Incertonia
20-07-2004, 05:12
I was going to post this on the WMD thread, but I was afraid it would get ignored and overlooked. Here's a question for all of you folks crowing over the alleged discrediting of former ambassador Joseph Wilson.
If Wilson really has been discredited, why didn't the White House stick to its guns last year instead of admitting that the SOTU address shouldn't have included the Niger claim? And even more importantly--why aren't they correcting the record now? (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040715-7.html#10)
For those of you who can't be arsed to follow the link, here's the gist--it's the White House press briefing from last Thursday, and a USA Today reporter gives McClellan a chance to swat one out of the park, straight fastball right down the middle, and Scotty takes it for a strike.
Q Last Friday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report that shows that Ambassador Joe Wilson lied when he said his wife didn't put him up for the mission to Niger. The British inquiry into their own prewar intelligence yesterday concluded that the President's 16 words were "well-founded." Doesn't Joe Wilson owe the President and America an apology for his deception and his own intelligence failure?
How much more of a setup can you give the guy? This is a question designed to let the White House gloat, point fingers, and drop their pants and waggle their asses at the press and the Democratic party, and how does Scott McClellan answer?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, one, let me point out that I think those reports speak for themselves on that issue. And I think if you have questions about that, you can direct that to Mr. Wilson.
Huh? Where's the official White House "we were right and you guys are assholes" statement? Where's the "we're certainly glad that time has proven that we were correct" statement?
I'll tell you where it is--it's stuffed down deep in Scott McClellan's craw because he knows that he can't make that statement. Why? Because press secretaries can't lie--they can spin and dodge and bob and weave, but they can't ever lie because the second they do, they can never face the press corps again.
So someone who still believes Bush answer this question for me--why won't they give the press a straight answer on this issue? What are they afraid of?
If Wilson really has been discredited, why didn't the White House stick to its guns last year instead of admitting that the SOTU address shouldn't have included the Niger claim? And even more importantly--why aren't they correcting the record now? (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040715-7.html#10)
For those of you who can't be arsed to follow the link, here's the gist--it's the White House press briefing from last Thursday, and a USA Today reporter gives McClellan a chance to swat one out of the park, straight fastball right down the middle, and Scotty takes it for a strike.
Q Last Friday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report that shows that Ambassador Joe Wilson lied when he said his wife didn't put him up for the mission to Niger. The British inquiry into their own prewar intelligence yesterday concluded that the President's 16 words were "well-founded." Doesn't Joe Wilson owe the President and America an apology for his deception and his own intelligence failure?
How much more of a setup can you give the guy? This is a question designed to let the White House gloat, point fingers, and drop their pants and waggle their asses at the press and the Democratic party, and how does Scott McClellan answer?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, one, let me point out that I think those reports speak for themselves on that issue. And I think if you have questions about that, you can direct that to Mr. Wilson.
Huh? Where's the official White House "we were right and you guys are assholes" statement? Where's the "we're certainly glad that time has proven that we were correct" statement?
I'll tell you where it is--it's stuffed down deep in Scott McClellan's craw because he knows that he can't make that statement. Why? Because press secretaries can't lie--they can spin and dodge and bob and weave, but they can't ever lie because the second they do, they can never face the press corps again.
So someone who still believes Bush answer this question for me--why won't they give the press a straight answer on this issue? What are they afraid of?