During his speech last week, George W. Bush finally lashed out at those criticizing his decision to go to war. On a positive note, it only took him two years to acknowledge the fact that a lot of people share the view that we were misled into war. On a disrespectful note, he used Veteran';s Day as a platform to defend the fact that he sent our soldiers to war for reasons now known to be untrue. On a hypocritical note, he accused Democrats and others who question his motives for invading Iraq of trying to "rewrite history."

At the same time, there was a little scuffle going on in Washington about the literal rewriting of history. In an Oct. 31 press conference, NBC's David Gregory put forth the following statement as a precursor to a question posed to White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan:

"Whether there's a question of legality, we know for a fact that there was involvement. We know that Karl Rove, based on what he and his lawyer have said, did have a conversation about somebody who Patrick Fitzgerald said was a covert officer of the Central Intelligence Agency. We know that Scooter Libby also had conversations."

To which Scott McClellan replied, "That's accurate."

But when the transcript showed up on www.whitehouse.gov, curiously enough, it had McClellan responding by saying "I don't think that's accurate."

You would think this would be an easy enough mistake to correct. Several other independent transcribers including Congressional Quarterly and Federal News Service heard it right and wrote it down correctly. There is also a tape on which McClellan's words are clearly audible. But for some reason, the White House refuses to accept its error.

Like it always does, the White House has vowed to "stand by their position." They have even gone so far as to contact news organizations to ask them to change their transcripts.

The problem is, nobody else heard the "I don't think" part of McClellan's statement. While "I don't think" is not entirely an unbelievable statement coming from the mouthpiece of the administration, it certainly does not belong in this transcript.

What amazes me is how Dana Perino, spokeswoman for the Office of the Press Secretary and president, can just keep lying. There are several written accounts that prove her wrong, and people can hear the truth for themselves. The video is available for free on the Center for American Progress Web site, www.americanprogress.org. It was also played on NPR. Perino, however, insists that the transcript is correct because "the White House stenographer was in the room and I was in the room," and they both heard "I don't think that's accurate."

Well, maybe they aren't lying. Maybe they're crazy. Or maybe they are so brainwashed with loyalty that they hear only what they want to hear, and occasionally a little more.

This could be the result of the recently mandated ethics refresher courses for the White House staff. After Plamegate, all White House staff members were instructed to take ethics classes in which they learned what is OK and not OK to give the press. Apparently, if you mess up and tell them too much, the ethical thing to do is to go back and change the transcripts.

Newsweek on Nov. 21 reported that after reviewing the tapes, McClellan said he would request that the stenographers "take another look." He added, "if there's something wrong, we'll correct it immediately."

Well, I just checked, and the White House version still says "I don't think that's accurate."

So, if Scott McClellan says one thing and the official record taken by the White House says another, isn't the administration rewriting history?

Also, a piece in Saturday's Washington Post noted when Bush claimed in his Veteran's Day speech that Congress saw the same intelligence as he did before the war, and that independent commissions have concluded the administration did not misrepresent intelligence, the president might not have been telling the whole truth.

Basically, reporters Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus replied in unison: "I don't think that's accurate."

The White House responded to the article, which pointed out that obviously the president and his staff saw volumes more intelligence than the House and Senate did, with a terse one-pager distributed to the entire White House press core.

Basically, the White House is "standing by their position."

Just who is really rewriting history here? Is it the people who call for honesty and accountability in government, or is it the propaganda-disseminating, talking-points-repeating, ethically-challenged, and altogether dishonest powers that be?

afeth@dailyemerald.com

Commentary:
Mistakes happen. But when it's an official government transcript, changes should to noted so future generations know reporters were told one thing and the transcript says the opposite.

Is there any integrity in this White House?