Posted on 11/11/2005 4:21:26 AM PST by Zeddicus
White House Stands by 'Not Accurate' Quote in Dispute
By Joe Strupp
Published: November 09, 2005 11:30 PM ET
NEW YORK Presidential Press Secretary Scott McClellan's short answer to a question at his daily press briefing last week has prompted a dispute between the White House press office and two news organizations that offer transcripts of the events.
A spokeswoman for McClellan's office told E&P late Wednesday that the White House is standing by its version of what he said.
At the Oct. 31 briefing, David Gregory of NBC News stated the following question to McClellan about White House aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby: "Whether there's a question of legality, we know for a fact that there was involvement. We know that Karl Rove, based on what he and his lawyer have said, did have a conversation about somebody who Patrick Fitzgerald said was a covert officer of the Central Intelligence Agency. We know that Scooter Libby also had conversations."
The official White House transcript states that McClellan's response was "I don’t think that's accurate."
But two outside news agencies, Congressional Quarterly and Federal News Service -- which provide transcripts for a fee -- both reported the response as "that's accurate."
The differing accounts have sparked a flurry of buzz on numerous blogs, such as ThinkProgress, Wonkette, Eschaton and DailyKos. They say a video of the press briefing reveals McClellan saying "that's accurate."
White House officials contacted the news outlets and ask for a change to their versions of the transcript.
"They asked me to take a look at it about a week ago," said Kirk Hanneman, news director of Federal News Service, which provides transcripts of different government events. "We took a look at it because they did have a problem with it and in the end, we had what we originally had and we are sticking by that because we believe it is correct."
Hanneman says his company transcribes such events via audio feeds, with several staffers involved in the process. He said employees reviewed audio and video recordings of the briefing following the White House request, but found nothing to change. "I think he may have meant to say something else," he added about McClellan.
At Congressional Quarterly, which provides such transcripts to subscribers via the Web, Editor David Rapp had a similar experience with the White House. "They called last week and asked us to make a correction and we investigated and decided to stand by our version," he told E&P. "Their comment is a little bit incongruous, it doesn't jive with what we have."
White House press office spokeswoman Dana Perino confirmed that her office had requested a review of the transcripts, noting, "it was simply to point out that the official transcript by the White House stenographer had it as it was released and that is all it was," she said, saying the White House transcript was never altered.
When asked about the fact that the White House version contradicts video accounts of the briefing, Perino added, "the White House stenographer was in the room and I was in the room" and they heard McClellan say "I don't think that's accurate'."
Why? If McClellan had simply mispoke, it would have been less damaging to simply clarify it rather than altering the transcript. Or did McClellan mean what he said? Either way, wonkette and kos and their libtard followers are having an orgasm over this.
Watch the video. It sure seems to me that Scott is saying, "that's accurate".
Welcome to FR.
Been nice knowing you.
Hmmm The first post you make is a "Bush Bash".........hmmmmmmm
Since Mr. Fitzmas never said she was covert, looks like Gregory got it wrong. Buh bye.
Regardless of whether or not McClellan misspoke, the above statement is inaccurate. Fitzgerald never said that a covert officer of the CIA was involved. He said that Plame was "classified."
Zeddicus
Since Nov 11, 2005
Trolls don't have credibility here.
Go back to DU.
The Scott McClellan - General McClellan association is excellent! Bravo.
Scott McClellan needs to go.
Keep trying. It's something that takes a while to fully understand.
Get over yourself. I'm not a troll. I'm a long-time FR lurker and fan of this site; this was just the first time I've found anything worth posting that hadn't already been discussed here.
I posted this because I got burned by it on another forum by rabid Bushophobes, and I came here looking for ammunition to respond with, not to get flamed as a troll.
You joined today to post that?
IBTZ
Time will tell.
"who Patrick Fitzgerald said was a covert officer"
Well, we konw that's not accurate. She was definitely not covert and even Fitz said her CIA was known outside of the CIA. In fact, it appears she was a desk jockey.
Man, those Libs are still all sad about their crappy Fitzmas. :(
Everyone, this is a legitimate article posted by a newby who is attempting to interact with you. Please stop sending abuse reports about a "troll" and try responding to the article. Thank you.
Zotterelli for breakfast!
Good point. I agree completely that this entire scandalette is baseless because there was no covert operative involved.
McClellan is an idiot embarrassment, and the WH isn't helping any by trying to rewrite the transcripts. Oh for the days of Ari!
Hmmmm .. wouldn't that make David Gregory a liar for not telling the truth ??
I watched that video, and where Scott speaks, there's a blip in the video, a blip that very well could and probably does obliterate that first phrase Scott spoke.
The FACT is that Gregory's characterization was INACCURATE, and there is NO EXCUSE for a so-called professional journalist to frame a question in which he says Patrick Fitzgerald said that Plame was COVERT. If Gregory is not aware that Fitzgerald took pains to AVOID SAYING JUST THAT, he has no business working on a school newspaper, much less being in the WH Press Corps.
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