Wow! President Bush’s press secretary is really letting loose on her predecessor, Scott McClellan:

“Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he’s raising these grave concerns that he claims he had.”

Then there’s this:

“It’s also important to keep in context – we’re in the heat of a presidential campaign right now and, all of a sudden, he comes out with a book that he is seeking to promote. He is actively going out there and putting himself on prime-time news shows and morning shows to promote this book. And he is making charges that simply did not happen.”

Oh, wait! That isn’t Dana Perino. It’s Scott McClellan in a March 22, 2004, press conference, ripping the just-released book by Richard Clarke, a former counterterrorism aide who served in the administration. Clarke, as you will recall, was highly critical of the lack of serious planning against possible terrorist attacks.

This is Perino on McClellan, whose new book is surprisingly critical of the Bush administration:

“For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad. This is not the Scott we knew.”

Nope. The Scott she knew would blast today’s Scott. That was his job. And now it is hers.

Political science. At Friday’s state Republican convention in Spokane, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers noted the Top 10 reasons why it’s a great year to be a Republican. Here’s No. 3, which appeared to get the biggest applause: “We believe Al Gore deserves an ‘F’ in science and an ‘A’ in creative writing.”

If that’s the case, then it’s not just Gore who is flunking the science of global warming. There’s the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Academy of Sciences (and its counterparts around the world), the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and on and on.

It’s shocking to think that you have to turn to politicians to get the truth about science. But even then, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus. Take, for example, the Republican nominee for president, U.S. Sen. John McCain. Wonder if there would be any laughter at the Spokane convention if he showed up and repeated what he said recently in Portland:

“The facts of global warming demand our urgent attention, especially in Washington (D.C.). We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great. The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge.”