Wednesday Morning Massacrette: McClellan Obituary Edition
Milbank goes with the absolute worst metaphor we've seen in some time (helicopter malfunction = Bush failing to "gain altitude"?), but makes the good point that had McClellan resigned before Bolten's SHAKE-UP-A-PALOOZA it would've been seen as a "statement," and McClellan is not a man of statements. Though we're not convinced Scott ever reallywantedto resign.
Which is confirmed by Ari Fleischer via Howard Kurtz -- "Fleischer said McClellan would have preferred to stay on until year's end...."
We're pretty excited about this news, mostly for the same reasons that both the press corps and the White Hosue are -- it'll give us an entertaining distraction from all the substantial and hard-to-follow scandal stuff. The replacement speculation will keep us busy for the rest of the month, and then we'll be able to obsess over the style and tone of the new guy (or girl). It'll be fun!
Hey, you guys haven't seen any retired generals lately, have you? We feel like they were trying to tell us something, but now we can't remember what it was...
Plenty of Embarrassment to Go Around [WP]
The Un-Spokesman [WP]