If you enjoy watching White House Press Secretaries squirm, today’s gaggle is for you. Video at Crooks and Liars, transcript at… the White House.
I once read a Howard Kurtz book called Spin Cycle about the Clinton era Press Secretaries and how they dealt with scandals. As long as the president wasn’t lying to them, they were in the clear. If he was…
The deal is this: Scott McClellan can lie or not lie and spin or not spin, and nothing bad will happen to him. The problem is that as soon as the White House press corps realizes McClellan no longer has correct information, he loses all credibility, and if today’s briefing shows up on the nightly network news, then about a gazillion people see Scotty squirm, and all future quotes from him are irrelevant.
Prediction? McClellan will be resigning his position “to spend more time with his family,” but not yet.