[BigSkyFreeper]

If you believe Scott McClellan's White House press briefings should be kept out of public view, your wrong with your assessment of the Clarke tape. This was a press briefing much like White House press briefings held by Scott McClellan, or Senate press briefings held by any number of Reps or Dems.

[dogbyte12]

I said I was done, but let me just reply to your one point. McClellan has two levels of briefings. One on the record, one off the record.

On the off the record briefing, the press says "White House Sources say", or the administration thinks... etc.

Basically, it is an anon briefing. If they wanted to be quoted on the record, they would have gone on the record. The concept that a person giving something off the record, can later be payed back by the White House, by giving up his anonymity, without his/her consent, is chilling to me.

Any whistleblower in any administration will stop saying anything meaningful to the press even off the record, if they know that they actually don't have any confidentiality. Their words are entirely the property of the President, to be used against them at a later time. Yes, this damages Clarke, but I think that isn't an important enough issue to go across this murky line.