This is rich—Dan Rather pumping Scott McClellan for information about the White House’s secret plan to bring him down: When Scott Met Dan.

RATHER: Is there a special operation in the White House or in the Executive Office Building next door to it that seeks to orchestrate, perhaps even run some of what’s on the Internet?

McCLELLAN: Certainly there’s a large operation, part of the communications operation is the office of strategic iniatives, working to make sure that … the blogosphere has a tremendous amount of influence, and they just want to make sure that we’re helping to shape some of that narrative …

RATHER: To your knowledge, are there bloggers who are paid by the White House political operation? Some campaigns have —

McCLELLAN: — not to my knowledge, but that was not an area I focused on.

It still haunts the great Dan Rather that his plot to tilt a presidential election with phony documents was exposed by little nobodies—haunts him so badly that he just can’t accept it wasn’t part of some grand Karl Rove conspiracy.

When Dan tucks himself into his 700 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets at night, his dreams are filled with throbbing memos…

(Hat tip: LGF readers.)