McClellan's Testimony: What I'm Watching For

This is how I know that I have a serious addiction to politics. I am in Doolin, a beautiful city in Ireland, and I will be spending my last day in this city watching Scott McClellan testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee via CSPAN's internet feed*.

Strange thing to do. I know. But I have a reason for doing so.

I just finished reading Scott McClellan's frustrating but revealing book What Happened, which gives Scott McClellan's excuses for the Bush administration's destructive and (I believe) criminal behavior and Scott McClellan's excuses for being a part of it. For the most part, it seems that that media has done a decent job of highlighting the most important revelations in McClellan's book, which include that President Bush personally authorized the selective declassification of 2002's NIE (without informing the majority of his staff), that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby leaked Valerie Plame's employment as an undercover CIA agent to the media, and that the Bush administration sought to surround the President with as many yes-men (and women) as possible.

There will surely be some fascinating questions and answers regarding these issues that I want to see.

However, there is one comment that Scott McClellan made in his book that I have not yet heard addressed by anyone in the media. I'm hoping John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, noticed this too.

Towards the beginning of the book (pg. 73), Scott discusses when he met Karl Rove. It was in 1992 while working on a campaign in Texas. Scott McClellan said that he met Karl Rove during this time but didn't work closely with him as Karl Rove was mainly in charge of "the mailings."

My regular readers and fellow Congressional hearing junkies might recall a few months back when Monica Goodling (the pretty blond Republican who worked for Alberto Gonzales in the Justice Department) let it slip that Karl Rove's protege, Tim Griffin, was in charge of the "caging" in 2004. (Ordinarily, I'd explain what caging is, but I'm paying by the minute here for internet access, so please click here for more information if this is a new term for you.) After this revelation, John Conyers visited with Greg Palast, the BBC reporter who originally exposed the caging of voters by Republicans in 2004, and collected the list of people who were caged.

Here's what I'm thinking: Scott McClellan knows something about Karl Rove and "mailings" from his past campaigns. John Conyers is aware of allegations of "caging" by Karl Rove's operatives in 2004. Scott McClellan was the White House Press Secretary, deeply involved in the campaign and working closely with Karl Rove, in 2004. If I know about Monica Goodling's slip-up and John Conyer's trip to visit Greg Palast, I'm thinking Scott McClellan (the former White House Press Secretary with a grudge) would too. There is more than a little contempt expressed for Karl Rove in both Scott McClellan's book and in his television interviews. He quite openly blames Rove (and Libby) for the destruction of his credibility. Could he have added this possibly-not-so-little detail to his book wanting to be questioned about it?

After all, it's not squealing if he's asked about it by Congress under oath. He could just say that he swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

But here's the thing: did anyone on the House Judiciary Committee pick up on this? Will Scott McClellan even be asked about what he knows?

In my mind, this is as much, if not more, a test for Congress tomorrow as it is a test of honor for Scott McClellan. I'll let you know how they do.

*The House Judiciary Committee hearing will begin Friday, June 20 at 10am EST. It will be broadcast on CSPAN radio. The network (CSPAN, CSPAN-2, or CSPAN-3) is still to be determined. Hearings, however, are usually shown on CSPAN-3.