Cashing in on the "Bash-Bush" Craze

Scott McClellan's new "tell-all" book about the Bush administration (no, I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of directly linking to or listing the title) is only the latest in what has become a cottage industry in the publishing world - the "Bash-Bush" craze. Go into any bookstore and you'll find a whole section devoted to anti-Bush screeds about how he is the worst president we've ever had (how quickly we forget James Buchanan and Jimmy Carter) or scathing tell-alls by former administration officials looking to disassociate themselves from their former boss and make a few bucks. Any publisher worth their weight in fertilizer knows what sells, particularly in Barnes & Noble in New York and San Francisco.

McClellan claims that he didn't set out to write a book that would be added to this fleeting yet popular publishing trend. He says he just wanted to tell his story. Accusations of heavy editing and possibly rewriting entire sections of the book make sense when considering the publisher's intent was to produce a book that would sell - a book that was critical of the Bush administration.