Will the Stonewall Work?

On TV

Bill Plante reports this morning on CBS News: "This has made things very uncomfortable for the White House because it suggests that someone here was either misinformed or, worse yet, lying, when they told spokesman Scott McClellan back in September '03 to say that Rove wasn't involved."

He concludes that even if it turns out Rove is not the focus of the criminal investigation, "the White House still looks stupid."

John Roberts reported on the CBS Evening News: "It was a bad day at the White House, unable to defend its own on-the-record statements, unable to explain why what it repeatedly said with such certainty, 21 months ago, now would appear so demonstrably false."

David Gregory 's report on NBC included one of his own unanswered questions to McClellan about Rove: "Was he involved, or was he not? Because, contrary to what you told the American people, he did, indeed, talk about his wife, didn't he?"

Earlier, Gregory had also asked: "Scott, I mean, just -- I mean, this is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to stand before us after having commented with that level of detail and tell people watching this that somehow you decided not to talk. You've got a public record out there. Do you stand by your remarks from that podium, or not?"

The Grilling

Dana Milbank writes in The Washington Post on the scene in the briefing room yesterday, after the press corps realized McClellan had long misled them about Rove's involvement.

"The recipients of McClellan's bum steer were furious -- hectoring him more than questioning him.

" 'This is ridiculous!'

" 'You're in a bad spot here, Scott.'

" 'Have you consulted a personal attorney?'

"The 32-minute pummeling was perhaps the worst McClellan received since he got the job two years ago. His eyes were red and tired. He wiggled his foot nervously behind the lectern and robotically refused to answer no fewer than 35 questions about Rove and the outing of the CIA's Valerie Plame."

Milbank is Live Online today at noon ET.