Via E&P, we see again that all Scott McClellan can say is "blame game." Although, today he did add "finger pointing" and "personal attacks" to his repertoire. As you read the briefing, keep in mind the words of that great thinker, Jon Stewart, who said last night "When people don't want to play the blame game, they're to blame":
Q And then Senator Harry Reid is questioning whether the President's Texas vacation impeded any kind of relief efforts.
MR. McCLELLAN: The Senator -- the Senator must not be aware of all the updates that we were providing you all, because I cannot imagine that he would engage in such personal attacks if he did. You all, or your colleagues were covering us during that time. We were providing you regular updates on the President's participation in our efforts to prepare for what was then a tropical storm off the coast of Florida, and then we continued to keep you all updated over the course of the next several days about the President's participation in the preparations for what was coming.
And the President, if you'll recall, on Sunday morning, was in touch with Governor Blanco. He was in touch with Governor Barbour. He was in touch with Governor Riley and Governor Bush, as well, even later in the morning. I know he spoke to that Sunday morning -- he spoke to Governor Blanco around 9:00 a.m., had a good conversation with her about some of the things that needed to be done ahead of the hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast. So you all were well aware of what the President was doing and his involvement during that time.
Q Scott, can I follow up on what Terry was saying? One of the things that Harry Reid did say today was, why didn't President Bush immediately return to Washington from his vacation, and why didn't he recall key officials and staff members back from their vacations? And then he asks, would the President -- would the presence of key officials in Washington have improved the response?
MR. McCLELLAN: First of all, we are focused on getting things done and solving problems on the ground. And again, I go back to what I was just talking about, the President on Saturday, Saturday night issued -- this was Saturday night before the hurricane hit, which I believe was early Monday morning -- the President issued an emergency disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana. Then the next morning, he issued declarations for Mississippi and Alabama. So we were focused on the preparations that were being made prior to Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast region.
Q So your answer to the Senator would be that the presence of officials in Washington would not have improved the response?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think that my answer is that you all are very well aware of what we were doing in terms of preparations for Hurricane Katrina. And I'd just assume that he is not informed of everything we were doing and all the updates that were being provided at that point.
Q Scott, does the President retain confidence in his FEMA Director and Secretary of Homeland Security?
MR. McCLELLAN: And again, David, see, this is where some people want to look at the blame game issue, and finger-point. We're focused on solving problems, and we're doing everything we can --
Q What about the question?
MR. McCLELLAN: We're doing everything we can in support --
Q We know all that.
MR. McCLELLAN: -- of the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA.
Q Does he retain complete confidence --
MR. McCLELLAN: We're going to continue. We appreciate the great effort that all of those at FEMA, including the head of FEMA, are doing to help the people in the region. And I'm just not going to engage in the blame game or finger-pointing that you're trying to get me to engage.
