He Knows Better, But....

Ari Fleischer whines,

Among the allegations in former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's book is his assertion that the national press corps was "too deferential to the White House" and that the media were "complicit enablers" of President Bush's agenda. The press, he charges, failed to aggressively question the rationale for war. As someone whose duty it was to assume the position of a human piñata every day in the briefing room, I only wish Scott were right.

Fleischer goes on to share many examples of what he contends were tough questions, but fails to share his answers to those questions. As he knows, his answers usually ranged from evasions to outright falsehoods. The criticism is not that no tough questions were never asked - the criticism arises from the complacency of the press in accepting prevarication and deception from the White House and its mouthpieces.