Thursday, May 29, 2008

Olbermann Tells McClellan His Book is a 'Primary Document in American History'

Former Press Secretary Scott McClellan has been making the media rounds
today to promote his new book, "What Happened." He first did an appearance
this morning on "The Today Show" and then it was on to the nightly news shows,
ABC's "World News" and CBS's "Evening News." His last interview of the day
was on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." In his last remarks to McClellan,
Olbermann continued his flare for hyperbole. Here's what he said:


OLBERMANN: Scott McClellan, I don't want to get too fulsome on you
but I don't think you're going to be dining out on the book for the rest
of life. I think this a primary document of American history and I'm
very impressed with it. At some point people will be teaching history
based on it.


Here's the video:




Couldn't he have just told McClellan that his book was an interesting read? Also,
should someone who believes this book is going to be a primary document be
allowed to give political commentary on a cable news network?

Another moment of note was when Olbermann asked McClellan, "Does it cost
and I ask this question sympathetically: Does it cost you sleep when you hear
about another casualty in Iraq and you would have that much to do with that
war?"

4 comments:

Andrew X said...

This is the same K.O. that quite literally said the Passport "scandal" was unlike anything ever seen since 1972, and was very similar, might have similar results, etc etc.

You remember... the passport scandal? C'min back to you now? The one where that Bush guy at State broke into Obamba and Hillary's passport files and it made screaming headlines? For 72 hours.... until it was revealed that the guy actually had links to the OBAMBA campaign, and the story dropped into a crack in the earth? Yeah that one.

Keith was sure dead on there.

Anonymous said...

Also, should someone who believes this book is going to be a primary document be allowed to give political commentary on a cable news network?

Well, sure. Why not? Free country and all that.

A more interesting question is: Why has MSNBC/NBC News chosen to sully its brand by promoting Keith Olbermann, who would never dare have a guest on who would challenge the notion that this little blip of a payday-seeking book is going to be a primary historical document?

Remember Morton Downey, Jr.? He had a very successful TV show several years ago. Keith Olbermann is the Morton Downey, Jr. of cable "news" and will have a similarly spectacular decline. NBC News will be the loser in the long run.

McClellan book? Story over by Monday. He sold his integrity for 3 days of media attention. Primary document of American history - nope. Forgotten by June (today's May 30) - yep.

davod said...

I wrote this in response to the Washington Post May 30 article.

The article contains the essential elements of the truth when it quotes Osnos as saying "First we had to ascertain what kind of book he wanted to write," said Osnos, a former Washington Post reporter and editor. "We are journalists, independent-minded publishers. We weren't interested in a book that was just a defense of the Bush administration. It had to pass our test of independence, integrity and candor."


What test: The sort of test where you go back and rethink everyting you did and come up with something not favorable to the Administration.


I draw` your attention to part of McClellan's introduction in the book.


"Writing it wasn’t easy. Some of the best advice I received as I began came from a senior editor at a publishing house that expressed interest in my book. He said the hardest challenge for me would be to keep questioning my own beliefs and perceptions throughout the writing process. His advice was prescient. I’ve found myself continually questioning my own thinking, my assumptions, my interpretations of events. Many of the conclusions I’ve reached are quite different from those I would have embraced at the start of the process. The quest for truth has been a struggle for me, but a rewarding one. I don’t claim a monopoly on truth. But after wrestling with my experiences over the past several months, I’ve come much closer to my truth than ever before. (p. xi)"

The past several months may well have meant the editing phase.


So the book boils down to not what he thought and did at the time but what he thinks now. My, if all first person history books were written like this we would never know what happened.

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