Or...he would say that I should always make sure to show proper respect to Helen Thomas.
There was one problem. It was not true. I mean, he meant it. Sort of. But he kind of snickered when he said it.
Or when he said that David Gregory had tighter abs than he had.
There was one problem. It was not true. I made that one up. No one has a tighter, sixty-year-old six-pack than my former boss.
There was one problem. It was not true. Maybe on a straight-sixty-year old.
Look, I know my editor told me that if I overused the "one problem" expression that the words would lose their power, but I’m the author and, besides the fact, those two sentences were so damn cool. And if they were so damn powerful, then using them as many times as I could would make them even more so. Kind of like "9-11 changed everything," or "undermining the troops," or when I used "Protocols were in place and followed," forty-five times in one briefing to explain the choice not to interrupt President Bush's bike ride to tell him that the Capital, and his home, might be under terrorist attack.
There was one problem. It was not true. I used it forty-four times.
Even works as a joke.
Now watch this...
So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.
There was one problem. It was not true.
Very cool, right?
I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself.
Unfortunately, that part was true.
*The entire book has yet to be released but one cannot help but surmise the above would be included.
Steve Young is author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful, Mistakes, Adversity, Failure and Other Steppingstones to Success." www.greatfailure.com
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
