Sidestepping questions about polls isn’t just a habit for Scott McClellan, it’s a pastime. Every question that references a poll is just another opportunity for the White House press secretary to talk about how insignificant the entire polling industry is to him, the president, and his administration colleagues.
In November, the day after Dems scored some key election victories, McClellan said, “[Y]ou can get caught up in polls; we don’t. Polls are snapshots in time.” A month later, on December 13, McClellan reminded reporters, “We don’t govern based on polls. The President does not govern based on polls.”
So when reporters quizzed McClellan on the reasoning behind the president’s warrantless-search program, the last thing McClellan would want to highlight are the polls, right? Well, not so much.
“I think that clearly the American people strongly support the efforts that we are undertaking to save their lives. I think there actually was a poll last week that said 60 percent — more than 60 percent of the American people support the actions the president is taking to prevent attacks from happening in the first place. That is what this president is committed to doing. This is about saving lives.”
Wow. First, if McClellan expects to be even slightly credible, he can’t disregard polls except for the instances in which he likes the results. Second, the poll McClellan cited was tragically unhelpful. And third, this isn’t about “saving lives”; it’s about whether the president has the authority to circumvent laws he finds inconvenient.
But other than that, McClellan’s answer made a lot of sense.