Goodreads | What Happened: Inside the Bush Whitehouse and Washington's Culture of Deception by Scott McClellan

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Belated Rationales: Good (Better Late Than Never) or Bad (CYA)?	1	8	07/01/2008 06:23AM

Xysea rated it:

(review of isbn 1586485563)

07/01/08

bookshelves: non-fiction, political

Read in July, 2008

recommends it for: political junkies, poli sci students, the average taxpayer

Okay, let's be honest. This entire book is a rationale. Well, not just one rationale, but several: For why McClellan didn't do anything despite knowing (or at the very least suspecting corruption and dishonesty) as well as why McClellan won't disavow the GOP.

All in all, though, his rationales are plausible, and that's what makes the book work. In the Bush Administration, it's easy to envision Cheney and Rove, for example, viewing McClellan as a nobody, a mouthpiece, and therefore it woul...more Okay, let's be honest. This entire book is a rationale. Well, not just one rationale, but several: For why McClellan didn't do anything despite knowing (or at the very least suspecting corruption and dishonesty) as well as why McClellan won't disavow the GOP.

All in all, though, his rationales are plausible, and that's what makes the book work. In the Bush Administration, it's easy to envision Cheney and Rove, for example, viewing McClellan as a nobody, a mouthpiece, and therefore it wouldn't matter if they lied to him about revealing the identity/cover of a covert CIA operative; to them, it was just business, not personal. Only their 'business' made him a liar and Scooter Libby a perjurer.

It's hard for me to read this stuff, looking around at the newspapers at the problems with the economy and the war this Administration has wrought, knowing McClellan for all his belated honesty and analysis is likely doing just fine financially - not only from his cushy job as White House spokesperson, but also from his book deal. But another part of me sees that he was, like many Americans, duped by this Administration. Should he have seen the signs? The answer is: Possibly. Maybe even probably, but many of us didn't either. (Personally, I wasn't ever in support of the Bush Administration, but many fine, upstanding, intelligent and intellectual friends of mine were...)

Still, it makes for compelling reading and the book maintains a decent pace; it slows a bit just past the halfway mark, but I didn't half wonder if that's because we already know the story, we already know how it ends. And by the mid of the book, he's done revealing his 'insider' knowledge and reverts to speculation. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of speculation. Between the punditry, and the news media, and the weekend political shows, I've had my fill of what people "think"; what I want to know is what are they doing to *do* about it. Scott offers few answers here, but it was heartening, if empty, to see he was willing to testify before the Senate - even if he essentially said, well, nothing.

This book isn't Earth-shattering, but it did give me a lot of insight into how the mind of George W. Bush works; there was a time where I thought that might be of little value. But as it seems the man is unlikely to be impeached, and will leave office fairly unscathed except in reputation, I think differently now. I want to know what he thinks and how he thinks, so that in judging future candidates if I see a similar pattern I can avoid it like the plague and spare this country unnecessary grief and suffering....less

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Jacob rated it:

(review of isbn 1586485563)

06/09/08

Read in May, 2008

Title: Same Old Partisan Crap to add to your 'Hate Bush' Collection

I found reading McClellan's Democratic partisan memoir to be a total waste of time. I also feel the author lacks credibility and this book offers the same old partisan Democratic view we have been fed all along. This book has been targeted towards and panders to the left-leaning partisan audience. McClellan makes a ton of allegations against the Bush Administration but doesn't provide any backing/proof. The book reads like a ...more Title: Same Old Partisan Crap to add to your 'Hate Bush' Collection

I found reading McClellan's Democratic partisan memoir to be a total waste of time. I also feel the author lacks credibility and this book offers the same old partisan Democratic view we have been fed all along. This book has been targeted towards and panders to the left-leaning partisan audience. McClellan makes a ton of allegations against the Bush Administration but doesn't provide any backing/proof. The book reads like a conspiracy theory.
Although the media response dwelled on McClellan's criticism of Bush's road to war, the CIA leak case is the heart of this book. Throughout the book McClellan virtually ignores Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's role in leaking Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA employee to Robert Novak. That fits the partisan Democratic version of the Plame affair.
McClellan doesn't present the reader with a single page dedicated to substantial, credible evidence. In all honesty, a monkey with a pen in his hand could have done a better job at logical reasoning.
McClellan's only legitimate censure seems to be his unjust treatment during the Valerie Plame investigation. McClellan conceded in interviews that even when he was an important cog in the "propaganda machine," he never witnessed anything that seemed at the time to be deceitful or untrue. If McClellan had a problem then he should have resigned rather than being kicked out and more importantly he should have spoken up when he had the podium.
In claiming he was misled about the Plame affair, McClellan mentions Richard Armitage only twice. Armitage being the leaker undermines the Democratic theory, now accepted by McClellan that Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and political adviser Karl Rove aimed to delegitimize Ambassador Wilson (Democratic partisan) as a war critic.
On page 173, McClellan first mentions Robert Novak's Plame leak, but he does not identify Armitage as the leaker until page 306 of the 323-page book -- then only in passing. Armitage, anti-war and anti-Cheney, cannot fit the conspiracy theory that McClellan now buys into. When Armitage after two years publicly admitted he was Novak's source, the life went out of Wilson's campaign. In "What Happened," McClellan dwells on Rove's alleged deceptions as if the real leaker were still unknown.
McClellan at the White House podium never knew the facts about the CIA leak, and his memoir reads as though he has tried to maintain his ignorance. He omits Armitage's slipping Mrs. Wilson's identity to The Washington Post's Bob Woodward weeks before he talked to Novak. He does not mention that Armitage turned himself in to the Justice Department even before Patrick Fitzgerald was named as special prosecutor.
McClellan completely ignores that Fitzgerald's long, expensive investigation found no violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, if only because Plame was not covered. Nevertheless, McClellan calls the leak "wrong and harmful to national security" -- ignoring questions of whether Plame really was engaged in undercover operations and whether her cover long ago had been blown.
I borrowed this book from a friend to read and I'm glad that my 2 cents didn't go into this turncoat's pocket and I pray that yours don't either. ...less

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Mattie rated it:

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06/12/08

McClellan's memoir of "what happened" in the Bush administration really gets 3.5 stars, but since that's not an option, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt (or of the star).

Anyway - the thing about the book is not any "revelations" about what actually happened. Anyone who's been paying even a modicum of attention the past 8 years knows what happened. What McClellen does is provide an interesting perspective on how it came to happen. Admittedly, his basic theory - that ...more McClellan's memoir of "what happened" in the Bush administration really gets 3.5 stars, but since that's not an option, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt (or of the star).

Anyway - the thing about the book is not any "revelations" about what actually happened. Anyone who's been paying even a modicum of attention the past 8 years knows what happened. What McClellen does is provide an interesting perspective on how it came to happen. Admittedly, his basic theory - that the conduct of public policy as part of the "permanent campaign" rather than as part of "governance" - isn't new with him. But he give appropriate props to Norm Ornstein & Thomas Mann as the authors and his experience is a stark example of the theory in action.

McClellan comes across as a decent guy who wants to believe the best in most people. Yet he manages to take and place enough blame to avoid coming off as self-serving or an apologist for the Bush administration. Even though he has every right to be livid with Rove and Libby over the Plame affair, he still clearly tries hard to be temperate in his comments towards them.

Again, although there's not much "new", I think a few of his observations from his experiences are really well taken. First, is that the White House really does create a bubble out of which its hard to see. Second, if you have a president without a penchant for self analysis or introspection, its all the more important for those who work for him (or her) to be willing to fight,not feed, that tendancy. Third, the tactics and mindset that make for a good campaign make for pretty lousy governance. These onservations/tendencies excuse nothing, but do help explain how public policy often goes awry, even when the people in charge are well intentioned and genuinely want to do the right thing.

I think his book also points out how easy it is for a few not-so well intentioned people to manipulate the tendencies noted above for their own purposes. I don't think that McClellan was actively trying to emphasize that point, but I can't help but think he knew he was making it. As well he should have.

What got the book the benefit of the doubt for the half-star is the fact that he ends the book with some suggestions for improving the system to help the president and White House staff avoid the worst excesses of the tendencies noted above. After all he saw, that he's still optimistic enough to offer suggestions and hold out hope that all is not lost is charming. As a native New Yorker and a Washington attorney, cynicism is both my birthright and my professional obligation. Even so, I cling to what's left of my idealism and find it heartening to know that I'm not the only one. Even more heartening is to find that one of the other people clinging to his is a Repubilcan. Maybe there's hope yet... ...less

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Ginnie rated it:

(review of isbn 1586485563)

07/02/08

bookshelves: government, memoirs, politics

Pretty much what you expect. I only browsed through it and my husband read it quickly saying that the only thing he hadn't already known was the extent to which the Bush White House was on perpetual campaign mode -- even before 9/11. This is a book crying out for a half star rating-- 2 1/2 sounds about right.

The bounce back from the WH insiders sounds like an 'echo chamber' according to this NYT article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05...

Pre...more

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Rachel rated it:

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07/13/08

It seriously takes a crappy book for me to not finish a book (I like to finish a book no matter how difficult it is to get through.) Now, the preface in this book is fantastic. It got me all rowled up. (Is that the right word: rowled?) I thought this book would be very interesting, and I guess a little part of it was. I wanted to get the scoop from a true insider. Someone who really was in the thick of it all. The problem with this book is when he blabs on and on about idealistic politics, his f...more

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Maria rated it:

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08/05/08

Forget how smug he was at press briefings. Forget how he was a puppet and mouthpiece for all the bad decisions of the Bush administration. For me, these are givens, like saying a croissant tastes nice or summer is pleasant.

McClellan doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know - not really - in spirit if not in detail.

But what really annoys me about this book is that an editor somewhere let it go out in such bad condition? I get the man's not a writer, but jeez. You'd figure a press s...more

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Samantha rated it:

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09/24/08

Read in September, 2008

I had heard so much about this book, but it was taking its time making it up to the top of my stack. I found it fascinating to walk through the recent events from Scott McClellan's eyes. To find out what he said he knew when he said he knew it. To hear what he believes about each of the participants in the events. It was interesting to me to see how he views President Bush now compared to how he viewed him before going to Washington with him. His comments on Dr. Condi Rice were really enlighteni...more

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Ray rated it:

(review of isbn 1433214342)

07/07/08

Read in July, 2008

There are plenty of books out there critical of Bush and his adminstration [ e.g., books like Chandrasekaran's "Imperial Life in the Emerald City", or Corn's & Isikoffs "Hubris", Hersh's "Chain of Command", Rick's "Fiasco", Unger's "House of Bush, House of Saud", Woodward" "Bush at War", "Plan of Attack", or "State of Denial", Suskind's "The Price of Loyalty", etc.:] It's not really true, but one ...more There are plenty of books out there critical of Bush and his adminstration [ e.g., books like Chandrasekaran's "Imperial Life in the Emerald City", or Corn's & Isikoffs "Hubris", Hersh's "Chain of Command", Rick's "Fiasco", Unger's "House of Bush, House of Saud", Woodward" "Bush at War", "Plan of Attack", or "State of Denial", Suskind's "The Price of Loyalty", etc.:] It's not really true, but one might dismiss them as being written by liberal Democrats or political outsiders. Harder to dismiss are those written by ex members of the Bush team, like former EPA Administrators Christine Todd Whitman's book "It's My Party", former terrorism advisor Richard Clark's book, former CIA head George Tenant's book, etc.]. Here's another ex-Bush insider who is saying the same thing - Bush didn't do a very good job overall. I believe it was the same Scott McClellan who dismissed some of these earlier books as "sour grapes", or just someone trying to make a buck once outside the administration, it's amusing that the same is being said of him and his book.
But repeated enough times by many former insiders, you have to start believing the common theme. McClellan's book actually is the kindest of Bush of them all in my opinion. He doesn't seem to be condemning Bush as much as the way politics is played, especially in Washington. McClellan seems to give Bush the benefit of the doubt in many areas, and still believes he's a decent caring man. Instead, he blames the policical atmosphere in general, and the likes of Rove, Cheney, and other key advisors for the problems in the current administration. My impression, by the time I finished the book, was there really wasn't much new here, and McClellan's main gripe was personal, e.g., he was misled by Rove, Libby, and others about who leaked inside information about a CIA agent to the press for political reasons, and ended up being caught himself in an inadvertent lie to the press. My feeling is that he simply wanted to get his side of the story out there, clear his name, and not specifically to bash Bush any more than has already been done.
...less

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Scott rated it:

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08/22/08

For some reason I am fascinated by reading first-hand accounts of what happened behind the scenes in recent U.S. Presidential administrations. I am particularly fascinated with reading about the George W. Bush administration and how they have become so out of touch with reality. McClellan's account was fascinating to me. As someone who thinks George W. Bush beats out only Andrew Johnson in a contest to be a good president, it was interesting to learn from a true insider how decisions were made a...more

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Caroline rated it:

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06/08/08

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: Politicos (My People)

So exciting! I normally read the conservatives at the library, so my consumer dollars won't fund their destruction of my country - that should tell you which side I'm coming from. This one, I BOUGHT! I make this offer to any Bushie who wants to roll over and tell the truth - I will buy your book! (David Kuo, I will grandfather you in)

Mr. McClellan started off kinda rocky; he gives us a background story about difficulties he experienced as head of his fraternity... and cites these as a lesso...more

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Tom rated it:

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06/12/08

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: nobody

I am NO fan of Bush, and was mildly interested to see what McClellan has to say (even though I distrust presidential turncoats) about possibly the worst president in history.

This is a terribly written book with disjointed rhythm. I've read better written stuff on bathroom walls. Considering that McClellan was not thought of well by the press corps or the public like Ari Fleischer was, he seems to think he did a wonderful job. Plus, for a book that is supposed to be an insider's view of the ...more

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Lisa rated it:

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08/18/08

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: absolutely NO ONE!

This was a hard one to put into the non-fiction category.

To summarize:
Pure drivel or more accurately pure partisan drivel that lays the responsibility of the Bush administration's lies and deceptions at the feet of the press.

The most honest paragraph in the entire book, “President Bush has always been an instinctive leader more than an intellectual leader. He is not one to delve deeply into all the possible policy options-including sitting around engaging in extended debate about ...more

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Dj rated it:

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11/26/08

bookshelves: politics

Read in July, 2008

I finished reading Scott McClellan’s memoir: What Happened: Inside the Bush White and Washington’s Culture of Deception. This is my first political memoir of a recent event. Normally, I’d pick up a book written many years after the fact, letting distance provide some context. But, I just had to have this book as McClellan worked the media and blog circuit. As you may know, he was a loyal Bush supporter and fellow Texan who served as White House Press Secretary from July 2003 until April 20...more I finished reading Scott McClellan’s memoir: What Happened: Inside the Bush White and Washington’s Culture of Deception. This is my first political memoir of a recent event. Normally, I’d pick up a book written many years after the fact, letting distance provide some context. But, I just had to have this book as McClellan worked the media and blog circuit. As you may know, he was a loyal Bush supporter and fellow Texan who served as White House Press Secretary from July 2003 until April 2006.

The memoir focuses primarily on the selling and secrecy around the Iraq War and the outing of a CIA agent as payback for challenging the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) claim for the war. It touches ever so briefly on the political effects of Hurricane Katrina on the Bush presidency.

There are a few tidbits that McClellan confirms. Bush decided to go to war with Iraq by November 2001 (p. 127). However, McClellan says that the war was right, but that it was marketed wrong, emphasizing WMD instead of spreading freedom. This revisionism is expected from loyal Bush folks, but it seems weird coming from a person who is persona non grata these days in Republican circles. He said Bush’s primary failing was not admitting that WMD’s weren’t the real reason for Iraq War. With respect to Katrina, he blames state and local officials, and Karl Rove, for any failings in the government’s reaction to one of its worst natural disasters. Also, Karl Rove is definitely fingered as someone who exposed Valerie Plame’s CIA cover, in an attempt to discredit her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson.

The main points I took away from this book are:

* McClellan portrays himself as a do-gooder who can do no wrong. He’s smitten with the President and never stabs him in the back, or front, during his tenure or in this book.
* It’s never McClellan’s fault. It’s always someone else’s fault. He is always doing the best he can. For anything bad that happened, he says that he was deceived, lied to, kept in the dark, or manipulated by dark foes (pp. 124, 138, 146, 153, 155, 163, 259, 297).
* Republicans are portrayed as being misunderstood, while Democrats are often wrong from the get-go. He blames the “system” constantly, but never blames individuals for making the system into what it is today. My personal thoughts are that the partisanship of the Republican leaders of the House during the 1990s led to the extreme partisanship we see in the White House today.
* McClellan says that while Bush won in 2004, the narrowness of the win “supplied no real mandate” (p. 252). Bush and Cheney would never say this, claiming they had a mandate to do whatever they wanted, especially after November 2004.
* His blame summation: Rove was bad. Libby was bad. Cheney was secretive. Bush was misled. Scott McClellan was lied to (p. 306).

McClellan also appears to have some serious masculinity hang-ups. He constantly uses parenthetical asides to assert that he truly is a manly-man. Talking to his mom, discussing stuff with his wife and being beaten up by his older brothers are addressed with unnecessary machismo (pp. 103, 112, 26). Additionally, when offering up his thinly-sketched fix for partisanship, he says that “for the rest of this chapter, I’ll refer to the hypothetical leaders of tomorrow simply as ‘he,’ to avoid the awkwardness of saying ‘he or she’ repeatedly. No disrespect is intended to any current or future national leaders of the female gender” (p. 314) What the heck is that? He then spends the next 9 1/3 pages saying he over and over again. Why not alternate? Why choose he over she? I’m sorry, it’s much more awkward to erase the contributions (past, current or future) of women in the leadership ranks of our government.

Clocking in at 323 pages, this book went on way to long. It could have been cut down to 100-150 pages and still gotten across its points. Was it a good read? Not necessarily. It certainly didn’t fit the bill as something that would alienate Republicans and rally Democrats....less

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Sarah marked it as to-read (review of isbn 1586485563)

05/28/08

bookshelves: nonfiction, to-read

The Bush administration misled the American public?! Really? I had no idea. Thank goodness Scott McClellan, former White House press secretary, wrote a book about it.

When I get around to reading this, I'll be looking for any acknowledgment of the author's own wrongdoings as White House spokesperson. When speaking truth to power, timing is important... I'd be more impressed by Mr. McClellan if he had spoken up years ago -- before being pushed out of the White House.

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Laura rated it:

(review of isbn 1586485563)

06/09/08

Read in June, 2008

Did I like it because it completely vindicated all that we thought we knew already about Bush and Co., with the added deliciousness of having been written by a Bush insider? Yes, to a large extent. Nothing like seeing the bad guys getting called out by one of their own. In the end, I found McClellan to be a pretty sympathetic character, and his explanation of how he went from devout apologist to reluctant Cassandra, believable. Better late than not at all.

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Brandon rated it:

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11/25/08

Read in November, 2008

It was okay, but I certainly wouldn't have dwelt on the things McClellan did as though they were the defining moments of the Bush Presidency. For example, how many of us think the intentional leaking of Valerie Plame's identity was one of the defining issues? Most of us probably completely wiped this episode of history from our memories ... but here McClellan drones on and on ... he trusted key members of the Bush Administration and took them at their word, telling the media they didn't leak V...more

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Randy added it (review of isbn 1586485563)

07/03/08

This is a very important book to read in our current cultural meltdown. We have lived in a political climate of lies--crimes--and cutural/political deception the likes of which are rarely seen except in volitle third-world countries.

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Anna rated it:

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11/28/08

bookshelves: ditched

Read in November, 2008

I never really had any particular interest in reading this book. I had heard about it when it first came out and saw it at my last trip to the library. I found the beginning of the book somewhat interesting if only to have an insight into why Bush was seen as successful governor and able to win the presidency. About 100 pages into the book, it started getting really difficult for me to read. The organization of the book is a bit distracting. It skips around chronologically. Also, I don't h...more

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Mazola1 rated it:

(review of isbn 1586485563)

10/24/08

Scott McClellan's book "What Happened" is an insider's attempt to explain just how the Bush Administration got so badly off track after a promising start. "What happened?" is, of course, the classic question a person asks after having been blindsided. In large part, it is obvious that this is exactly how McClellan felt after his term of service in the Bush White House was over -- abused and disheartened, puzzled and angry at how things could have gone so wrong, for both himse...more Scott McClellan's book "What Happened" is an insider's attempt to explain just how the Bush Administration got so badly off track after a promising start. "What happened?" is, of course, the classic question a person asks after having been blindsided. In large part, it is obvious that this is exactly how McClellan felt after his term of service in the Bush White House was over -- abused and disheartened, puzzled and angry at how things could have gone so wrong, for both himself and the Administration he believed in.

McClellan started working for Bush when he was the Governor of Texas, and followed him to Washington when Bush was elected President in 2000. He severed nearly three years as President Bush's press secretary, an oftentimes thankless task. His tenure as press secretary covered contentious times, including the controversies over the flawed intelligence leading up to the Iraq war and the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.

McClellan is certainly a disaffected former Bush loyalist, and is obviously still bitter that Karl Rove, Bush's celebrated "brain," and Scooter Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, lied to him about their roles in the Plame scandal, and basically hung him out to dry. McClellan writes that when it became known that he had falsely told the press that Rove and Libby were not involved in leaking Plame's identity, the press reaction was "about as negative and biting" as could be. He felt his reputation "crumbling away, bit by bit." McClellan's pain at his damaged credibility, as well as at Bush's squandered promise, infuse the entire book. However, his book is still thoughtful and well reasoned, and seems to have been written more in sorrow than in anger.

That having been said, the concept of the book is better than its execution. The writing is mundane, boring at times, and frequently choppy. As political memoirs go, this one is relatively low key and even dry, the intense press reaction to it notwithstanding. It contains no startling revelations, unless the story of how a life-long Bush loyalist became a very public critic of Bush counts as one.

McClellan left the White House with his credibility in tatters due to the lies of others, having basically been fired after more than two years of loyal and difficult service as press secretary. Upon leaving the White House for the last time, his reaction was that "after more than five years of living inside the bubble of a presidency once filled with so much promise and now woefully off course, little seemed completely clear to me. I was still wondering what happened."

Although it isn't entirely clear, it seems that what McClellan believes happened is that Bush was undone by his own "unconscious acquiescence and, at times, enabling of deception." McClellan does have some interesting insights into the Washington scene and Bush and his administration. These center around what he calls the permanent campaign, and the "bubble of the White House." These factors led to the inability, or unwillingness, of the Bush Administration to be entirely candid with the American people, in particular about the Iraq war.

McClellan says that although he doesn't believe the Bush Administration consciously lied about the reasons for going to war in Iraq, it was not blameless in the way it handled intelligence in the pre-war period. According to him, "the campaign mentality at times led the president and his chief advisors to spin, hide, shade, and exaggerate the truth, obscuring nuances and ignoring the caveats that should have accompanied their arguments. Rather than choosing to be forthright and candid, they chose to sell the war, and in so doing they did a disservice to the American people and to our democracy."

He concludes that "the decision to invade Iraq, more than anything else, took the Bush presidency off course, and our excessive embrace of the political tactics at the heart of Washingon's culture of deception kept it there. When candor could have helped to minimze the political fallout from the unraveling of the chief rationale for war, spin and evasion were instead what we employed."

Some of McClellan's harshest criticism concerns Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice: "This kind of special treatment undermines our system of justice....I believe in the rule of law, and I think a president and those who serve a president have a special obligation to live up to both the letter and the spirit of the law. President Bush certainly has the right and the power to commute Libby's entence. But in choosing to do so, he sent an unfortunate message to America and to the world -- that in the United States criminal behavior on behalf of a political cause may go unpunished if those who support that cause have the power to make it happen. Those in power have access to a different system of justice....I think it's unfortunate that the partisan, winner-take-all mentality of the permanent campaign has come to exert so much influence over the way our nation is governed. Intervening to circumvent a legally sound and morally just verdict because the defendant happens to be politally connected may be asympton of just such a deplorable trend."

If it is true that criticisms written by one's friends are more stinging and more accurate than those penned by one's enemies, then What Happened contains many stinging and accurate criticisms of George Bush's flawed presidency....less

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Matt rated it:

(review of isbn 1586485563)

11/02/08

Read in October, 2008

Part biography, part administration post-mortem. McClellan has had an interesting last 8 years or so, and he's somewhat bitter about it. I don't think he's unfair, though, he tries to speak at length about the good of the Bush administration (such that it is). I think he realizes, though, that it was overwhelmed by the bad, and as the title implies, he tries to go back and take a look at where the Bush presidency went awry. As a man close to the president, he's one of the people best able to...more

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What Happened: Inside the Bush Whitehouse and Washington's Culture of Deception

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