archy

Who's in charge here?
There are no end of snotty comments we could make about Bush's bold leadership and moral clarity here. But who needs to joke when McClellan is out there openly admitting that Bush won't have an opinion till Rumsfeld tells him what it is?

QUESTION: Scott, given that there are these other pictures out there, it's been acknowledged by the Secretary and you just mentioned, why not just release all of the pictures and all of the video clips that exist, just all at once, and stop the dribble, dribble that's, you know, one-by-one --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we are in close contact with the Pentagon on those issues, and I think the Pentagon is working to address those issues.

QUESTION: Is there discussion that, perhaps, it might be better to just release it all to the public?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the Pentagon is looking at all those issues. I mean, they have to take into account other considerations, as well. There are ongoing investigations, and the Pentagon has to look at those issues and take those issues into account.

QUESTION: Do you think it will be discussed this morning at this meeting? Has the President expressed his view as to whether it should all be released?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, I think that those are issues the Pentagon is working to address. And we remain in close contact with the Pentagon on those issues.

QUESTION: Can you give us a sense of -- I mean, obviously you said the President is -- hasn't necessarily seen them, but he knows what's in the pictures. What is his feeling, at this point, about releasing the pictures? Or is there just still an active discussion going on about whether or not --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the President has made his views known, in terms of when it comes to the investigations that are ongoing. I think he's stated that. But, again, I think the Pentagon is the one who is working to address these matters. We're going to continue to stay in close contact with them on these issues. But as I said, the Pentagon has to look at other factors, as well, when they're considering these issues.

QUESTION: But it will be his decision whether or not to release them, right?

MR. McCLELLAN: These are issues the Pentagon is working to address, and they have to take into account other considerations. I think that's the way I would describe it.

I wonder if Barbara and Senior are as embarassed by this as thesy should be. As an American, I'm embarassed.