Monster's Ball

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McClellan On The Defensive

After the release of his inflammatory book "What Happened," former White House press secretary Scott McClellan talks with Katie Couric about his allegations against the Bush administration.

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McClellan's former colleagues responded in the only way they know how -- with their own echo chamber of talking points.

Dan Bartlett said that the book had left him "puzzled and bewildered." Said White House press secretary Dana Perino: "We are puzzled." And President Bush? "He is puzzled," Perino reported.

Rove started another round. "This doesn't sound like the Scott McClellan I knew," he said.

"A different Scott from the Scott I knew," contributed Ari Fleischer.

"Not the Scott we knew," Perino joined in.

But it would take much more than that to knock McClellan off his talking points. Indeed, he had used many of the same tactics when he stood at the White House podium. After former terrorism adviser Richard Clarke criticized Bush, McClellan read aloud Clarke's friendly resignation letter. "There was no mention of the grave concerns he claims to have had about the direction of the war on terrorism," McClellan said in March 2004.

And perhaps nobody spent as much time being publicly -- and implausibly -- puzzled as McClellan himself was from the White House podium. An article on the treatment of prisoners? "Puzzling." Democratic complaints about Karl Rove's fear tactics? "Puzzling." Changes to restrict information on the White House Web site? "I'm somewhat puzzled."

Yesterday, McClellan put those same skills to work in his own defense.

Why didn't he challenge his colleagues about the wisdom of the Iraq war? Talking Point One: "I gave them the benefit of the doubt," he said. And he gave Meredith Vieira of "Today" the benefit-of-the-doubt line three times; NPR's Renee Montagne got the benefit-of-the-doubt line, too.

Why did he wait so long to make his objections known? Talking Point Two: "You live in a White House bubble," he told NBC. For the hearing-impaired, he rephrased: "You get caught up in the White House bubble." And for NPR: "When you're in the White House, you're in this bubble." For MSNBC, he explained that "you need some time to step back from being in that bubble."

Was he just a "disgruntled" former employee? Talking Point Three. "Actually, 'disappointed' is the word I'd use," he told Vieira. Indeed, he used the word five times during the interview.

"But you had to be more than disappointed," Vieira maintained.

The former spokesman considered this. "Dismayed and disillusioned," he proposed. But he was soon back on message.

Vieira asked him to respond to those who say he's trying to "cash in . . . because you're angry."

"Again," McClellan answered, "I'm disappointed . . ."