Scott McClellan: Taking "weasel" to a whole new level.

After the last couple days of Rove-a-palooza, it's hard to imagine there'd be anything to say about White House Press Weasel Scott McClellan's overwhelming hypocrisy that hasn't already been said, but let me take a shot at it.

Over here, we see the WH Press Corpse finally showing some spine, beating up on poor Scottie and Scottie simply hiding behind the now-robotic response of "I'm not going to comment on an ongoing investigation." Even the most innocuous questions are blown off with this lame rationale. But hold on. Look carefully about halfway down the page, at this exchange:

QUESTION: You're in a bad spot here, Scott... because after the investigation began -- after the criminal investigation was under way -- you said, October 10th, 2003, "I spoke with those individuals, Rove, Abrams and Libby. As I pointed out, those individuals assured me they were not involved in this," from that podium. That's after the criminal investigation began.

Now that Rove has essentially been caught red-handed peddling this information, all of a sudden you have respect for the sanctity of the criminal investigation?

MCCLELLAN: No, that's not a correct characterization. And I think you are well aware of that.....

Um ... hello? McClellan's response to the accusation above is, in fact, commenting on the investigation, isn't it? Not surprisingly, McClellan wants to have it both ways -- refusing comment when reporters are tearing him a new orifice, yet quickly (and most likely unthinkingly) leaping to Rove's defense when he thinks Rove has been unfairly accused.

It's hard to believe that no one in the room picked up on that. At this point, if McClellan wants to be consistent, he'd have to keep his mouth shut about absolutely anything and everything Rove-related but, as you can see, he's not up to the job. At this point, reporters could ask Scott if Karl Rove did indeed put out a Mafia-style contract on Plame's husband Joe Wilson and McClellan would have to just weasel out with a "No comment." Any substantive response would make it clear that McClellan is willing to comment, but only when it suits his purposes.

If the media want to screw Scottie over, all they have to do is pay more attention to what he's saying. How hard can that be? Oh, right. We're talking about the White House Press Corpse here. What was I thinking?