To save you the trouble of tracking it down, I'm embedding Jon Stewart's interview of Scott McClellan on last night's Daily Show. I find a lot of Stewart's interviews fascinating because he's one of the few people who does this kind of thing who seems to actually talk to his guests and try to knock them off their prepared Talking Points. By contrast — and I'm not suggesting that he has the exact same job description as Stewart — Tim Russert's interview was all about Russert showing how tough he could be on his guest…and more or less challenging him to move from his prepared Talking Points to his prepared Talking Points defending his prepared Talking Points. (If that sentence doesn't make sense, read it a couple more times.)
Of the two, Stewart gives us the more revealing look at McClellan, who still seems to be the Presidential Press Secretary, only of himself. Same disingenuous slicing and dicing of language to skirt the bigger picture…same adherence to what he's "supposed" to say, despite questioning that points up a lack of logic and/or facts. People say this guy was bad as a spokesperson for George W. Bush. I think he mastered and still employs the exact set of skills that they're all expected to learn and use…and that includes the Press Secretaries who've served most recent presidents. This is what they're all supposed to do. McClellan was and is just worse than most at pretending he's being candid while denying the obvious.
