The Press Grows A Spine

If the press briefing at the White House today is any indication the WH Press Corps has finally grown a spine or I guess we should say they finally decided to do their job!! Here is some of what went on Q Scott, the reality at hand right now is that the President said that we still live in an unsettled world. This is an administration that has told us since 9/11 that it's not a matter of "if," but "when" that we could be struck by a terror attack and, obviously, other disasters that are the result of Mother Nature. So at this point, where is the accountability? Is the President prepared to say where this White House, where this administration went wrong in its response to Katrina? MR. McCLELLAN: You know, David, there are some that are interested in playing the blame game. The President is interested in solving problems and getting help to the people who need it. There will be a time -- Q Wait a minute. Is it a blame game when the President, himself, says that we remain at risk for either another catastrophe of this dimension, that's not manmade, or a terrorist attack? Isn't it incumbent upon this administration to immediately have accountability to find out what went wrong, when at any time this could happen again? [snip] Q I just want to follow up on David's questions on accountability. First, just to get you on the record, where does the buck stop in this administration? MR. McCLELLAN: The President. Q All right. So he will be held accountable as the head of the government for the federal response that he's already acknowledged was inadequate and unacceptable? MR. McCLELLAN: The President's most important responsibility is the safety and security of the American people. He talks about that often. That is his most important responsibility. Again, there's going to be plenty of time to look at the facts and determine what went wrong and what went right and how the coordination was between the state and federal and local authorities. Right now we've got to continue doing everything we can in support of the ongoing operational activities on the ground in the region to help people. Q Well, the President has said that this government can do many things at once: It can fight the war on terror, it can do operations in Iraq, and aid and comfort people in Louisiana. Can it not also find time to begin to hold people accountable? It sounds, Scott, as if the line that you're giving us -- which is, you don't want to answer questions about accountability because there's too much busy work going on -- MR. McCLELLAN: Wrong. No, wrong. Q -- is a way of ducking accountability. Read the entire transcript available from E&P. I guarantee you won't be bored. Now that the door has been opened, and these people have finally decided to ask REAL questions instead of swallowing the administrations' bullshit hook, line, and sinker, I hope they keep it up. It's damn well about time that bunch of fascists in possession of the White House had their feet held to the fire.