That’s gonna leave a mark:
In an extraordinary message obtained and authenticated by Politico, Dole uses his trademark biting wit to portray McClellan as a classic Washington opportunist.
“There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don’t have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues,” Dole wrote in a message sent yesterday morning. “No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits and, spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique.”
Michael Marshall, Dole’s spokesman and colleague at the Alston Bird law firm, confirms the message came from the former senator and presidential candidate. “Yes, it is authentic,” Marshall wrote in an e-mail.
“In my nearly 36 years of public service I’ve known of a few like you,” Dole writes, recounting his years representing Kansas in the House and Senate. “No doubt you will ‘clean up’ as the liberal anti-Bush press will promote your belated concerns with wild enthusiasm. When the money starts rolling in you should donate it to a worthy cause, something like, ‘Biting The Hand That Fed Me.’ Another thought is to weasel your way back into the White House if a Democrat is elected. That would provide a good set up for a second book deal in a few years”
Dole assures McClellan that he won’t read the book — “because if all these awful things were happening, and perhaps some may have been, you should have spoken up publicly like a man, or quit your cushy, high-profile job.”
“That would have taken integrity and courage but then you would have had credibility and your complaints could have been aired objectively,” Dole concludes. “You’re a hot ticket now, but don’t you, deep down, feel like a total ingrate?”
He signs the email simply: “BOB DOLE”
McClellan is just another in a long, sad line of former insiders who have turned on their boss after leaving their employ – but he’s not the worst of this species, that would be those who become “sources” for anonymous denunciations. It would be nice if the people who ran our government were all men and women rather than being, as they all too often are, self-absorbed weasels. You want to know why President Bush is as unpopular as he is? Because he did what he thought was right, treated everyone decently and will take no revenge on any of those who betrayed him – for being an honorable man in a den of cretins, President Bush has earned scorn, and while those who slander him come out smelling like a rose, President Bush will carry an unearned public reputation for dishonesty to his grave…only a century from now, when all the actors of this play are long dead, will the full truth be able to come out. At that time, woe unto the memory of those who acted dishonorably.
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