Posted by on 05/30 at 09:34 AM

If you read my Wednesday post about Scott McClellan, you know I’m no fan of his—or his book.

White House officials have met news of McClellan’s charges in his book with surprise and measured scorn. From USA Today:

Ari Fleischer, McClellan’s predecessor at the podium, called the book “a wholesale jumping ship.“

Current press secretary Dana Perino said of McClellan’s transformation, “It is sad. This is not the Scott we knew.“

“I’m just flabbergasted,“ Trent Duffy, one of McClellan’s former subordinates. “Scott never hinted, whispered, breathed any shred of this when we worked together 2½ years.“

For his part, Bush himself is said to be “puzzled, and he doesn’t recognize this as the Scott McClellan that he hired and confided in and worked with for so many years.“

But none of that is stopping Bush haters everywhere—including in the popular press—from accepting McClellan’s allegations as Gospel truth. Conservative commentator Rich Galen put it this way:

“When he stood behind that podium, nobody believed a word he said. Now that he’s saying bad things about the president, he’s a Delphic oracle.“

But why the curious, some might even say inexplicable, change of heart from one who was a Texas transplant, one of the original true Bush believers?

Whitney Peeling is the publicity director for McClellan’s publisher. Maybe we have a clue in her breezy brush-off of questions about the book’s six-week delay in hitting the streets.

It “just needed a bit more time,“ she said.

Fleischer talked with McClellan on Tuesday, ahead of the start of McClellan’s publicity tour. Perhaps Fleischer provided us with another clue when he said McClellan’s book used “the language of the other side in a very harsh, accusatory manner.“ In addition, according to USA Today, “Fleischer implied that McClellan’s book became more critical during the editing process. ‘The book changed a lot from the way Scott first described it to me,‘ he said.“

And McClellan “was sheepish,“ Fleischer said. “He was starting to worry that he had crossed the Rubicon, and how bad he was going to feel.“

Why, then, the “critical tone” that USA Today even called “striking?“

Is it “a money-grubbing act of betrayal?“ the newspaper wondered.

Appearing on the Today show yesterday, McClellan dodged a question that might have provided the answer.

Asked why he’s releasing the book now, McClellan stuck to what he says is “the larger message [that] has been sort of lost in the mix,“ what he called “the permanent campaign culture in Washington, D.C.“

“My hope is that in some small way it might help us from the destructive, partisan warfare from the past 15 years,“ McClellan said.

(Warning: Sarcasm ahead.)

McClellan, completely ignoring the posed question and robotically regurgitating a stale sound bite? That’s not like him at ALL!!!

(End sarcasm)

Whatever his true motivation, whether his conscience or a deflated bank account, McClellan’s final product is pleasing, at least, to his publisher.

“Lots in the works!“ Peeling squealed about the publicity tour, which includes a sit-down with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” at 5 p.m. CST today.

I still say it’s impossible to believe someone who is trying to convince you now that he had lied to you before. Even if he’s telling the truth now (and there’s no way to be sure he is), he’s lost every shred of credibility, so in the end, his “revelation” doesn’t matter, anyway.

Such is the fate of Scott McClellan.

I hope his book was worth it.