When former Kansas Senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole read what former President George W. Bush press secretary Scott McClellan had to say about the president, he wasn't happy.

"There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don't have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues," Dole wrote in a message to McClellan sent Thursday.

"No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits and, spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique."

Dole's criticism came as McClellan, White House press secretary from July 2003 to April 2006, was promoting his tell-all, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception."

Michael Marshall, Dole's spokesman, confirmed to Politico's Jonathan Martin that Dole sent the message. In a message from Dole to Politico, forwarded by Marshall, Dole explained his wrath.

"It's just not right but it happens in nearly every administration. It sort of happened to me in a very small way when a low level employee [Stanley Hilton] in my Senate office left and published a book in 1995 titled 'Senator for Sale.' He claimed to be a close confidant, etc. The book bombed because neither he nor his rambles had any credibility with the media or the public. 

Bottom line is that I have little respect for turncoats like McClellan who have it both ways. Some in public (and private) life have no shame when big bucks are involved. If their motive is 'good government,' O.K. but that's rarely the case."

In the email Dole sent to McClellan, and reported by Martin, the Kansan wrote that he had suspected he knew McClellan's motive: money.

"In my nearly 36 years of public service I've known of a few like you. No doubt you will 'clean up' as the liberal anti-Bush press will promote your belated concerns with wild enthusiasm. When the money starts rolling in you should donate it to a worthy cause, something like, 'Biting The Hand That Fed Me.' Another thought is to weasel your way back into the White House if a Democrat is elected. That would provide a good set up for a second book deal in a few years."

McClellan said he wrote his book out of "disillusionment" with the Bush White House.

The book will be published later this week, but it's already No. 1 on Amazon's sales list. McClellan's criticisms of Bush have been eagerly seized on by the press, so the book will find buyers. Dole however, will not be one of them, he said.

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