Scott Mclelan Looks absolutely pathetic trying so hard not to admit mistakes were made in this process...

Check out this excerpt of Dan Froomkin's White House Briefing from Friday:

It was an extraordinarily contentious press briefing yesterday, worth a read if you have the time.

Jennifer Loven writes for the Associated Press: "The White House on Thursday defended the decision to not interrupt President Bush during a bike ride to inform him of a suspected threat that led to the evacuation of thousands -- including his wife -- from government buildings. . . .

"White House press secretary Scott McClellan said a review was under way on how the situation was handled, but he said Bush was not upset that he was not filled in. . . .

"But Leon Panetta, a chief of staff to former President Clinton, said there is no reason to leave a president out of the loop, no matter how short-lived a situation is.

" 'I don't think there is a legitimate excuse for not telling the president of the United States about that kind of potential emergency,' he said. 'It was serious that it happened and it could have been even more serious. . . . That is something that just simply cannot happen again.'"

Stewart M. Powell writes for the Hearst News Service: "The White House launched an investigation Thursday into the 47-minute delay in notifying President Bush about the intrusion of a single-engine aircraft into restricted airspace over the nation's capital that provoked emergency evacuations."

McClellan used the word "protocols" 34 times in about 25 minutes, insisting that they had been followed -- though he wouldn't say what they are.

"Q Scott, may I just maybe take a slight step back? Aside from the particulars of what happened yesterday and when, maybe the larger issue has to do with whether this President is sufficiently at the levers of power on his job during the day or night. When we think of the event at the ASNE meeting, when the President said he didn't know about the issue of possibly requiring passports of all Americans who are returning from Canada or Mexico until he read it in the papers -- and I think that's the larger question we're all trying to get at.

"MR. McCLELLAN: No, I disagree and I think that's unfounded. Absolutely the President is. I disagree with your characterization completely, and I think the American people reject that, as well. And the President was informed immediately upon the conclusion of the bike ride, as well, about what had occurred. But by that point, it was well in hand. . . .

Please tell me you're freakin kidding me. You have to be kidding me, right?


Read the rest here.

-The Oklahoma Hippy