{"id":5200,"date":"2005-09-08T11:19:46","date_gmt":"2005-09-08T15:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=5200"},"modified":"2005-09-08T11:19:46","modified_gmt":"2005-09-08T15:19:46","slug":"someone-is-going-to-get-fired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/someone-is-going-to-get-fired\/","title":{"rendered":"Confidence Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you paid careful attention to yesterday’s press briefing<\/a> with Scott McClellan, you might have picked up on the fact that FEMA Director Mike Brown and\/or DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff might not be employed by the Bush administration much longer. It was subtle, but it was there.<\/p>\n

Consider this surprisingly-tense exchange between McClellan and NBC’s David Gregory.<\/p>\n

Q: Scott, does the President retain confidence in his FEMA Director and Secretary of Homeland Security? <\/p>\n

McClellan: And again, David, see, this is where some people want to look at the blame game issue, and finger-point. We’re focused on solving problems, and we’re doing everything we can — <\/p>\n

Q: What about the question? <\/p>\n

McClellan: We’re doing everything we can in support…of the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA…. We’re going to continue. We appreciate the great effort that all of those at FEMA, including the head of FEMA, are doing to help the people in the region. And I’m just not going to engage in the blame game or finger-pointing that you’re trying to get me to engage. <\/p>\n

Q: Okay, but that’s not at all what I was asking. <\/p>\n

McClellan: Sure it is. It’s exactly what you’re trying to play.<\/p>\n

Q: You have your same point you want to make about the blame game, which you’ve said enough now. I’m asking you a direct question, which you’re dodging.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It devolved from there to the point in which Gregory said McClellan was being ridiculous and McClellan accused Gregory of personally engaging in the dreaded “blame game.”<\/p>\n

Theatrics aside, McClellan had multiple opportunities to say Brown and Chertoff continue to have the president’s confidence, but he chose not to. Sure, McClellan didn’t say they don’t<\/i> have Bush’s confidence, but if we take a look at the press secretary’s previous use of the phrase, the writing is obviously on the wall.
\n
\n* In July 2003, when Condoleezza Rice was under fire for misstating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, McClellan said Bush “has confidence<\/b><\/a>” in Rice and believes Rice is “one of…the most outstanding, National Security Advisors this nation has ever had. ”<\/p>\n

* In February 2004, when DCA George Tenet came under fire for mistaken intelligence about Iraq, McClellan said Bush has “great confidence<\/b><\/a>” in Tenet.<\/p>\n

* In May 2004, when several lawmakers insisted that Donald Rumsfeld resign, McClellan said Bush has “great confidence<\/b><\/a> in the job Secretary Rumsfeld is doing.”<\/p>\n

* In November 2004, when CIA Director Porter Goss was facing criticism, McClellan said Bush has “great confidence<\/b><\/a> in Director Goss and his leadership.”<\/p>\n

* In December 2004, when Bernard Kerik proved to be a ridiculous choice to head the Department of Homeland Security, McClellan said Bush has “full confidence<\/b><\/a> in his integrity.”<\/p>\n

* In April 2005, when Tom DeLay was exposed as a corrupt thug, McClellan said Bush “has confidence<\/b><\/a> in Leader DeLay.”<\/p>\n

* In July 2005, when we learned that Karl Rove had helped leak Valerie Plame’s identity to the media, McClellan said Bush continued to have “confidence<\/b><\/a>” in Rove. In fact, he did so twice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pattern is clear. McClellan has never hesitated to express the president’s “confidence” in a Bush ally when he or she is facing intense criticism. And yet, yesterday, when McClellan was given about a dozen chances to say the president still has confidence in Brown and Chertoff, he declined.<\/p>\n

Someone is going to get fired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you paid careful attention to yesterday’s press briefing with Scott McClellan, you might have picked up on the fact that FEMA Director Mike Brown and\/or DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff might not be employed by the Bush administration much longer. It was subtle, but it was there. Consider this surprisingly-tense exchange between McClellan and NBC’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}