I’m glad the story is finally getting out, but imagine the impact of a standing administration official resigning, not with admirable platitudes and praise for his employer, but with a sharp rebuke.
“I’m resigning because I no longer have faith in my ability to give the American people the information necessary to support their faith in the democratic process. I’ve been lied to, threatened, and strong-armed. I will not do it any longer. My continued employment has become the fulcrum upon which the balance of power and privilege has settled.
I cannot participate in the propaganda and active cover-up that the Bush administration continues to pursue. I believe that anything less than full disclosure and immediate disassociation will result in the eventual criminal prosecution of all administration officials and of each of those who are complicit in their secrecy, lies, and pardons.”
Yes, Mr McClellan, you’ve established the idea that you didn’t agree. Now how about telling us why you waited several years to come clean. You victimized the American people for years. Now you’ve written a book about it. Our morbid curiosity will make it a best seller, but your common decency should make it a free re-examination of the automaton-robot culture that popularity contest politics eventually degrade into.
Violent criminals are generally barred from profiting from their crimes when a book or movie deal is struck. Political criminals should have the same restrictions. The only way you get to make money is if you blow the whistle on a crime in progress. But once you’ve successfully distanced yourself from any type of prosecution and finally decide to let us all in on the crimes in which you were complicit, any decent society should shun you until it’s clear you’re not attempting to remain relevant long past your initial lucky break.
