The next time a reporter presses the administration on how they royally screwed up the situation and McClellan (or whoever) replies that they aren’t going to play the “blame game” or “start pointing fingers”, the reporter needs to reply:
“Good. Because I don’t want you to play the blame game and tell me how everything is really the fault of the State of Louisiana. I don’t want to see you pointing the finger at the City of New Orleans as the culprit here. I want you to accept responsibility for the problems we’ve seen and tell us how you’re going to correct them and make sure a situation like this doesn’t arise again.”
Well, the way I see it is the administration is mis-using the term “blame game” and I want someone to call them on it. The “blame game” is that wonderful political game where everyone is pointing the finger at everyone else – the ultimate result of “C.Y.A.” when everyone’s ass is covered and no one is to blame.
If the administration is going to be so proud about not playing the “blame game” then they need to do the opposite and accept responsibility for things that went wrong within their sphere of influence.
Obviously you didn’t see the footage of the White House press briefing yesterday. David Gregory asked if the President had confidence in FEMA, and WH press secretary Matt McCarty accused Gregory of playing the blame game. Which led to about a five minute exchange of the following:
I’m not playing the blame game, I’m asking a simple yes or no question.
Which I’ve already answered.
You’ve answered nothing.
I’ve answered that I am not here to play the blame game.
Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary. He’s the guy who goes out every day to a pool of White House reporters for a press conference. It’s sometimes shown live on the news networks, especially when a big event has happened. Sometimes footage will be shown on commentary/analysis programs like Meet the Press or Special Report as a lead into a discussion.
The reporter could also respond, “So, you’re admitting that someone screwed up? I’m glad you had the nerve to admit the administration screwed up. It’s too bad you don’t want to spill the beans. Would you like to play hot or cold instead?”.
I think it would be fun if the WH press corps played “The Talking Points Drinking Game”. Every time “blame game”, or some other inane talking points phrase was uttered by McClellan, someone should yell “DRINK!” and the entire press corps should do a shot.
