D.C. journalists to Scott McClellan: Huh?

The Bush White House wasn't the only crew stung by Scott McClellan's scorching new memoir about his experiences as the president's press secretary.

McClellan also lashed out at the Fourth Estate, saying the national press corps "was probably too deferential to the White House" when it came to questioning whether going to war in Iraq was justified.

An unscientific sampling of Washington journalists expressed puzzlement about McClellan's criticism -- or dissed it as downright hooey.

"It's a stunning and unsupportable statement," pronounced Mark Knoller, CBS Radio correspondent. "Transcripts of McClellan's press briefings provide more than ample evidence of the intense scrutiny imposed on the White House and its policies by members of the press. Most days, McClellan left the briefing room lectern positively spent by the pounding he faced from reporters."

ABC's Ann Compton was perplexed: "Is Scott suggesting the White House press corps can stop, or start wars?"

David Gregory, NBC News' chief White House correspondent, opined: "I think he's wrong." He added: "I think we pushed, I think we prodded. ...The right questions were asked."

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank resorted to a press secretary (McClellanesque?) sort of dodge: "I defer to Scott on this point," he said in an e-mail.

— Stuart Silverstein

Photo Credit: AP

Comments

[Mark]

We are all guilty of failing to function as a democracy in the run-up to the war. In the interest of unity, the whole country fell into lockstep behind the President. Those who questioned or raised doubts, even around the water cooler, were seen as un-American. McClellan is right; we all share responsibility for not getting the right answers, regardless of what questions were or were not asked.

[josephfromsantafe]

I remember watching the Afghanistan onslaught and then the Iraq "shock and awe" sports cast with my jaw on the ground in disbelief that a press corp could be so transparently complicit in the affairs of state. I am just a simple high school grad who happens to pay attention, but even I could see through the Bush BS.

Y'all will know the truth, and the truth WILL set y'all free.

YOUR UNDERWEAR IS SHOWING!!

[BB]

Does Ann Compton remember how press coverage was a great influence in pulling out of Vietnam? Certainly, the White House press corps can stop wars.

[Opa2]

No doubt Mr. McClellan is telling the truth about the circumstances related to the start of the Iraq war. Only those of us not totally blind would disagree with the way he describes how this war got started. On the other hand, what does it say about him to bite the hand that fed him for all those years. Who would read, or buy, his books if he had NOT held that position. One can only surmise that he must be really mad at the way he was shown the door at the White House. If I remember, he was blamed for Bush not getting good reviews from the press and they thought that Tony Snow could do a better job. It turns out that nobody can repair Bush his reputation. He is, and always will be, the worst President ever.

[Adrian Brooks Collins]

How can any red blooded human being be surprised at McClellan's revelations or question their veracity? People: George Bush is the worst president in the history of the modern world. The Iraq war was roundly criticized by world powers from the get go. Bush lied at every turn to fuel the flames of fear mongering in order to justify his actions. No one misinformed Bush, if you believe that you've been tricked by Bush. Wake up!

[Rory Talbot]

"We asked the right questions"...?!?!?! Are you people drinking the punch?!?! You asked nothing of the sort! I did read the transcripts. After every lousy WH Press briefing. Never did you ask the WHPS or the President the hard questions! Never once! It's lunacy to make such a claim. Quite frankly, the country is in the sorry shape it's in because YOU GUYS FAILED DO TO YOUR JOBS! At least own up it! That anyone from the press corps would make such a ridiculous assertion speaks volumes about where the so-called Fourth Estate is located...that is, squarely in the pockets of the Big Corporations. You guys are a joke. Your coverage has been a joke. And your soft peddle was, ultimately, a joke on us. SHAME ON YOU ALL FOR ABANDONING YOUR POSTS in exchange for the opportunity to get cozy with the Bushies.

[Michael McGowan]

With the exception of the former Knight Ridder crew, there was little hard reportage leading up to the war. People asked questions, but they didn't dig up answers. KRT did, but its papers were in the heartland and not on the coasts. Thus, the drumbeat of lies and misinformation fed to the biggest papers was all that most people ever heard or saw. Check the excellent PBS documentary about those voices crying in the wilderness.

[Leon A Davis]

Kind of reminds me of David Stockman, head of the OMB in the Reagan administration. After he left his position, just like McClellan, he totally flipped out. And wrote a book as well, which included some fairly hateful things about the president and others in the administration. . Stockman said it was all about greed, and "hogs at the trough" and yada, yada, yada. Everybody knew he had reversed his opinions, but why be so nasty about it? So I hit Wikipedia on Mr Stockman, and guess what? Manhattan federal prosecuters have brought a case against him for fraud and the usual associated crimes. And the SEC has filed a civil suit for the same set of alleged crimes. If convicted, Stockman's looking at 30 years in the slammer. Why am I not surprised? I hope nothing like this happens to Mr McClellan, but there's no upside to gratituous attacks of this nature. Probably severed a hundred friendships at one whack, so he may as well throw away his Roldex and Blackberry.

[Jennifer in MO]

I tried to think of a polite way to say this, but are those puzzling over McClellan's comments about the press corps as dense as the administration?

There were far more pointed questions asked to Clinton about his sexual exploits. As I watched the WH press corps during the Bush Administration I wondered if there was an tacit understanding that those who push too hard would not be welcomed back. There is obviously a delicate balance which must be maintained for the press corps to do its job. I mostly blame the press in general for failing to dig deep, find out the truth and report facts, but the WH press corps is at the source and must push hard.

With some near heroic exceptions, the WH press corps let us down consistently with respect to the start of the war, the lack of progress of the war as well as during the aftermath of Katrina, the Valerie Plame scandal and at countless other times.

For those of you in the WH press corps who are "puzzled" about McClellen's comments take a look at your own performance and that of your colleagues instead of just being confused.

[Gavin]

The press is shocked. Shocked! To be told they weren't doing their job, being critical, checking the facts. "Balderdash!" they scream. "Hooey!" Well, had they been tuned in to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, they would have known they were asleep at the wheel and complacent in the crimes of the Bush administration. For God sakes, these two comedians ask more incissive questions and show more revealing footage than the mainstream press! Colbert spoke truth to Bush's face at the White House Correspondents Press Dinner, and the press didn't get the joke. Because it wasn't a joke - he was dead-pan and dead-on. Now, Scott McClellan is saying the same thing, without the tongue in cheek. Wake up, journalists. Start being responsible for informing us and not just being tools of the politicos in Washington D.C.!!

[ted in pdx]

All four of the journalists you quoted disputed McClellan's assertions blaming the press corps for not pushing hard enough on this story. CBS Mark Knoller characterized it as "stunning and unsupportable". Together, all four, by their answers fullly substantiated the point McClellan was making.

My guess is that these are among the most highly compensated reporters in Washington D.C. And what a great job they've got: show up for the White House news briefings and ask tough questions; make the White House press secretary sweat. Never mind that he or she is the one person in the federal government who's primary function is to reveal absolutely nothing other than the carefully worded, rehearsed party line. Never mind that the rules of the game are such that troublemakers don't get called on to even ask questions.

The point has been made already: only Knight-Ridder actually investigated the factual basis for the administration's claims concerning WMD. The Washington Press Corps equates reporting on what various spokespersons have to say, and showing up for photo-ops as journalism. Why? Maybe because it's easy. Maybe because it's more enjoyable to hob-nob with the Washington elite than to actually go out and prospect for hard facts, risk a series of 'no-comments' or no-call-backs. Maybe it's because their bosses don't want them actually investigating the really rotten stuff that goes on back there, because there are limits on the amount of turmoil the members of the Washington DC Club can tolerate, and the members of the press corps are also members of that club.

Mr. Knoller, methinks they doth protest too much...

[greg]

Shocked! Shocked I say! Stuart, there is a difference in asking questions in a press conferenced and following the strings of evidence and writing a good piece. Scandal after scandal, lie after lie, the press would just let things go, drifting off. Just like all of those "retired"generals that the pentagon spoonfed the fourth estate with lies, and where is the LA Times follow up on that fiasco.

[Gregg P]

Bush Administration PART 2

Why Bush Keeps Bringing Up Hitler and WWII

Hitler wanted to make his perfect world by rule/war (The SS Etc.)
Bush wants to make his perfect world by rule/war (Democracy-Christianity)

Iran to Bush is like the United States to Hitler.
Both have stopped an evil Nazi thinker from creating his world rule.

The terrorist’s main objective was not to kill Americans during 911
The terrorist’s have stated that their main objective is to create economic downfalls for the United States !

This was not accomplished alone
.
Bush handed them this VICTORY by spending/borrowing money from China etc. for a false pretense war/revenge/Nazi movement in the middle east.

WE LOST OVER 4 YEARS AGO

Now he wants to attack the country that has been the success in stopping him. (Iran)
Just as Hitler wanted to attack the United States and anyone else in his way
.
The biggest problem with Americans is most Americans actually think we are the good guys.
Hitler had his countries minds in the palm of his hands also.

I am saddened to be an American ruled by this evil Dictator/Republican/Administration
When did Republicans turn to Nazism ?
31% approval rating (Who are these people ?)
Let me guess ! ( Mostly misguided American Christians and Jews ) Plus the easily manipulated !

Pathetic

[Gary Haden]

David Gregory, NBC News' chief White House correspondent, opined: "I think he's wrong." He added: "I think we pushed, I think we prodded. ...The right questions were asked."
What? The right questions were asked? Give me a break. David Gregory once affectionately referred to Bush as a goofball. He threw many of the stupidest softballs thrown Bush's way. I know the Press thinks only it can evaluate itself but that's not true. They were lousy at their jobs for the entirety of the Bush years. They contributed to the deaths of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. They were cowards. Plain and simple.

[TM]

They know they gave the Bush administration a free pass. The only real scrutiny applied was by a couple of reporters at Knight Ridder.

The falsity of the administration's claims should have been easy to confirm with a minimum of competent research. And it was confirmed pretty clearly by late 2002.

In fact, the foreign media had passed accurate judgment by then. The US media rolled over. "I think we pushed, I think we prodded. ...The right questions were asked." No. There came a point when questions were no longer necessary, when the responsibility of the media was to make a verifiable judgmnent, to tell their viewers bluntly: "The administration is lying. Their case is based on bad or outright fabricated information." And they should have kept on that story, for it was the factual one.

"Is Scott suggesting the White House press corps can stop, or start wars?" If he isn't, I am.

[Brian Concannon]

I wasn't in the White House Press room, but I did read, listen to and watch U.S. media coverage leading up to the war. The press as a whole certainly was far to deferential to the White House, failing in its responsibility to question whether the war was justified. I can't say whether the blame lies principally with the reporters or the editors, but there is certainly is blame to be laid at the feet of the U.S. press.

I also followed the foreign press, including British and French press. They did a much better job at reporting the weaknesses in the White House's case for war, so the problem wasn't an absence of available critical information, it was an absence if courage.

[Amanda]

Maybe the press should have actually done some journalism and not just taken McClellan's words for it. Scrutiny of a liar still only gets you lies. Millions of people in this country realized this *before* the war started.

The facts were there. The press failed to find them. The press failed.

[m.c.rove]

...and then David Gregory resumed his "hip hop" stylin' with K. Rove and the rest of the WH Crew.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdvHwtRdg_I

What a complete terd.

Of course the press was complicit--do we relly need the former press clown to tell us that?

[SandraL]

The problem isn't that the press didn't ask the right questions. The problem is that they accepted and "reported" the answers without proper analysis and investigation. They ignored and/or actively suppressed opposing points of view. In other words, they didn't do their jobs and simply acted as a propaganda outlet for the administration.

That doesn't excuse Scotty and the rest of the criminals in the White House. Blaming the media for not stopping the war is akin to a gang of bank robbers blaming the cops in the donut shop for not stopping them.

[Steve J.]

Does the name Judith Miller ring a bell? What about Tom Friedman?

Both those "journalists" share some of the responsibility for this Fiasco.

(And both of them work(ed) for another news organization called the Times.)

[Gerald Shields]

Oh oh. Looks like the spin is in!

[Jones]

Who are these American journalists kidding?
There were so many tell tale signs that the US was going to invade Iraq without justification that most of the citizens (in Europe) were against the war in Iraq, before the invasion began.
You didn't need to be a UN inspector on site to see the Bush administration was bluffing about the alleged 9/11 connection they hinted at repeatedly,
the WMD they blatantly lied about,
and of course,
the rosy Spread Freedom and Democracy song-and-dance that followed when the previous two reasons imploded.
Any self respecting journalist and many observant citizens could have easily embarrased Cheney, Bush or any other White House spokesman by just asking the right questions.
Instead, the "journalists" showed themselves to be little more than media harlots. God Bless Rupert Murdoch.

[Richard Watters]

Get real.

The press corp of America were and are a bunch of dupes.

No one asked tough questions. You people were complicite in the war. Cheerleaders if you will.

Best thing for you to do is shut up.

[Aerin]

Oh, that's really funny! "Who, us?"

IMHO, the press collectively bears PLENTY of blame for Iraq, for failing to seriously challenge the disinformation being put out by the administration. I remember complaining at the time that no serious reporting was being done, just the usual "he said, she said" stories so typical of today's substance-free journalism. And even those who expressed doubt about the grounds for war were afraid to be accused of being "unpatriotic," in the wake of 9/11. Every excerpt I've seen from McClellan's book is spot on! I might even buy it! Too bad he didn't see the light sooner.

[Eric]

Uhhhh, sorry Press. You guys don't get a free pass here -- it's pretty obvious that the Media did NOT do its job as the White House beat its war drums. Scott is absolutely right, but it's obviously fairly ironic, coming from the guy who was selling and defending the war.

The Iraq war is what happened when the People put a schmuck in office, and when the Press is too fearful of Uncle Sam and Corporate America to push back.

They were too busy following Paris Hilton around, and dancing around the White House's spin.