apropos of anything

Aww, Nic. Blue-shirted as always.

Nic Robertson reports on the U.S. airstrike on Samarra

The frustrating thing about watching the news is that sometimes you see Nic Robertson reporting from the front, providing actual relevant information, interviewing people who have some clue as to what they’re talking about, or Frank Sesno discussing alternative fuel sources… and then immediately following, you see Scott McClellan in front of the White House press corps, spinning for all he’s worth. Which apparently isn’t much.

There’s some redemption in watching McClellan get outfoxed by the classy, intelligent, and supremely well-informed 86-year-old Helen Thomas, who has probably been covering the White House since before McClellan was born. Definitely since before I was born. She asked the press secretary whether the President was aware that pre-emptive war violates international law as defined by the Geneva convention.

“Pre-emption is a long-standing principle of american foreign policy,” McClellan replied. I guess that’s true, as Sarah Vowell so recently reminded me. McKinley did do it first. And that makes it all so much better.

Thomas then asked if Iran was a “danger to the United States” in the same way that Iraq was a “danger to the United States” three years ago. Y’all can imagine how McClellan fumbled and mispronounced his way through that one.

Another member of the press corps asked if today’s massive air assault was part of the administration’s effort to reverse the President’s plummeting approval ratings. The President, Scott McClellan assured us, had absolutely nothing to do with the airstrike. In fact, he didn’t even know about it.

It’s comforting to see our commander-in-chief is always on top of things. Unless, of course, he is, in which case it’s comforting to see either our commander-in-chief or his peon is lying to us.

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