What Happened? I lied a lot…but not on purpose…kinda

McClellan is making the rounds today on NBC. Below is his interview with Meredith on the Today Show. Tonight, he appears with KO on Countdown.

NBC White House Corespondent David Gregory is surprised. But considering the exchanges that Gregory had with McClellan, that surprises me. McClellan, in every exchange, did everything he could to NEVER answer contentious questions. From my perspective, he was clearly annoyed by his inability to answer questions asked, and I think this book is both a reaction and a reflection of that internal conflict. Below is video of Gregory talking about his perspective on the book as White House corespondent.

Ultimately, if this is McClellan trying to get some of his credibility back it’s a step, but only one, in a long walk. McClellan had to know what he was getting into, after seeing Ari Fleisher’s performances from the podium. His unwillingness to break with the President publicly before this book makes him seem more like a jilted lover than any kind of expert insider.

As Gregory says in the video above, the diminished role of the White House Press Office may have left McClellan out of the loop, perhaps for his own good, but that takes some wind out of his sails.

Another allegation from the book is that the media was too soft on the administration. Below is a video from Anderson Cooper, followed by Tom Brokaw.

I was looking for video from yesterday on the Today show but they seem to have removed that part from the interview. Here is a transcript of that exchange, in the absence of the video.

There’s little doubt that the assertions laid forth in the book have some truth to them, unfortunately, the administration only has about 8 months to weather that storm, and the atmospheric pressure has moved beyond battering the Bush administration. If any charges were to be levied against administration officials, we’ll probably have to wait until 1/20/09, there’s simply not the time, or the willingness to do anything at this point.

The issue at this point is using the revelations contained in the book to further discredit those who have suckled this administrations teat since the beginning (ugly visual). That includes John McCain. I can’t wait to do that!

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