Is Scott McClellan a Patriot or a Weasel?

Is Scott McClellan a patriot or a weasel? That is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."

On "The Radio Factor" Thursday, opinion on that question was divided. Some folks are saying Mr. McClellan sold the president out for money. Others believe he is sincere in his dissent.

But as "Talking Points" mentioned Wednesday night, that dissent was a long time coming. Just last April on HBO, McClellan was vigorously defending the Iraq war. It should be noted he was most likely writing the book at that time.

Now as we noted also, Ari Fleischer, who was McClellan's boss, believes a publisher directed the book to be more negative and McClellan went along. Fleischer says McClellan told him that. Anyway, I now have the book and I still don't see the headline. Maybe I'm just dense.

The left-wing media, however, is swooning over McClellan's contention that the Iraq war was not well thought out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "TODAY" SHOW)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I felt like we were rushing into this. But because of my position and my affection for the president and my belief and trust in he and his advisers, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. And looking back on it and reflecting on it now, I don't think I should have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Interesting, especially since former President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, both of whom saw the same intel President Bush did, agreed that Saddam Hussein was a big danger to America. And so did the CIA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE TENET, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Let me say something very clearly to everybody. We believed he had weapons of mass destruction.

O'REILLY: You believed it why? Specifically you?

TENET: I believed it going back to my time in the Clinton administration when we were concerned about Iraq. I believed on the basis of 10 years of following it, data that we'd seen, his deception, his denial, his thwarting of the U.N. I believed it in my core that he had it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

So let's do some logic here. Why wouldn't Bush, Clinton, Blair, or Scott McClellan for that matter, believe George Tenet? I would have.

If McClellan would have objected to the way the Iraq campaign was handled, rather than the motives behind it, I wouldn't have a problem. But insinuating some sinister action by the president doesn't hold up, even though the far-left kooks love that. And that is where McClellan is living right now, in those very dubious precincts. That says a lot.

Finally, on the positive side, McClellan does seem to understand the big picture behind President Bush's Iraq strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN: Well, he absolutely cares very passionately about what he talks about, which is the freedom agenda and spreading democracy throughout the Middle East. It's a very idealistic and ambitious vision, and that was really the driving motivation that pushed him forward on Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Now isn't that a noble motivation? But you're not going to see that in the American media.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

Mariah Carey is in Japan to promote her new album. As part of that campaign, she threw out the first pitch in a baseball game.

Click here to watch Mariah throw out the first pitch.

Looked like Colmes throwing that baseball. Now, my Japanese is a bit rusty, but I believe the commentator was saying, "Hey, that's a pretty interesting outfit." I could be wrong. You can decide whether Ms. Carey is a pinhead.

Also, Rachael Ray, a pitch person for Dunkin' Donuts, got into trouble because of a picture. She's apparently wearing a Muslim scarf. What that has to do with donuts, we're not quite sure. The Dunkin' people pulled the ad. You can decide if they're all pinheads. A lot of decision making tonight.

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads and Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com