snowman.jpgSome days, it feels like we are all stuck on the Island of Misfit Press.   (No one wants an interview with a Charlie In the Box!)  To wit, when presidential spokesperson Dana Perino says something like this:

White House press secretary Dana Perino said it wasn’t clear what McClellan meant in the excerpt. “The president has not and would not ask his spokespeople to pass on false information,” she said.

Well, you’d think there would be some follow-up questions along the lines of:

– Dana, that was a well-parsed dodge of an answer. Did the President stand by and allow others in the Administration to ask his spokesperson to pass on false information? 

– Did the President knowingly allow members of the administration to feed false information to his spokesperson so that it would be passed to the public? And, a quick follow-up, if not, is the president always so unaware of what members of his staff are doing?

– Was the false information passed on by Karl Rove? And, if so, when did the President ascertain that Mr. Rove was passing on outright lies to the American public through the presidential spokesperson?  What affirmative steps did the president take to be certain that the lies were corrected publicly, if any? Why did Mr. Rove then continue to work for the Bush Administration for _______ months — that whole “we’re going to restore character to the White House” thing was really just a slogan, wasn’t it, Dana?

– Did the lies fed to the American public through the presidential spokesperson come from the Vice President’s office? If so, did the president know about them running his press strategy? Is that how things are usually done in the Bush Administration with regard to crisis management — Dick Cheney’s office takes over the reins and drives the strategy?  When did the President learn that his Vice President was directing lies to the American public through his official spokesperson?  What did he do about it, if anything?

– When and how and from whom did the President learn of the lies being told to the American public by his official spokesperson? Did he disclose that information to the special prosecutor?

– Can you tell us anything about the shouting match that occurred between Patrick Fitzgerald and Dick Cheney during the Vice President’s interview with the Special Prosecutor? (Okay, that isn’t really a logical follow-up, but dammit I want someone with access to chase that rumor down….)

– Were there meetings between the Vice President, Mr. Libby, Mr. Rove, Mr. Card, President Bush and other members of the WHIG during which a media strategy was assembled for dealing with the questions raised in Mr. Wilson’s op-ed? If so, how many meetings? Who was present at each? What was discussed? Who was the point person in that pushback? When was this decided? How closely was the President following this public pushback?

– And, finally Dana, since the president’s prior spokesperson has admitted to deceiving the American public from that podium based on information told to him by others in the Bush Adminsitration, why should we believe anything you say?

See, that’s not so hard. Not exactly holding my breath for any of these to be asked, but still, it felt good to type them all out.   Did the press learn nothing from Cathie Martin’s testimony on how easily they have been played by Bush Administration tactics and spin? 

Oh, hell. Just go read TBogg. (spew warning — put down all liquid before clicking thru this link)

(Photo via Jill – Glossy Veneer.)

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