December 01, 2005

You gotta love Helen Thomas. Like the rest of us, she knows what to expect from this White House. When things go wrong, they pretend not to be a party to the facts. When presented the facts, they pass the buck. When confronted with the resulting scandal, they can't comment on ongoing criminal investigations.

Here, Thomas challenges McClellan on why the White House and General Pace supposedly know nothing about the Pentagon's Information Operations paying journalists to write positive things about the war in Iraq.

QUESTION: Who's watching the store, really? How can we spend millions of dollars to plant positive stories in Iraq and nobody around here knows --

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, this is --

QUESTION: -- anything about it? How is that possible?

MR. McCLELLAN: This is based off some media reports. We want to find out what those facts are.

QUESTION: How did they get their hands on the money to begin with?

MR. McCLELLAN: You might want to direct your questions to the Department of Defense to find out more information, Helen, because they're looking into it.

QUESTION: But it isn't a separate world. It's your world.

MR. McCLELLAN: That's why we're trying to find out the facts.
[White House Press Briefing - White House - 12-01-05]