The Clarke scandal goes “poof!”

Like I said: he was just trying to sell books. Here’s an excerpt from an August 2002 briefing via Fox News:

CLARKE: No, it came up in April [2001] and it was approved in principle and then went through the summer. And you know, the other thing to bear in mind is the shift from the rollback strategy to the elimination strategy. When President Bush told us in March to stop swatting at flies and just solve this problem, then that was the strategic direction that changed the NSPD from one of rollback to one of elimination.

Read the whole thing, then check back later to see how Josh Marshall spins it.