In its campaign to discredit former NSC counterterrorism head Richard Clarke, the White House leaked a transcript to Fox News of an upbeat press briefing Clarke gave in 2002 that seems to contradict several points in his new book, Against All Enemies. During his testimony to the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, commissioner and former Illinois Governor James R. Thompson confronted Clarke with the discrepancies, and asked if he had misled the press in his 2002 remarks. Clarke denied deceiving the press and public, but explained that senior government officials are often expected to put a positive spin on "potentially embarrasing" news. "I think that is what most people in the White House in any administration do when they're asked to explain something that is embarrassing to the administration," Clarke said. Thompson expressed shock and righteous indignation at this notion. The bind of course for Clarke is that a previous misdeed -- even if it was at the White House's behest -- can now be used to impugn his bold stance by that very same White House. The Bush Files are filled with memos asking the Paul O'Neill and others to put the best possible face on controversial policies, including the administration's conduct in the war on terrorism. For instance, in January, 2002, O'Neill was coached to praise Saudi cooperation on terror financing in a memo from his press aide, Michele Davis. Behind the scenes, in fact, O'Neill and senior officials from the State Department and CIA were profoundly frustrated by the Saudis unwillingness to assist America at its time of crisis. Read the memo here.

Before a January, 2002, appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Treasury Department public relations chief Michele Davis sent Secretary O'Neill a 3-page memo explaining how he should deal with host Tim Russert. The memo, which coaches O'Neill on how to avoid the substance of Russert's questions, is a classic of political spin. O'Neill was told to answer the first question by praising the President's economic stimulus proposals, "no matter the question." "You need to interject the President's message," Davis coached O'Neill, "even if the question has nothing to do with that."

Michele Davis, an assistant secretary of the Treasury, had the thankless, and futile, chore of trying to keep O'Neill on-message in his public appearances. The Treasury secretary rarely kept to the talking points favored by the White House political operation headed by Karl Rove and Karen Hughes. Before the unveiling of the President's budget, on Feb. 27, Davis pleaded with O'Neill to stick to the script. "This event, more than anything you've participated in to date, requires that you be monotonously on-message."