To describe his feelings about Barack Obama, former White House press secretary and current White House target Scott McClellan is using the word "intrigued." That's what he told Katie Couric on CBS, and similarly repeated to ABC. So why is he "intrigued by Sen. Obama's message"? Because "it's a message that is very similar to the one that Gov. Bush ran on in 2000." [Politico] Well isn't that quite the endorsement that Obama doesn't exactly want, slash need.

Meanwhile, for all his pomp, circumstance, and publicity, McClellan's book, which it's fair to say, rocked Washington, did little to pad his pocket. A sum of "under $100,000" was paid to him by publisher PublicAffairs Press for What Happened. [Salon] Compare that sum with advances paid to Karl Rove ($1.5 million), Barack Obama ($1.9 million), or Hillary Clinton ($8 million). Not that McClellan carries their degrees notoriety, but there's not a work in Clinton's book, even about her husband, that's as riveting as what McClellan has to say. Too bad it's only liars like James Frey and JT Leroy who get huge upfront sums.