From Holden:
Exploring, pandering – what’s the difference?
Q Yesterday, the President, if I understood him right, said he would consider a national sales tax. How serious is he about that?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you heard him. He said that it’s something that ought to be explored seriously.
[Yadda, yadda – tax code simpler – yadda, yadda – death tax.]
Q My question is, you say it’s something that ought to be explored seriously. Is he exploring it seriously?
MR. McCLELLAN: He said it’s something that ought to be explored seriously, so —
Q “Yes” or “no,” is he exploring it seriously?
MR. McCLELLAN: You know what he’s pursuing when it comes to making the tax code simpler and fairer, and what he’s pursuing to keep taxes low. And if there’s anything more to update you on then, obviously, we will. But what he said yesterday is where it stands, that it’s something that ought to be seriously explored.
And as Obsession concludes, Scottie gives a candid description of the Bush campaign:
Q The Kerry campaign said this morning that it intends to make more of an issue of the President’s ties, and the Vice President’s ties to Halliburton. They said that the latest story in The Wall Street Journal just highlights the problems that Halliburton has had in the past. Is the President concerned at all about some of the accounting —
MR. McCLELLAN: Look, that’s the same old — well, one, that’s an issue that’s being looked into by the Department of Defense. You need to direct those questions to the Department of Defense. There are oversight measures that are in place. And it’s important that — the Department of Defense is looking into these matters, and that’s where it stands. So you ought to direct those questions to them. That’s the same old political attacks that they’ve been waging for a long time, because you have someone who cannot stand on his own record and is trying to do anything to divert attention away from his record, which is out of the mainstream.