L'il Scotty is getting himself in deeper and deeper everytime he opens his mouth. I'll bet he wishes he used the words "ongoing investigation" about two years ago, when he tried to smirk his way through denying Karl Rove's complicity in the Plame affair. Here's a sampling of his latest press debacle. I wonder if they'll start commenting on whether or not he's coloring his hair next.

The Associated Press's Terry Hunt led off. "Does the president stand by his pledge to fire anyone involved in the leak of a name of a CIA operative?"

McClellan, wearing a gray suit and heavy makeup, delivered the first of many demurrals. "While that investigation is ongoing, the White House is not going to comment," he said.

Hunt, expecting this, pressed: "I wasn't actually talking about any investigation."

"Yes," McClellan allowed, "but this question is coming up in the context of this ongoing investigation."
...
McClellan tried for relief from Fox News, but Carl Cameron hit him with a tough one. "Does the president continue to have confidence in Mr. Rove?"

McClellan wouldn't say, so a mischievous April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks tried to get McClellan to say something -- anything -- about Rove. "Who is Karl Rove as it relates to this administration?" she asked.

"I think I've responded," McClellan answered.

The press secretary seemed grateful when questions turned to other subjects, such as the Supreme Court, the attacks in London or a withdrawal from Iraq. At other times, he seemed to plead for understanding from his questioners, saying they "know the type of person that I am."

McClellan is indeed well liked by the press corps. But that counts for little now, when recent events have shown that he either misled reporters deliberately or was duped by his White House colleagues. Ken Herman, the voluble Cox News White House reporter, even invoked Watergate days, asking if McClellan's previous statements are "all inoperative."