I believe the subject was that McClellan stated that fox news used talking points given by the white house.
Here is McClellan on O'Reilly's radio talk show last night, which I myself heard in real time:
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST, "HARDBALL": Did you see FOX Television as a tool when you were in the White House? As a useful avenue for getting your message out?
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I make a distinction between the journalist and between the commentators. I mean, certainly there were commentators and other pundits at FOX News that were helpful to the White House. Certainly we got talking points to those people.
MATTHEWS: The people who say call Sean, call Bill, call whoever, did you do that at...
MCCLELLAN: Certainly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Certainly? Bull. What McClellan put out there is false. It is a deceit. No one from the White House ever gave me talking points. Ever.
Now, Matthews baited McClellan and he took the bait. I don't even think the man knew what he was saying, but it doesn't matter. As soon as McClellan put the lie on the street, CNN picked it up, and then the far-left blogs ran with it. So this kind of garbage takes on a life of its own. That is unacceptable, and we will hold those involved accountable.
Now, I'm lucky. I have a forum to respond, but most Americans don't have that. They get smeared, they can't fight back. Again, unacceptable.
As for McClellan, well, he was man enough to come on "The Radio Factor" and here's how it went down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Do you owe me an apology?
MCCLELLAN: The truth is, I messed up. I was specifically not trying to single anyone out, including you, but the way a couple of the questions were phrased in that interview, along with my response, left things open to interpretation. And I should not have let that happen. I messed up when it came to leaving things open to interpretation. I understand why you got upset. This was some of your critics went aha, you know, it has to be this. You know, you're the big kahuna at FOX News. And you know, some people tried to paint it in a black and white term to their preconceived notion.
O'REILLY: Look, Matthews says very specifically, do people say call Sean, call Bill. And you say...
MCCLELLAN: Call whoever.
O'REILLY: And you say — yes — and you say certainly. So, I think, first of all you owe me an apology.
MCCLELLAN: Yes, I got cut off. I mean...
O'REILLY: All right. Do you owe me an apology?
MCCLELLAN: Well, I don't think that I should have left it open to interpretation in that regard.
O'REILLY: OK, but wait, wait, wait. Now my name, as you know, my name is now attached by you to White House talking points, and CNN…
MCCLELLAN: No, I did not use your name, Bill. I did not...
O'REILLY: No, he did. He did. And you said certainly. He did and — look, he baited you. Everybody knows he baited you.
MCCLELLAN: Yes, I didn't go on the show to talk about FOX News.
O'REILLY: But that's what they do over there. You know that.
MCCLELLAN: I went on the show to talk about Bush's legacy and the Obama...
O'REILLY: I got it. You went on the show to sell your book. Fine. But you let it go when he was specific and used my name. And then CNN picked it up right after that, Howard Kurtz. And then they went — and then it was all over the place.
MCCLELLAN: Yes, there's...
O'REILLY: Now let me — look...
MCCLELLAN: There's...
O'REILLY: You seem, Scott, not to want to apologize to me. You don't have to, but I think you do owe me an apology.
MCCLELLAN: I think I did by saying I messed up. I think that that is…
O'REILLY: Well, you know, it would be better if you would say look, Bill, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that.
MCCLELLAN: Well, I didn't mean to do that. I'm sorry, Bill. I didn't mean to do that.
O'REILLY: Fine. It only took me three minutes to get that out of you. Now I want you to say to the people who are listening that as far as you know, I never received a talking points from the White House.
MCCLELLAN: I don't know that. Yes, I don't. I have no knowledge of that.
O'REILLY: OK. So you have no knowledge that I received anything from the White House while you were there?
MCCLELLAN: Well, we sent out — we certainly sent out...
O'REILLY: But I — no, no, O'Reilly, O'Reilly.
MCCLELLAN: We sent out a lot of talking points to a lot of people. And certainly there are people at, you know, pundits and commentators...
O'REILLY: But not me.
MCCLELLAN: Other people that...
O'REILLY: Other people I don't care about, Scott.
MCCLELLAN: I know. They were friendly and that were sympathetic.
O'REILLY: Fine. And then you deal with them as you want to, but I never received the talking points.
MCCLELLAN: I understand why you got upset.
O'REILLY: All right, good.
MCCLELLAN: I understand...
O'REILLY: I'm glad you understand because my professional reputation is not going to be besmirched...
MCCLELLAN: No.
O'REILLY: ...by you or MSNBC or CNN or anybody else. That's outrageous. It ain't going to happen.
MCCLELLAN: I'm not trying to get into a fight between any of the network wars or anything like that. I'm not trying to...
O'REILLY: Well, if you keep going on these smear machines, you're going to get in a fight, Scott. You know, you're defined about who you hang with. Matthews played you. How many times have you been on that program, that network, 87 times?
MCCLELLAN: Matthews I've been on twice.
O'REILLY: You've been on that network all day, everyday to sell your book. I'm not apologizing for that.
MCCLELLAN: No, no, no, no.
O'REILLY: But he played you.
MCCLELLAN: No...
O'REILLY: You should be mad at him.
MCCLELLAN: So you don't owe me an apology for calling me a liar or calling me...
O'REILLY: You were a liar. You said I received talking points and I didn't.
MCCLELLAN: No, I didn't. I was not confirming that. I'm telling you that right now, I was not...
O'REILLY: You're parsing the damn thing. Come on, be honest.
MCCLELLAN: I am being honest.
O'REILLY: You say — do people say...
MCCLELLAN: You're not being honest...
O'REILLY: ...call Sean, call Bill and you said certainly. That's ridiculous. It's not true.
MCCLELLAN: No, I didn't get to finish my thought with that. You know the way these interviews go. Matthews is a guy that interrupts you just like you're interrupting now.
O'REILLY: That's right. He baited you. He baited you.
MCCLELLAN: But look, you said I look to be partners in this enterprise with NBC. That's not the case. That's not true. So you should apologize for that.
O'REILLY: You're crazy. You're partners with them in selling your book. They're playing you. They're manipulating you. They're using you.
MCCLELLAN: Everybody does that.
O'REILLY: And if you don't like to be used, be careful. I'm an honest purveyor of news and information, and I'm not going to let anybody imply that I'm not.
MCCLELLAN: That's fine. And I'm not trying to question your motivations, Bill.
O'REILLY: All right.
MCCLELLAN: I'm not going to get into it with you.
O'REILLY: I appreciate you coming on, Scott.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
