President broke his promise to the country by refusing to fire aide for leaking a CIA agent’s identity, said Scott McClellan, the president’s chief spokesman for almost three years.  

"I think the president should have stood by his word and that meant Karl should have left," Mr. McClellan said Sunday in a broadcast interview about his new tell-all book, a scathing rebuke of the White House under Bush’s leadership.  

Mr. McClellan now acknowledges he felt burned by Mr. Rove, Mr. Bush’s top political adviser, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff. He said Messrs. Rove and Libby assured him they were not involved in leaking CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity, and he repeated those assurances to reporters.  

In fact, Messrs. Rove and Libby did help leak Ms. Plame’s identity, as confirmed in a later criminal investigation. Libby had resigned by then, but Rove remained in office and eventually stepped down on his terms in August 2007.

"I think the president should have stood by the word that we said, which was that if you were involved in this in any way, then you would no longer be in this administration. And Karl was involved in it," Mr. McClellan said.  

The White House had said in 2003 that anyone who leaked classified information in the case would be dismissed. Mr. Bush reiterated that promise in June 2004. By July 2005, Mr. Bush qualified his position, saying he would fire anyone for leaking classified information if that person had "committed a crime." Mr. Rove was never charged with a crime.  

Mr. McClellan writes in his book that Mr. Bush backpedaled to protect Mr. Rove, a point Mr. McClellan repeated in the interview. 

"We had higher standards at the White House," Mr. McClellan said. "The president said he was going to restore honor and integrity. He said we were going to set the highest of standards. We didn’t live up to that. When it become known that his top adviser had been involved, then the bar was moved."  

Current and former White House aides have disputed Mr. McClellan’s account of a White House that pushed aside candor and honesty as needed.  

Mr. McClellan says he shares some blame for getting caught up in the culture of spin and passing on information he later learned to be untrue.  

On other topics from his book, Mr. McClellan said Sunday:  

Mr. McClellan was Mr. Bush’s press secretary from July 2003 to April 2006. The White House says Mr. Bush was surprised, saddened and disappointed about the book, which is titled, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception." 

And this coming from a man that made the supreme sacrifice of giving up golf to show his support for the soldiers dying in Iraq; a man that has wrecked just about everything there is to wreck: Iraq, the dollar, the national debt, America’s prestige abroad, the rebuilding of New Orleans, and the Endangered Species Act. And oh, let’s not forget about dismissing Global Warming as questionable!

McClellan: Rove Should Have Been Fired - RUSSERT: But you believe Rove should have left? MCCLELLAN: I think the president should have stood by the word and that meant Karl should have left. As McClellan notes, “the bar was moved” by President Bush when it was revealed publicly …

McClellan: Bush Should Have Fired Rove - McClellan: Bush should have fired Rove June 01, 2008 17:36 EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan says the president should have fired Karl Rove for his involvement in the Valerie Plame scandal. …