Briefing Room Follies

The Washington Post's Mark Leibovich opens his Style section profile of Scott McClellan with this absolutely priceless anecdote:

"On the Thursday morning after his reelection in November 2004, President Bush bounded unexpectedly into the Roosevelt Room of the White House, where about 15 members of his communications team were celebrating. He just wanted to thank everyone for their hard work on the campaign, he said, before singling someone out.

" 'Is Scotty here? Where's Scotty?' Bush asked, half-grinning, according to two people who were in the meeting but asked not to be quoted by name because they were discussing a private event. Bush scanned the room for Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary.

" 'I want to especially thank Scotty,' the president said, looking at his aide. 'I want to thank Scotty for saying' -- and he paused for effect. . . .

" ' Nothing .' "

Leibovich's story about McClellan, the man who "has been credited -- or blamed -- for taking the craft of party-line discipline to new heights, or depths" suggests that his penchant for robotic repetition of meaningless stock phrases is just a matter of following orders.

" 'We've come to understand that no matter how we slice and dice something, Scott's going to stick to the recipe,' says Ken Herman, White House correspondent for Cox News Service. 'I can't think of any topic where on the sixth or seventh iteration of a question we get something different from the original answer. By somebody's measure, that's the definition of doing the job well. Certainly not ours.' . . .

"Several White House reporters say that as much as McClellan is liked personally, the administration has left him with no meaningful freedom from the podium beyond jackhammering that day's message and providing mundane updates. ('The president had a good discussion with a group of Senate Democrats and Republicans earlier today.') It has diminished the daily briefing to a playacting spectacle in which he recites lines while reporters play the part of exasperated inquisitors."

Briefing Follies

Yesterday's briefing provides an illustration.

At mid-day, the Senate and the White House still appeared on a collision course on the Patriot Act. (Later, the White House, which had so vehemently demanded long-term reauthorization, backed down and accepted a six-month extension.)

Responding to repeated questions, McClellan made reference to his Dec. 16 statement on the matter -- "The President has made it very clear that he is not interested in signing any short-term renewal."

But he simply refused to say those words out loud.