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Is McClellan uncovering deceit or just passing blame?
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What's the difference between blowing the whistle and being a Judas? How can you tell whether someone is setting the record straight or merely pointing the finger?
The answer pretty much depends on the old psychological imperative known as cognitive dissonance. In simpler terms: Which belief reinforces our own assumptions and values?
The latest example comes with the publication of a tell-all book by Scott McClellan, President Bush's press secretary from 2003 to 2006. It was McClellan's job to recite administration sound bites that were often misleading and sometimes dishonest.
The book -- "What happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception" -- relates what McClellan says is his sense of being betrayed by being misled into feeding false information to the news media.
Perhaps because many of McClellan's grievances are so well documented, much of the initial controversy was more about his motives than his message.
Anytime the whistle is blown, the conscious-stricken informant/self-serving squealer immediately is labeled as disgruntled. Google the phrase "disgruntled employee" and you'll find 154,000-plus hits.
Sure enough, the "D-word" was used by the current White House press secretary, Dana Perino. It's hard to miss the overtones. The fact that he's an ex-employee and that he's disgruntled is the point of the book.
Not everyone will buy McClellan's assertion that he was humiliated when he realized that he'd been passing on misinformation about weapons of mass destruction and the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. Critics have contended that if McClellan had been so humiliated, he should have quit immediately.
The critics, as the New York Times noted, "sought to paint the former press secretary as a disgruntled man trying to redeem his own reputation after long remaining silent about concerns he is suddenly taking public."
In the end, though, it helps to consider not just the motivations but the results of whistle-blowers. Remember Watergate? How about the false testimony of Big Tobacco executives? Take a moment to consider Enron and WorldCom.
After all these years, the shame of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment lives on. Then there was New York City police detective Frank Serpico and Linda Tripp, Monica Lewinsky's one-time confidant.
If your memories of these people and events are a bit hazy, take some time to consider their role in history. Just Google "whistle-blowers."
Lou Gelfand • lgelfand@startribune.com
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