They're good individuals, they're important members of our White House team, and that's why I spoke with them, so that I could come back to you and say that they were not involved.
--Scott McClellan, personally vouching Karl Rove and Scooter Libby's non-involvement in the Valerie Plame affair, October 2003.
Whether it outing Valerie Plame was a crime or not is beside the point in Scott McClellan's case. He didn't say that they weren't involved in a crime; he said that they weren't involved in the situation whatsoever. And the thing about being the White House Press Secretary is this: your highest qualification for the job is your credibility.
Fact is, McClellan has some explaining to do in this case. We now KNOW that Rove and Libby were involved (again, this is not a debate about whether they committed a crime; that's not the issue for McClellan). It's highly possible, even likely, that he didn't intend to lie...he was almost certainly just passing on Rove and Libby's denials when he vouched for them. If that's the case, he needs to say so.
It may be true that he's been advised not to comment on an ongoing legal investigation. Legally, that may be appropriate. But is it really appropriate politically? And leaving legal AND political concerns aside, is it appropriate for the WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY to refuse to comment on statements he made that (knowingly or not) turned out to be false? This puts him in a real pickle...what do you do when legal obligations are interfering with your ability to do your job?
And even if you like Scott McClellan--by all accounts most of the White House Press Corps likes him a lot, personally--you surely can see how this is a very serious handicap to him professionally. One more time for the record: credibility is the most important element in the White House Press Secretary's job. It's even more important than being a good public speaker. If he's made statements in the past that have turned out to be false, and he's unable to comment about those comments, it is not unfair for the press to take issue with his credibility. Indeed, it's only natural that they do so. How can they print anything he says without adding the caveat that it might turn out to be false? Unless and until he explains the previous slip-ups, the other things he said can't necessarily be taken at face value.
Article comments
1 - zingzing
can of worms! i'm not really going to comment other than to say that this post doesn't really seem to pick a side (rep vs dem, con vs lib) and yet it's going to produce quite a few angry posts. i don't know how, but i'm sure it will. have fun, mike. i really don't want to see what happens, it's only going to make me mad, but i'm sure i won't be able to resist. politics, mike. politics.
2 - Dave Nalle
OMG, you think credibility is an essential qualification to be White House Press Secretary? Has that twisty purple thing fallen off your belly button yet?
The job of the WHPS is to lie his ass off and make it sound good.
Dave
3 - Michael J. West
The job of the WHPS is to lie his ass off and make it sound good.
In politics, Dave, that IS credibility. Not whether you're lying, but whether you make the lies believable.
And anyway, if Scott McClellan's response is, "I lied my ass off but can't discuss it because it's an ongoing investigation," ...well, he's not making it sound good. So he's still not doing his job.
4 - Nancy
McClellan's already been told by the press corps to his face he has no credibility - a couple of times, I believe, at this point. I remember one particular briefing where he was floundering on and on refusing to address some question or other (for the past 2-3 months, all these briefings seem alike: they call a press conference, & then refuse to discuss anything, just want to announce the latest spin); one of the reporters, after pressing the issue being avoided twice, and being told by McClellan to "trust me", responded, "we can't trust you anymore; we don't trust you anymore".
Sic transit gloria casam albam.
5 - Dave Nalle
Saying 'trust me' is a sure sign of weakness and ought to be avoided. He needs a more callous attitude. Tell them what he wants them to hear and then not care what their reaction is.
Dave
6 - Michael J. West
He needs a more callous attitude. Tell them what he wants them to hear and then not care what their reaction is.
See, now you're talking about what politicians need to do. But the Press Secretary is not a politician...he's a Public Relations guy, basically. He HAS to care what the press's reaction is.
7 - Dave Nalle
Frankly, McClellan is a babyfaced tool who wants people to like him. I think they should make Rumsfeld Press Secretary.
Dave
8 - Michael J. West
You think he'd be easier to trust?
9 - Dave Nalle
I don't know if he'd be easier to trust, but he'd be more entertaining to watch. McClellan is just embarassing. I feel sorry for him when I watch him.
Dave
10 - Michael J. West
Exactly my point. He's not only embarrassing himself, but he's doing no favors for the President. I'm not entirely sure it matters who replaces McClellan, all things considered, but Scott's a liability.
11 - Temple A. Stark
A press secretary also talks to the American people. Spin, BS and empty words the country already has - in spades and backhoes.
In fact, from what I've heard a good Press Secretary will sympathize with the needs of both press and administration and do his or her job for Americans wondering what to make of it all.
Spinmeister is not a role anyone should be proud of.
12 - zingzing
i think that if the bush admin had their way, they'd get rid of the posistion alltogether and not talk to the press at all. since they can't do that, they have the guy who talks to the press not talk to the press at all. he's the target they want out there, looking bad, unable to defend himself, but taking it anyway. it's their bullet-proof vest, out there taking shot after shot... eventually, the press will have to shoot for the head.
13 - David
Even if Scott McClellan was the world's most credible and competent PR and communications frontman, it still wouldn't improve the image of the Bush administration.
If Ari Fleisher stayed on, he'd probably be drowning today trying to explain his earlier lies and misrepresentations. McClellan is just the wrong person doing this job at the wrong time, with the floodgates of press inquiry finally opening after years of cover given by 9/11 and the wars. The US, which only ranked a pathetic 44th in the world in a recent world press freedom index -- even China's Hong Kong ranked higher -- once again has a relatively more inquisitive White House press corp that isn't as intimidated nowadays.
The primary problem for White House credibility is the Bush administration. It's like being a press officer for a Mafia family -- you can only do so much. This Bush administration has lied and misrepresented things more frequently and brazenly than any other administration in recent memory. When you couple this attribute with their fundamental marketing approach to remain on a consistent message regardless of what's happening, it eventually breaks down at some point and the truth breaks out. Two years ago the major press media dropped the ball on information that Scooter Libby, Karl Rove and Cheney were the major culprits in the Valerie Plame affair, meekly accepting White House and Republican explanations. Their reporting gained traction only when the the facts became incontrovertible and gained momentum on blogs.
Whose credibility is really at stake at the White House? The big picture is that Scotty McClellan is a small fish who, if he plays ball, will get much richer working for an associated company after his stressful White House stint. I think Dick Cheney, at least, and Bush ultimately have the most to lose. Here is an interesting article by John Dean, the former Nixon White House counsel who should know about such scandals, on what he thinks might happen to Cheney.
14 - Nancy
I have to concur: the problem isn't the press secretary, it's the people s/he has to represent, and with the material McClellan has to work with, Jesus Christ himself couldn't make himself credible.
15 - Silas Kain
Scott should go into the press room one morning and say, "I quit!" This poor guy is in the middle of something that he can't dig out of. The President should put another puppet in place as the press secretary. I hear Jeff Gannon is seeking employment.
16 - Nancy
It needs to be someone utterly baldfacedly duplicitous, sleazy, & defiant. Tom DeLay is needing something to keep him busy right about now; he'd do just fine.