Who is Dana Milbank?

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank sarcastically slams Karl Rove’s new book, Courage and Consequence, writing that in the model of Bush staffer Karen Hughes's memoir, Ten Minutes from Normal, “Rove's work should be called ‘Ten Thousand Miles from Self-Aware.’” You want some proof Milbank is right to ridicule the man known as Bush’s “brain”? OK. Milbank reports that Rove

describes at length how Clinton staffers "trashed" the White House, though investigators were "unable to conclude whether the 2001 transition was worse than previous ones."

Helpful Dana. His “proof” is a link to a 220-page GAO report, available in PDF form only. No page number mentioned. Now reader, you are welcome to hunt through the entire document for the quote Dana referenced. Hint: Dana hopes you don’t look.

I’ll save you searching for the needle. On page 18 of “GAO-02-360 The White House,” I found this passage:

Seven EOP staff and one former Clinton administration employee who had worked in the White House complex during previous transitions made comparisons regarding the condition of the space during the 2001 transition with conditions during previous transitions. Six EOP staff said that the condition was worse in 2001 than previous transitions, while one EOP employee and one former Clinton administration employee said the office space was worse in 1993 than 2001. Because of the lack of definitive data available to compare the extent of damage, vandalism, and pranks during the 2001 transition with past transitions, we were unable to conclude whether the 2001 transition was worse than previous ones.

Six of seven Executive Office of the President (EOP) staffers agreed with Karl Rove that Clinton’s staff had trashed the White House, and one Clinton staffer, totally unbiased, no doubt, plus one EOP staffer dissented. Dana read that passage, and chose to tell us that the GAO report contradicted Rove.

Here’s the truth. Dana Milbank, whoever he is, lies.