If I were a White House reporter, I would no longer attribute announcements to McClellan by using a declarative statement, as in this example, ‘Yesterday, the WH spokesman Scott McClellan said that the U.S. does not tolerate torture under any circumstance.’

Instead, I would resolve to use direct quotes, repeating his exact words. To wit, ‘Yesterday, WH spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters: “Torture, of the type defined by Justice Department lawyers, of anyone in our territorial jurisdiction, is never tolerated under any circumstance.”’

The declarative sentence is carelessness tossed out and just as easily accepted by the casual reader as true. The actual quote, however, is so Clintonian that it invites well-deserved scrutiny. Too often, the press unwittingly sanitizes the weaseling words of this administration.