I Love to See The Press Go After Scotty

[GiovanniC]

Did you guys see this? It was part of last Thursday's press briefing. Scotty versus Terry Moran. And Terry wiped his ass with Scotty.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050616-5.html

Q Scott, is the insurgency in Iraq in its last throes?

MR. McCLELLAN: Terry, you have a desperate group of terrorists in Iraq that are doing everything they can to try to derail the transition to democracy. The Iraqi people have made it clear that they want a free and democratic and peaceful future. And that's why we're doing everything we can, along with other countries, to support the Iraqi people as they move forward. The fact that they are making great progress on the political front is significant because that helps defeat the terrorists, because the terrorists don't want to see democracy take hold. They don't want lasting democratic institutions to be put in place. And that's why we are standing with the Iraqi people as they move forward on the political front.

We're also standing with the Iraqi people as they move forward on -- to address the security situation. We are working side by side with Iraqi forces now to defeat those terrorists and regime elements who want to derail the transition to democracy. And every day we move forward on democracy and training Iraqi security forces is every day closer that we are to succeeding in Iraq.

Q But the insurgency is in its last throes?

MR. McCLELLAN: The Vice President talked about that the other day -- you have a desperate group of terrorists who recognize how high the stakes are in Iraq. A free Iraq will be a significant blow to their ambitions.

Q But they're killing more Americans, they're killing more Iraqis. That's the last throes?

MR. McCLELLAN: Innocent -- I say innocent civilians. And it doesn't take a lot of people to cause mass damage when you're willing to strap a bomb onto yourself, get in a car and go and attack innocent civilians. That's the kind of people that we're dealing with. That's what I say when we're talking about a determined enemy.

Q Right. What is the evidence that the insurgency is in its last throes?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think I just explained to you the desperation of terrorists and their tactics.

Q What's the evidence on the ground that it's being extinguished?

MR. McCLELLAN: Terry, we're making great progress to defeat the terrorist and regime elements. You're seeing Iraqis now playing more of a role in addressing the security threats that they face. They're working side by side with our coalition forces. They're working on their own. There are a lot of special forces in Iraq that are taking the battle to the enemy in Iraq. And so this is a period when they are in a desperate mode.

Q Well, I'm just wondering what the metric is for measuring the defeat of the insurgency.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you can go back and look at the Vice President's remarks. I think he talked about it.

Q Yes. Is there any idea how long a last throe lasts for?

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead, Steve.

[comsymp]

1. "Is there any idea how long a last throe lasts for?"

Blood in the water~

[kittenpants]

7. ooooooh daaaamn! naw you din-int, Terry!

LOVE that last question!!

[Triana]

2. Hahahaa! Scotty refused to answer the question...

...because there is no answer. What Tricky Dick II said was utter BULLSHIT. Last throes my a**. WHO devised the metrics that determine 'last throes'? Answer: no one because there aren't any. It's just bu$hit propaganda.

[Supersedeas]

24. so did Professor Condi when posed the question by Fox News Sunday

[RoBear]

3. "How long a last throe lasts!"

heeheehee

[Amonester]

30. It lasts as long as there's gonna be a last drop of oil in the last

supertanker?

(The real answer?)

Maybe McLIEllan still wants to keep it secret for a little while... Problem is (for him & them...), every day, more and more know that it is the only real answer he still wants to keep secret for a little while...

:puke: Hey McLIEllan, how long does your little while last?

[ElectroPrincess]

4. Yes, I saw it live, it was FUN! Hope it's a trend. n/t

[tanyev]

5. Poor Scotty. Can't run to Jeffy for help anymore.

[marmar]

6. Scotty...

is completely incapable of an original thought, is as bland as low-fat plain yogurt and comes across as the shallowest man on earth. (OK, 2nd shallowest). In other words, he's the perfect spokesman for this mis-administration.

[aintitfunny]

8. A very rare siting

A journalist, White House Press Corps journalist, no less, doing his job! I thought that bird was extinct, but for Helen Thomas!

[TahitiNut]

9. He could mail in his remarks.

Scotty offers absolutely no 'expertise' or any demonstration whatsoever that there's any thought of any kind in the Casa Blanca. Not a single word of any answer he's ever offered in any press conference requires him to even enter the White House gates. He might as well be an RNC hack working out of the basement of some office building in Miami. He's a waste of oxygen.

[kittenpants]

12. perfect for this white house

since they want to share NO information with us. I wonder if he even knows he doesn't know anything.

[TahitiNut]

15. I doubt anyone in the White House talks to Scotty ...

... about anything substantive. I've not yet seen any indication he's been candid about a single thing.

[GiovanniC]

22. Not True

Scotty is very, very impordand. Yes, I said impordand. It's impordand for Bush to have a whipping boy to send out to the press so that Bush doesn't have to take the heat.

Scotty is one of the most impordand people in the White House!




Note: If you don't know why I'm saying "impordand", listen to Scott saying the word "important". I don't know if it's just me, but it's like hearing fingernails on a chalkboard to hear him say that word. He sounds like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with that stuff on his nose.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

10. "Save me Steve!"

Poor Puffy McMoonface

:rofl:

[Evergreen Emerald]

11. As always, it is as if they are carrying on two conversations

He refuses to even pretend to answer the question. Why the hell does he hold these these these propoganda sessions?

I think the press should either stop coming or team up and ask the question until it is answered.

[kittenpants]

13. I love the interplay: his increasingly exasperated tone

as the reporter continues to ask the same question because Scotty offers absolutely no information. Scotty, "*Sigh* as I said before..." (voice rising in exasperation). How dare they ask him questions!

[kedrys]

14. I'm gonna take back some of the things I said about Terry Moran

On the evening broadcasts, he seems to toe the company line a lot closer than the excerpt above would lead one to think. I hope he keeps goosing Scotty and, you never know, gets to report on it on the evening news sometime soon.

[flordehinojos]

16. hey scotty, make sure your foot doesn't step out of the steeled unbending

caged track on iraq laid down by the administration ... you and the administration might just tumble down otherwise.

[King Coal]

17. If they put me to ask a question:

King: Right. What is the evidence that the insurgency is in its last throes?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think I just explained to you the desperation of terrorists and their tactics.

King: Yes you did. That's interesting. What is the evidence that the insurgency is in its last throes?

[truth2power]

19. Yes, the "broken record" is an excellent tactic.

I wish so-called journalists would avail themselves of it more often. I use this with great success with people who are trying to refocus the discussion onto irrevelant issues.

[tk2kewl]

18. somone posted this exchange over the weekend under the title...

"Excepts from a new Mony Python skit" or something like that. :rofl:

[CBHagman]

20. I almost miss Ari Fleischer. McClellan's vile.

But if the press corps duffs up McClellan day after day, I will have a reason to smile after all.

[DistressedAmerican]

21. Faith Based War Assesments!

[Inland]

23. BA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Can't even adopt the statement of theVP!

It's great-- and all they are doing is asking Scotty to own a statement made by the VP, AND HE CAN'T DO IT! IT'S TOO STUPID TO BEAR REPEATING! IT WASN'T MADE FOR ANYONE BUT THE RIGHT WING NUTBAG BASE!

How long is a "throe"? LOL!

[GreenPartyVoter]

25. Lovely!

[Supersedeas]

26. TALKING POINTS anyone??? Compare Condi and Scotty's replies

See:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159824,00.html

What hard evidence do you have that the insurgency is in its last throes?

RICE: Well, there's no doubt that the military activity in which we will have to engage will decline. Just to give you an example, we did not have to get involved really in protection of the elections. These efforts that we're making up on the Syrian border are joint efforts with Iraqi forces. And they are doing much of the work in and around Baghdad on their own with just some logistical support.

So our military effort will decline.

Now, in terms of the nature of the insurgency, insurgencies are defeated not just militarily, they're defeated politically. And the Iraqi people are engaged in a political process in which more and more Iraqis see their future as a political future in a united and democratic Iraq.

As they held elections, as they are writing a constitution, as they will hold elections again, Iraqis see where their future is.

They're going to continue to suffer, I'm afraid, for some time from these insurgents and terrorists who wish to just kill innocent Iraqis because they have no other alternative. But that does not mean that they are going to win the battle for Iraq because that is being won by the Iraqi people on the political front.

WALLACE: But, Secretary Rice, let's look at the hard numbers about the insurgency from Iraq, and let's put them up. There were 70 attacks a day in May. That's the highest level so far this year. The number of U.S. troops being killed this year was the highest in May and June. And so was the number of Iraqi military and police fatalities.

Does that show an insurgency that, as the vice president says, is in its last throes?

RICE: First of all, obviously any loss of life, American or Iraqi, is to be mourned. The fact is, though, that you have to look not just at what the insurgency is doing and the carnage that they're creating.

It's the kind of thing where suicide bombers or an improvised explosive device can cause a lot of carnage without, frankly, many people having been engaged in it. That's the way these terrorists and insurgents work.

But you don't look just at what is happening on the security side; you also have to look at what is happening on the political side. And Iraqis, including Sunnis who really didn't see their future as being engaged by the political process, are now seeing their future as engaged by that political process.

I am told by our military people and by our intelligence people that we're getting more and more intelligence tips from Iraqis because they don't want these terrorists and these so-called insurgents to blow up their children standing at a school. They don't want these so-called insurgents and terrorists to blow up the brave men and women who are volunteering for the Iraqi armed forces and for the Iraqi police. The Iraqi people are not supportive of these insurgents.

Yes, they can continue to cause carnage. But what they're losing is that they're losing the Iraqi people. And that's the most important loss that you can inflict upon an insurgency.

WALLACE: Secretary Rice, let's turn to Iran

[ailsagirl]

27. McClellan is a toadie, plain and simple

I'm sure he's well-paid to shield chimpo from any bad publicity,
but what price integrity??

He's shielding a bunch of criminals!!!!

[donco6]

28. Now THAT's the way in interview should go . . .

. . . and not just with Republicans, but with anyone in office.

[Straight Shooter]

29. Does Scotty-Mouth even know what a "throe" is?

According to onelook.com, it's hard or painful trouble or struggle.

Seems to me, and apparently Mr. Moran, as well, that the Iraqis intend to go through hard and painful trouble and struggle for as long as we are there.

"Last throes," yeah, right. It's an ongoing struggle and neverending trouble. Bring the troops home, now!