Scott McClellan is the trained parrot on pirate Bush's shoulder.

Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan says he can be trusted. But I don't think he should take a poll in the White House press room on that claim. He might lose.

McClellan has lived up to his self-described role as an "advocate" for President Bush.

It's only recently that he admits to wearing another hat -- one that is obligatory, as he put it -- that requires him "to make sure the American people are getting an accurate account of what is going on here in Washington." That will be the day.

Unfortunately, the record shows otherwise. McClellan might be forgiven for declaring from the White House lectern two years ago that Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby and deputy chief of staff Karl Rove had told him that they were not involved in leaking to the media that war critic Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked for the CIA.

As it turns out, both men were involved in one way or another in getting that information out. Libby was indicted on several charges including perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the federal investigation of the Plame leak case. Rove is under investigation.

McClellan is not about to finger his colleagues by accusing them of misleading him. But he has a lot more to answer for -- especially in carrying out the administration's battle plan of pumping up the case for war with Iraq with fibs. The most blatant among the falsehoods has been the constant attempt to link the 9/11 attacks to Saddam Hussein, even after the president conceded that there was no connection.