Rearranging the Deck Chairs?

Joe Lockhart, who was press secretary during Bill Clinton's impeachment, said the Bush administration bears much of the blame for the hostile tone. He said reporters can be friendly or antagonistic, depending on how a president is faring.

"From the president and vice president on down, the view is that cooperating with the press is not in the administration's interest, and it makes Scott's job harder, as it made Ari's job harder," Lockhart said.

As Bush's political fortunes waned in recent months, McClellan adopted a more combative stance. During an off-camera briefing about Vice President Cheney's hunting accident, he chided NBC's Gregory for the tone of his questioning, noting that "the cameras aren't on right now," prompting an outburst for which Gregory later apologized.

At another briefing, McClellan told Hearst columnist Helen Thomas: "I'm sure you're opposed to the broader war on terrorism."

Perhaps McClellan's most difficult briefing came on Oct. 31, the day after then-White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby was indicted in the Valerie Plame leak investigation. McClellan told the press in 2003 that Libby and White House strategist Karl Rove had assured him "that they were not involved" in leaking the name of the CIA operative and that these were "unsubstantiated accusations."

McClellan insisted, again and again, that he could not comment on an "ongoing legal proceeding," despite a barrage of questions and Gregory's insistence that McClellan's own credibility "may very well be on trial with the American public."

In an interview last fall, McClellan said: "The media's trying to get under our skin and get us off-message. My job is to help the president advance his agenda."

We go now to the blog world. Philly's Dick Polman : "McClellan's mission was not to merely evade or spin information in the traditional sense. His core purpose was to be the point man for an assertive, even revolutionary, White House effort to delegitimize the mainstream conveyers of the news. And whoever replaces McClellan will play the same role."

John Aravosis at Americablog suppresses a yawn:

"Who cares? Seriously. Bush gets rids of his spokesman? Ooh, big deal. The guy who is ordered to lie for him is going to be replaced by another guy who is ordered to lie for him. And this will significantly change the direction of this disaster of an administration how? Bush also changed the head of the Office of Management and Budget - that would be his accountant, for all intents and purposes. So, we now have a new accountant, and a new mouthpiece who simply parrots what Bush tells him. How is that going to change the situation in Iraq? How is that going to prevent Bush from getting us into a third disastrous war, a nuclear one this time, in Iran? Is the new press secretary or the new accountant going to come up with the war plan for Iran this time instead of Rummy?"

Georgia10 at Kos is practically nostalgic:

"Will anyone be able to fill Scotty's shoes? Who can master the art of 'we don't comment on ongoing investigations?' Who has the stamina to repeat day after day, week after week, that Saddam 'was a grave threat'? Who has the skill to weave the words 'terrorists flew planes into buildings' into at least one question per briefing? The nomination floor is open.