Staying Ahead Of The News

Here's a couple of stories coming soon to a newspaper near you:

1. US Senators denounce Bush's plans to attack Iran:

Two key US senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition to the move, according to the source, but their projected New York Times op-ed piece has yet to appear.

Is this story for real, or just another attempt by Cheney's friends to talk up the price of oil? Who knows.

2. Scott McLellan pimps his new book:

"Although the things I said then were sincere, I have since come to realize that some of them were badly misguided."

That's hard to believe: McClellan must have known he was lying through his teeth day after day. I don't believe anyone could be smart enough to handle the Washington press pack and dumb enough to believe all the shit he said.

Tellingly, McClellan is still soft on Bush himself, even though he slams top aides like Libby and Rove:

“I had allowed myself to be deceived into unknowingly passing along a falsehood,” McClellan writes. “It would ultimately prove fatal to my ability to serve the president effectively. I didn’t learn that what I’d said was untrue until the media began to figure it out almost two years later.

“Neither, I believe, did President Bush. He, too, had been deceived and therefore became unwittingly involved in deceiving me. But the top White House officials who knew the truth — including Rove, Libby and possibly Vice President Cheney — allowed me, even encouraged me, to repeat a lie.”

But wait a minute, Scott - Bush covered for Libby even AFTER the truth came out. Why?

It's the same old story with Dubya: either he knew who exposed Plame and kept silent, which is criminal, or he didn't know, which was criminally incompetent. Either way, why hasn't he been impeached? It's all thanks to a complicit media, and ever-growing walls of official secrecy.

But Scotty still doesn't get it:

“I think the concern about liberal bias helps to explain the tendency of the Bush team to build walls against the media... Unfortunately, the press secretary at times found himself outside those walls as well.”

BWWAAAAHHH!!! Cry me a river, you idiot.

Meanwhile, still on a press theme, (via Antony Loewenstein) the US Military get lessons in how to handle interviews:

The interview itself is all about control. You want it; the reporter wants it. You have to learn how to structure effective answers and control the interview. Do not be question-driven; be message-driven. The trick is to use your messages as guideposts and not repeated phrases. This is where skill, preparation, and experience come in. You should be trying to articulate command messages that will positively influence the outcome of your mission. Use the media as a “nonlethal fire.”

Words as weapons. Truth be damned. Welcome to BushWorld.

UPDATE: Talk about up-coming stories... Now the FBI is telegraphing the arrival of Al Quaeda videos!

Mr Kolko said the alert was a routine precaution sent to 1800 US law enforcement agencies.