The response from the Bush administration and its amen corner to the blistering charges in former press secretary Scott McClellan's new book has been quick, brutal and predictable. While his predecessor Ari Fleischer proclaimed himself "heartbroken" over McClellan's revelations, his eventual successor Dana Perino branded him "disgruntled." Even as Karl Rove likened the man who once lied for him to a "left-wing blogger," former Bush homeland security adviser Frances Townsend trashed McClellan as "self-serving" and "disingenuous." As for President Bush himself, he is said to be "saddened" and "disappointed."
Of course, it wasn't always this way.
Once upon time, Scott McClellan was the perfect mouthpiece for the Bush administration and its right-wing allies. An idiot non-savant seemingly ill-informed and out-of-the-loop, McClellan provided the ideal front man to pitch what he himself now deems to have been Bush's "propaganda" about an "unnecessary war" in Iraq.
Here, then, is a look back at Scott McClellan's Greatest Hits:

• "I've said that it's not true. And I have spoken with Karl Rove." McClellan on PlameGate, September 23, 2003.
• "The President knows he [Rove] wasn't involved." McClellan on PlameGate, September 23, 2003.
• "There are unsubstantiated accusations that are made. And that's exactly what happened in the case of these three individuals. They're good individuals, they're important members of our White House team, and that's why I spoke with them, so that I could come back to you and say that they were not involved. I had no doubt of that in the beginning, but I like to check my information to make sure it's accurate before I report back to you, and that's exactly what I did." McClellan on the roles of Libby, Rove and Abrams in revealing the identity of Valerie Plame, October 7, 2003
• "As I've previously stated, while that investigation is ongoing, the White House is not going to comment on it." McClellan on new PlameGate revelations, July 11, 2005.
• "That's accurate." Later changed in White House transcript to "That's not accurate" regarding a statement that Rove and Libby were involved in outing Valerie Plame, October 31, 2005.
• "The last thing anyone should do is politicize this issue by rewriting history." McClellan on revelations regarding bogus uranium in Niger claims, July 17, 2003.
• "[I]t is sad and irresponsible that The New York Times is rewriting history to fit an inaccurate storyline and conveniently ignoring key facts." McClellan on criticism of Bush's preparation for Hurricane Katrina, February 10, 2006.
• "This is getting into trying to finger-point and play the blame game." McClellan on bungled Bush response to Katrina, September 6, 2005.
• "This was a report based on a single anonymous source that could not substantiate the allegation that was made." McClellan describing Newsweek's Koran desecration story, not the role of Curveball in Iraq pre-war intelligence, May 16, 2005.
• "Declassifying information and providing it to the public, when it is in the public interest, is one thing. But leaking classified information that could compromise our national security is something that is very serious. And there is a distinction." McClellan justifying President Bush's authorization to leak classified information from the October 2002 NIE to attack Joe Wilson and other White House critics, April 7, 2006.
• "The Democrats have a credibility problem when they try to suggest that we were manipulating intelligence, or that this is about something other than what I just said. That's crass politics." McClellan on criticism of President Bush's leaking classified material, April 7, 2006.
• "I think it appears to be more about trying to justify personal views and opinions than it does about looking at the results that we are achieving on behalf of the American people." McClellan, asked if former Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill's book contained falsehoods, January 12, 2004
• "Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he's raising these grave concerns that he claims he had." McClellan, on the book by former counter-terrorism tsar Richard Clarke, March 22, 2004.

Yes, those were the good old days. And as the President admitted on the day of McClellan's resignation in 2006, George W. Bush will look back on them fondly:

"First of all, I thank Scott for his service to our country. I don't know whether or not the press corps realizes this, but his is a challenging assignment dealing with you all on a regular basis. And I thought he handled his assignment with class, integrity. He really represents the best of his family, our state and our country. It's going to be hard to replace Scott. But, nevertheless, he's made the decision and I accept it.
One of these days he and I are going to be rocking on chairs in Texas, talking about the good old days and his time as the Press Secretary. And I can assure you I will feel the same way then that I feel now, that I can say to Scott, job well done."