why we have a White House Press Secretary. Do journos have to resort to "I'll take that silence as a yes"? Just take a fucking position, Scotty. Take it and be proud. Remember: you're not falling on a literal sword.

Maybe we never had transparent government, but I fucking miss it all the same.

If reporters would stop being so chummy with the people they report on, then this sort of spectacle would stop. The members of the white house press clique love to believe they're somehow important and powerful, when in fact they're neither when they behave like they're buddies of the powerful.

After a press conference like this, if every reporter present turned in a story beginning with, "White House flak continues to lie about President's lies," this stuff would stop pretty quickly. It's only because the press lets them get away with it that the lying and dissembling continues!

This transcript of the exchange between McClellan and the reporters is just incredible. He must have set some kind of a record her for failing to answer a simple straightforward question. And this kind of equivocation goes on all the time to a greater or less extent. Has there ever been an administration that went to anwhere near the lengths that this one goes to in order to try to keep unpleasant truths from coming out?

McClellan is as nuts and in the wrong as Kevin Kline in "A Fish Called Wanda" when he hangs John Cleese upside down outside a window and demands, "Apologize! Apologize!"

I agree with the previous poster that if the press started treating this administration like the lying criminal syndicate that it is, surreal press conferences like this one would disappear.

That the White House press secretary actually gets away with variatons on "I know you are, but what am I?" should tip off the press corp that they are no longer journalists.

Scott McLellan should quit the White House. He is definitely in the wrong profession, he should go and try any skating Championship after this mornings performance before the prees corps. Figure skating for the numbers game he played with the release of Valerie Palmes name or speed skating for the speedy release of new lies after old ones become prooven as such. As a liar he is pathetic!

You've got to admit, he does his job well. Having lost faith in about every aspect of government, including the media, I can now say that at least Scotty brings his contempt of us to the forefront. We KNOW he's a lying, obstructing son of a bitch, and he wants us to. He's the true face of the administration, showing what they think of us with that smirk that infuriates me to no end. He's the mouthpiece, doing his job, defending OUR LEADER, all the while taunting us, like the older brother who made us wish we were only children.

If I had to answer for my boss and his staff's ineptitude and was able to use explanations more suited to the mentality of a 4 year old I would never think of leaving my job. It simply would just be too much fun toying with my "sparring partners".

Scotty is trying to play the classic old college double-talk a.k.a. the Bugs Bunny response:

Elmer: No I didn't

Bugs: Yes you did!

Elmer: No I didn't

Bugs: No you didn't

Elmer: Yes I did!

I think the press corp(se) should start treating 'ol Scotty like a bad Vaudville act... His acts of deceit STINKS, his bosses smell worse and they should start pelting him with rotten fruit and veggies the next time he enters into one of these insulting and degrading exchanges. The reporters rightfully deserve to have their questions answered honestly but since they're the public's only hope of holding our government accountable there's no incentive for them to do such things. Accountability seems to mean they're a'counted at meetings and fundraisers...

That transcript reads more like an Abbott & Costello routine than a White House briefing. More and more it seems as though McClellan is flying around in ever smaller concentric circles. Eventually he's going to fly up his own ass, never to be seen or heard from again.

Why doesn't the press corps just stage a protest? Scotty is never going to give a straight answer to any question they ask, so why not just stop asking? Why not reflect the American people's own sense of betrayal and being lied to and when Scotty opens it open to questions, just ask nothing or better yet, ask him personal questions, like- "What's it like to be a stooge?", "Do you feel that you yourself will hold any personal responsibility for withholding the truth to the American people or do you rest at night knowing that history will judge your superiors before they judge you?" I think at this point, the press corps would be doing a public service by making Scott McClellan cry.

I know everyone is upset that "Scotty" is doing everything in his power to avoid anwering questions, and that's good that there is some outrage, but let's remember who he represents and who he works for. Scott is not an elected official sworn to defend and protect Americans, that would be his cowardly boss Bush who is more than happy to have all of us focusing our ire on his mouthpiece rather than on him...what else do you honestly expect him to do but protect his boss...but it's his boss who's truly responsible!

You've got to admit that anyone faced with a question that has an answer and can skate around and come back for an attack is pretty amazing... totally preposterous but still amazing.

How does that man sleep at night?!

"How does that man sleep at night?!"

Probably under a nice warm blanket stuffed with $100 bills, a gift from Halliburton, Big Oil, Drug Kingpins (The pharmacutical ones, which are probably as dangerous as the Narco-Barons.) et al. These people are not having trouble sleeping at night, they HAVE NO SOUL! Pure unabashed greed!