“One of these days he and I are going to be rocking on chairs in Texas, talking about the good old days and his time as the press secretary. And I can assure you I will feel the same way then that I feel now, that I can say to Scott, job well done," said President Bush in accepting the resignation of Scott McClellan on April 19, 2006. Those days of happy reflection aren't going to happen anytime soon.

In his new book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” McClellan comes up short in calling President Bush a “liar.” McClellan claims he was duped by the dark forces of Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and “possibly” Vice President Dick Cheney, and “unwittingly passed along false information to the press.” Poor McClellan was used and abused.

McClellan believes the President never would have invaded Iraq if he had known the true cost of the war “despite what he might say or feel he has to say publicly.” C’mon Scotty, step up to the plate. You are giving the President a “free pass” that he does not deserve. Iraq was in the Administration's sights in the aftermath of 9/11.

The buck is supposed to stop on Bush’s desk. It is his sorry Administration that sold the public on the Iraq invasion based on a package of lies.

If McClellan had done the right thing and resigned the press secretary job in protest, the media—which he now brands as “complicit enablers” in the run-up to the Iraq invasion—may have been inspired to get off their rumps and investigate the bogus reasons for going to war.

A high-profile resignation by McClellan would have been a noble act. It also may have prevented further carnage and the loss of American and Iraqi lives. Scotty simply blew it. We now have a book in which McClellan seeks to salvage his reputation, one that was severely damaged by serving as the Administration's mouthpiece for the President's deceptions.

The White House slime machine is already trashing McClellan as a turncoat, somebody who is “not the Scott that we knew,” said his successor Dana Perino today. She wants everyone to know that the President will not comment on the book because he has more pressing matters to deal with.

That’s great news. One hopes those pressing matters deal with devising a plan to get out of Iraq ASAP. More likely, those pressing matters concern figuring out who is going to replace Scotty in the rocking chair in Crawford. The number of chair-mates dwindles each day as the American public finally catches on and grows evermore sour about the eight years under President Bush.