BUSH BACKTRACKS

Scott McClellan, October 6, 2003: "The topic came up, and I said that if anyone in this administration was responsible for the leaking of classified information, they would no longer work in this administration." George W. Bush a few minutes ago, on whether that policy still stands: "If someone committed a crime, that person will not be in my administration." And here we thought it was liberals who went around "moving goalposts" and "defining deviancy down," and George Bush who would bring us a "responsibility era." Based on Ken Mehlman's praise of Fitzgerald in his performances in front of the press yesterday ("Hey look! 'Vindicate' rhymes with 'implicate' - but it means the opposite!"), the Republicans seem to be betting that Fitzgerald won't be able to prove Rove and company guilty, and that the spin-masters will be able to convince us that that means no one did anything wrong. Just remember: Bush was for responsibility before he was against it.