The first words I read on the front page of the Washington Post today: “President Bush’s top aides launched a ferocious assault on the former White House counterterrorism official who accused Bush of failing to act on the al Qaeda threat before Sept. 11, 2001, and strengthening terrorists by pursuing a misguided focus on Iraq.”

If you keep reading the piece by snarky Bush-hater Dana Milbank and liberal Mike Allen, the “ferocious” response is either defined by the numbers of interviews granted, or spokesman Scott McClellan calling Clarke’s rather ferocious attacks on the president “deeply irresponsible, offensive, and flat-out false.” You could argue that this is the problem with the Mister Rogers tone of the White House response to domestic opponents: when they respond in kind, reporters think it’s rhetorical pro wrestling.

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PS: Of course, the Post also enjoys that Sen. Chuck Hagel is not only seconding McCain’s line that Kerry is NOT weak on defense, Hagel is demanding that Bush treat Clarke’s selling spree seriously. Primary challenge, anyone?