From Holden:
Quick hits from today’s gaggle.
Press Corps Snark
MR. McCLELLAN: And the President looks forward to tomorrow night’s address. We’ll have a briefing coming up here shortly. So with that, I will jump straight to your questions.
Q He’s going to have details of how you get to the great goals of wiping out tyranny in the world?
Press Corps Brain Fart
Q Two quick ones. What are your thoughts on increasing the death penalties [sic] for loved ones of those killed in the war? And if Congress takes —
MR. McCLELLAN: The death benefit.
Q Right, the death benefits — sorry. (Laughter.) Wow. All right, let’s start again.
Ix-nay on the Isis-cray
Q With deference to the upcoming briefing, those of us who need to talk to you about that in this forum, is the President going to repeat tomorrow night that the crisis — that there is a crisis in Social Security, that’s it’s now — that his way forward is the way —
[snip]
Q I guess I was just trying to ask a general question about the nature of how he’s going to cast that problem and whether he’s going to use the “crisis” language that he has used in the past, which, as you know, has been criticized.
MR. McCLELLAN: He will certainly talk about the serious problems facing Social Security and the need to act now, because it only gets worse over time.
[snip]
Q Does the White House feel that the Congress and the populous is not quite there yet on acknowledging there is a crisis — or whatever word you want to use — that needs to be addressed?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we talked about the word “crisis” recently. We can debate whether it’s a crisis or not a crisis, but you can’t ignore the fact that it is a serious problem that we face and that it only gets worse over time.
A Jeff Gannon sighting? Gannon almost always prefaces his question with a “Thank You”. Such a polite boy.
Q Thank you. Scott, Venezuela’s President, Hugo Chavez, is threatening to stop sending oil to the United States and to oust American oil interests from his country. Does the President plan to do anything about this?
Or is this the Talon News/GOP-USA “journalist” here? This question certainly is in line with his style.
Q Does the administration agree with Chairman Thomas, the AARP and other opponents of personal accounts that are indulging in scare tactics?
Definitely NOT a Jeff Gannon question, and one that Little Scottie won’t even acknowledge. This question must have come from Russell Mokhiber or Helen Thomas.
Q Scott, last night, in an amicus brief filed before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Justice Department came down in favor of displaying the Ten Commandments in courthouses and statehouses around the country. The question is, does the President believe in commandment number six, “Thou shalt not kill,” as it applies to the U.S. invasion in Iraq?
MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead. Next question. Ken, go ahead.