Battle stations on the Maginot line

The Bush administration refusal to admit any mistakes has moved beyond policy to spin, an area where they used to be alert.

From the NYT

"Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, responded at a White House briefing on Monday that Mr. Bush did not remember having the conversation, and that there were no records that placed the president in the Situation Room at the time.


...
In addition to Mr. Cressey, at least two other former officials with knowledge of what occurred in the Situation Room that day also backed up the thrust of Mr. Clarke's account, though one of the two challenged Mr. Clarke's assertion that Mr. Bush's demeanor and that of other senior White House officials was intimidating."

McClellan was dumb dumb dumb. Deputy national security advisor Hadley had been nailed on that one on 60 minutes Sunday. McClellan should have known that the claim that the meeting never happened was no longer operative.

His claim is now contradicted by 3 sources other than Clarke one of whom is willing to be quoted by name. Fighting the spin bout with "we haven't found the written agenda for the Bush ad hoc meeting with Clarke on September 12 2001" is leading with their chins.

At this point reporters are compelled to note that the Bush administration is lying in their effort to slime Clarke or lose all credibility.