Opengate: latest Washington scandal

As faithful readers (all 4 of you) of this blog know, I'm not shy about criticizing the public relations field in which I've labored these 40+ years. So it's only fair to acknowledge the times in which PR people get it right. Whenever their clients find themselves in crisis, the flacks' advice is to get all of the bad news out in the same cycle.

A painful example of what happens when one doesn't follow this advice is playing out even as I write this. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson is trying to explain at a Congressional hearing how a man penetrated White House security -- and why her agency concealed how far he was able to go. Initial reports of how he jumped the fence and entered the White House were bad enough, but the subsequent revelation that he almost reached the Green Room made it a brand new story.

What next? Are we to learn he consumed several tea cakes prepared for the next reception? Did he grab 40 winks in the Lincoln Bedroom? Hide in the Clinton Coat Room? Sneak into the Nixon Plumbers Closet?

To paraphrase the White House tour guide from the 1993 movie, Dave, "... and we're walking, and we're walking, and we're running, and we're running!"