Transcript: Scott McClellan Interview on Today Show

Read the complete transcript of Scott McClellan's interview Thursday on the Today Show as he discusses his bombshell book:

VIEIRA: But you had to know this was going to create a firestorm.

Mr. McCLELLAN: Well, I think I expected some of the reaction that was going to come out. You know, the White House would prefer that I not talk openly about my experiences. But I think there's a larger purpose to this book and that is the message I just talked about. It's really about looking at this permanent campaign culture in Washington, DC, and talking about how can we move beyond it? When I went to work for President Bush back in 1999, then Governor Bush, I had all this great hope that we were going to come to Washington and change it. He talked about being a uniter, not a divider. This was a president that had a--had a record as governor of Texas of being a bipartisan leader, of someone who brought people together to get things done, an approval rating well into the 70s. And then we got to Washington and I think we got caught up in playing the Washington game the way it's played today. And I think a lot of Americans like me would like to see us move beyond that bitter partiness--partisanship that exists today.

VIEIRA: So he let you down then, this man that you believed in?

Mr. McCLELLAN: Well, you know, I think I'm disappointed that things didn't turn out the way that we all hoped they would turn out. We all had high hopes coming in. And I think this is sharing my personal experience of going through that, coming into Washington, DC, as deputy press secretary, then becoming the White House spokesman, the White House press secretary. And by the last 10 months or so of my time at the White House, I grew--I grew increasingly disillusioned by things, when the first revelation came out that what I had been told by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, that they were in no way involved in the leaking of Valerie Plame's identity, which we now know is not true, when I--and despite the fact that I went to the podium and said these people assured me they were not involved, you know, I started--I started to become a little more disillusioned about things.