What Does It Take to be White House Press Secretary?

[Gokul43201]

What does it take to be White House Press Secretary ? The ability to dance well; to evade and dodge; to be able to decide when a quick little lie is the best way to go; when it's just safest to deny any knowledge?

The latest http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050211-6.html is a joke (not the only one, but they keep getting more and more pathetic). These briefings are really losing all semblance of their intended purpose.

Q : Scott, last year during the 9/11 Commission, one of the key points it looked into was whether the administration had taken the al Qaeda threat seriously enough before 9/11. Condoleezza Rice, in defending the administration, wrote an op/ed piece in The Washington Post, in which she said, "No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the administration" -- meaning from the Clinton administration when the Bush administration came in. Now the sort of infamous Richard Clarke memo from January 25, 2001, has been released over to the National Archives center. And in there, there is an attachment of a strategy -- the 2000 year strategy of the Clinton administration. It's entitled, "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al Qaeda Status and Prospects." Was Dr. Rice telling the truth?

MR. McCLELLAN: Was she telling -- yes, she addressed this matter previously. I'll be glad to take a look at that. I haven't taken a look at it, John.

Q : She said there was no plan turned over from the previous administration.

MR. McCLELLAN: John, I'll be glad to take a look at what you have. I've not seen it at this point. But, remember, we made it very clear during that time period that al Qaeda was a threat we took very seriously. You have to look at the actions that we took during that time period.

You also have to remember that we were not on war footing prior to September 11th. We are now a nation at war on terrorism. The President is leading the effort to go after those who seek to do harm to America. We're staying on the offensive and bringing them to justice. We're also working to advance freedom and democracy in the world to make the world a safer and better place, and we will continue to pursue that agenda.

But I know of no reason for anything to change from what we've said previously. And I'll be glad to take a look at that document that you cite. I haven't seen it.

You think he'd have seen it before the next briefing ?

Q : Scott, you referred previously to the diplomatic strategy on North Korea, I'd like to turn you to the question of assessing the nature of the threat. During the Iraq experience, the President was out several times a week describing his concerns about what would happen if Saddam Hussein obtained a weapon, or, secondly, what would happen if he exported nuclear materials.

If you believe, as American intelligence seems to now indicate, that the North Koreans have several, and if you believe that they may have been caught in at least one case of export, can you explain to us why this threat would be any less urgent than the Iraqi threat?

MR. McCLELLAN: Sure.

Q : And why the President hasn't been out discussing it on regular occasion?

MR. McCLELLAN: Iraq was unique, that's why. And we talked about that previously, about why they were unique and how they had defied the international community for some 12 years, and how they had defied resolution after resolution. It was Saddam Hussein's choice to make, and he chose continued defiance. Iraq was a country that had invaded its neighbors, and --

Scottie must be confusing the word 'unique' with 'exactly similar to NK'. Or maybe they mean the same thing in Dubyatalk ?

The Armstrong Williams briefing was funny too. I recall how Scottie insisted that neither he nor anyone else in the White House had any knowledge of the contract, yet they were sure that there was no one else on a similar contract. Funny and a lie. Two stars for that !

 

[Moonbear]

Probably more important is the willingness to be the scapegoat. As long as the press secretary never admits to knowledge of anything, you can't accuse anyone else of not knowing because they can claim it was just the secretary who didn't know, and you're still no further along in finding out what's actually going on.

 

[polyb]

Does anyone know what happened to that RAT, Ari Fliescher?

Now there was a press sec. that Bush&Co. adhored for his ham fisted handling of the press!

 

[russ_watters]

Does anyone know what happened to that RAT, Ari Fliescher?

Same thing that always happens to a former press secretary: $100,000 an hour on the lecture circuit.

 

[polyb]

Same thing that always happens to a former press secretary: $100,000 an hour on the lecture circuit.

So now he is a high priced hooker!
As usual, overpriced and overrated!

I never realized hot air was so expensive, I guess I'm going to have to give up my ambition of being a dirigible mogul!