by publicists, agents and wonks in the Washington establishment. But… c’est la vie… now read and understand the following:

Scott McClellan is not disgruntled. He is not candidly revealing hidden truths about the Bush administration as an insider. McClellan is just grinding an axe because the Republican establishment dissed his mommy.

Here’s the backstory: McClellan’s mom - Carole Keeton Strayhorn - was the former Comptroller of the State of Texas and a lifelong Republican. Strayhorn raised three McClellan boys all of whom were active in the Texas Republican Party and were rewarded by Governor and later President Bush either with direct appointments or with support in seeking elected offices. Brad McClellan held the Office of Attorney General after John Cornyn was elected to the US Senate. Brad’s twin brother Dudley is currently the Assistant Chief Disciplinary Counsel of the Texas State Bar. Mark McClellan was appointed administrator of the Food and Drug Administration, and is currently the director the Medicare program. And of course, Scotty boy got to be Press Secretary at the White House after Ari Fleischer stepped down. Scott had political experience, having managed his mother’s campaign three times.

It came to pass that Strayhorn didn’t get along with Texas Governor Rick Perry. Perry, who had been Lt Governor under George Bush, became Governor after Bush won the Presidency in 2000. He then was re-elected in 2002. In 2006, Strayhorn sought the party nomination against Perry whom she accused of being “a weak leadin’, ethics ignorin’, pointin’ the finger at everyone blamin’, special session callin’, public school slashin’, slush fund spendin’, toll road buildin’, special interest panderin’, rainy day fund raidin’, fee increasin’, no property tax cuttin’, promise breakin’, do nothin’ phony conservative.”

She’s right, incidentally. Unfortunately, her crass name-calling didn’t endear her to the establishment who had been supporting Perry, and she failed to get an iota of support during the primaries. She then ran as an independent Republican. And failed miserably. Her hack-job campaign - ran by her son Brad McClellan - included such embarrassments as a public spectacle featuring numerous ballot boxes claiming to contain hundreds of thousands of signed petitions (the boxes were half full), trying to get herself listed as “Grandma” Strayhorn on the ballot and finally, not being able to name the President Elect of Mexico during a debate. Not unsurprisingly, Strayhorn lost in the biggest defeat of her career.

That’s not to say that she would have fared better with Scott. It’s widely believed that Scott was asked to resign after mishandling the Valerie Plame affair (mishandling may be too slight - he botched it in spectacular fashion) and then mishandling the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. Clearly Scott would have an axe to grind after his humiliating forced resignation in April of 2006, but then mere months later having to see his mother spurned by the party she served for decades and to lose the race with only 18% of the vote while Bush’s form Lt Governor go on to serve a third term… well that’s the last straw. You don’t mess with a mans’ mom.

When McClellan announced his memoirs, few suspected anything amiss. Nobody noticed that the publisher who advanced him $75,000 - PublicAffairs - is most notable for publishing books from billionare Bush critic George Soros. I know guilt by association is a logical fallacy, but this is also a little too obvious. I’m over this one already, but don’t be surprised when the media figures this out Monday morning.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 8:19 pm and is filed under Zeitgeist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.