Scott, Meet David

The big news today was the release of former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's book What Happened, a scathing indictment of the Bush Administration and the lead-in to the war in Iraq. (And with a name like What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong With Washington, you know it's fair, right?) Naturally, the Leftists are clapping with joy, proclaiming McClellan as a patriot and an honest man. Considering these same Lefties considered McClellan to be the spawn of Satan when he was working for the Bush Administration, it's quite a shift.

I'm reminded of another hated-then-beloved figure of the Left who renounced conservative thinking. His name is David Brock, author of The Seduction of Hillary Clinton and Blinded By the Right. The former book, along with his book questioning Anita Hill's credibility, made Brock a target for Leftist hatred. The latter book, where he admits to lying and then proceeds to tell everyone why they should believe him now, made him a Leftist media superstar. The fact Brock is an admitted liar doesn't trouble the Left, but it should trouble thinking people (i.e. non-Leftists).

With Scott McClellan, I feel we're seeing the next David Brock. He's already been caught in some questionable statements and the book hasn't been out for that long. But, true to their Leftist cores, the Left doesn't see anything wrong with that because he's bashing Bush. On a much larger scale, however, it's these little questions that will chip away at the possibility of McClellan's book being that big a deal for a long period of time. It will certainly get a lot of heat in the short term, but eventually the "wow" factor will wear off and only the diehards will keep buying it. What that means, dear reader, is that by this time next year, don't be surprised to find McClellan's book taking up space in a bargain bin somewhere alongside Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson's books.

That's the thing I've found with Leftists trying to imitate conservative successes: they don't really succeed for very long. Remember how Air America was going to be as big as conservative talk radio? Remember when the Huffington Post was going to become the next Drudge Report? Remember all of the "smoking guns" that would prove to the world that George W. Bush lied to get us into Iraq? To date, not one of these great Leftist ideas has seen mainstream success. Why? People just don't like whiners. And when it comes to whining, Leftists are guaranteed winners.

And when you look at McClellan's book, I have no doubt it will be a Leftist "winner."