McClellan: I Believed Bush

Affection and loyalty blinded Scott McClellan in the run-up to the Iraq war, but now the former press secretary has found a higher allegiance—“a loyalty to the truth.” McClellan, whose book is causing a media storm for alleging President Bush ran a “propaganda” campaign about the war, defended his work this morning on NBC's Today.

"I believed the president when he talked about the grave danger from Iraq,” McClellan said. “I believe he believed it was a grave danger, too. He convinced himself of that." McClellan “grew increasingly disillusioned” as Washington's “permanent campaign culture" overtook Bush. “The White House would prefer that I not talk openly about my experiences,” he says. “These words didn’t come to me easy.” (More Bush administration stories.)