Scott McClellan Needs Firmware Update

The White House flack damn near burst into flames trying to simultaneously discredit a Plamegate story and not comment on it. The I/O conflict:

SCOTT McCLELLAN: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Based on your personal knowledge, based on your opinion, based on your frustration with the story -- what caused you to say that?

SCOTT McCLELLAN: No, I mean, I read the story and I didn't view it as an accurate story.

QUESTION: Why not?

SCOTT McCLELLAN: Again, I'm not going to go any further than that. There's an ongoing investigation. This is bringing up matters related to an ongoing investigation.

QUESTION: After you read the story, Scott, did you check with either the two people mentioned, the President or Rove, to ask them? Is that what you base --

SCOTT McCLELLAN: I don't have any further comment, Peter.

QUESTION: Well, is that what you base your guidance on, or is it just -- you know, is it just you're feeling that this couldn't have happened?

SCOTT McCLELLAN: I stand by what I just said and I'm going to leave it at that.

Even more conflict here.

Comments

[Hakluyt]

Its not accurate, but I am not going to tell you why. 🙂

As this guy is Bush's creature, such behavior is to be expected of him.

[Walter E. Wallis]

I still think Bolton would make one hell of a press secretary.

[Brian Marks]

wow, White House spokesman is 1 job I don't want right now.

[Brian Marks]

wow, White House spokesman is 1 job I don't want right now.

[Walter E. Wallis]

I still think Bolton would make one hell of a press secretary.

[Brian Marks]

wow, White House spokesman is 1 job I don't want right now.

[Bret]

It isn't accurate, but that really depends on what your definition of "isn't" is ....

[Daniel Montiel]

Did anyone see Clinton's press secretary the day after the Lewinsky scandal hit? The room was full of A-listers for a change, and listening to him thread his way through Clinton's testimony and what was being reported in the papers was agonizing. Reminds me of this aborted conversation. It went something like, "The president thinks he told the truth X number of months ago, and the President feels he told the truth last month, and he feels those two answers are not at odds with each other." The look on his face actually made me feel sorry for him...
I don't think normal humans can do this job--how do you say *nothing* so many times without accidentally saying something substantive?

[gaius marius]

they're in some real trouble up there, not penny-ante stains-on-a-dress stuff. fitzgerald may well tie the vice president's office and perhaps cheney himself to the forging of the yellowcake documents through libby and ledeen and the aipac espionage scandal.

indictments will be in by october 28, i understand. get ready for fitzgerald to be painted as some kind of democratic hack by the white house and fox news.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Bringing arrogance down ignobly, this is what I live for. Yeeesssssssssssssssss!!!!

[Herman]

I still think Bolton would make one hell of a press secretary.

wow, White House spokesman is 1 job I don't want right now.

I still think Bolton would make one hell of a press secretary.

wow, White House spokesman is 1 job I don't want right now.

Run squirrel, run! Make server work!

Mr. Consul- Don't forget we also may hear about Scooter Libby having personal struggles that cause bad judgement too.

[SPD]

When Republicans Hedge -- tonight on Fox!

[Anonymous Coward]

get ready for fitzgerald to be painted as some kind of democratic hack by the white house and fox news.

Fortunately, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, NPR, Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Washington Post, etc., would never paint a special prosecutor as a partisan hack.

[joe]

I stand by what I just said.

But you didn't say anything.

And I stand by that, 100 percent.

Don't feel bad, Coward. Starr was recognized as a partisan hack the day he took the job. There were a ruckus in Congress about it. So no, your comparison is not valid.

[abc]

Once again, joe decides to make shit up.

[joe]

In your face, abc!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=whitewater+starr+appointed+frank&btnG=Google+Search

Apologies can be sent via email.

[joe]

Here's my favorite quote, abc, from the second hit you'll get from that google:

"The son, James D. MacKinnon, said Judge MacKinnon (a Republican who had formerly been a special prosecutor) objected to Starr's appointment in 1994, in part, because of the appearance of partisanship arising from Starr's senior position in the prior administration.

Judge MacKinnon also expressed concern about Starr's frequent public appearances, which the judge felt "were wholly inappropriate for an independent counsel," James MacKinnon wrote in a letter to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

Judge MacKinnon "was always most careful to appoint independent counsels whose motivations could not be criticized," his son stated. "My father always felt that independent counsels and judges should be extraordinarily discreet with any public comments, and be as anonymous as possible and simply do their work." Judge MacKinnon died in 1995.

James MacKinnon wrote the letter about his father's views on Feb. 3, in response to comments made by Frank in a TV interview."

Wah wah wah waaaaaahhhhhhhhh.........

[Just an observation]

What a dead guy's son said his father said is not exactly convincing.

Full disclosure for Joe.

I thought Clinton was a smarmy, self-promoting huckster with no principles in 1992 and I was exactly right. I thought Bush would be an unprincipled but amiable bumbler in 2000 and, boy, was I ever wrong.

Oh, and I either vote LP or CPUSA (depending on my mood) every chance I get,

[Syd]

I thought in 2000 that the Republicans nominated the Republican equivalent of Bill Clinton. I still do.

[madpad]

It's times like this (very rare I might add) where watching Scott McClellen makes me actually miss his predecessor, Ari Fleischer.

Ari-the-master could teach McClellen a thing or two about the artistry of being an obstructionist boob.

I wouldn't have believed him any better, of course...but he was so much more fun to watch.

[joe]

"What a dead guy's son said his father said is not exactly convincing."'

The point was the references to Cogressman Frank, who was all over the news (along with others) and the House Office Buildings, hammering on what a political hack Starr was. That's why McKinnon's son chose to write to Frank - because he was leading the "ruckus in Congress."

Lesson: lister to Barney Frank, don't little to sissy-assed trolls who don't leave their names.

madpad, I like Scott McClellan. Though his profession is to lie, he's the world's worst liar. You can spot it from a mile away, as he stands up there with this panicky moon-eyed look.