I'm quite sure he doesn't...

From yesterday's White House Press Briefing, emphasis mine:

Q Two questions, one on Walter Reed and the veterans. Is there anything that the President is doing to facilitate immediate improvements in care? I understand there are long-term commissions, but anything to help people who are in need right now?

MR. SNOW: I know what's going on is that there's a full-court press both out of DoD and the Department of Veterans Affairs. DoD obviously would have the lead on Walter Reed, and I'd send you in that direction.

Q So nothing the White House knows of?

MR. SNOW: Well, no, I'm not saying that. I'm saying what the President said early on is find out what's wrong and fix it. And we have seen quick action. I know that there were some people from DoD who were out there last week, inspecting Unit 18. I just honestly don't know, Jessica, precisely what's been done. But he's made it clear that he wants improvements done, and done quickly.

Q Why did it require media exposure for the President and the administration to act on this?

MR. SNOW: I think what happened was that people weren't aware of it. And that was one of the sources of concern.

Q So none of the letters or the protests that have been expressed by the veterans' families ever reached anyone in a position of power?

MR. SNOW: Well, apparently, what happened was that within the chain of command, things were not getting up high enough and, therefore, weren't acted upon.

Q And the President and the administration wasn't aware of other media reports that came out last year about these issues?

MR. SNOW: I don't want to say that nobody was aware of them, but when the President saw the story in The Post, that was the first he was aware of what was going on in Unit 18. And as I told you the following day, he wanted to know what was wrong and get it fixed.

Yes, I'm quite sure he doesn't want to say that, but you'll notice he doesn't deny it.

Slate broke this story a couple of years ago, and people have been talking to Congress for years, but somehow "people weren't aware of it" and "things were not getting up high enough" until the president read the Washington Post. (I thought he didn't read the papers; is this like the Katrina thing? Some aide took his life into his hands and forced a copy of a paper onto the president so he'd see what was happening?)

Is it just that things in Slate can be ignored, but things spread over the front page of the Washington Post (and thus, in short order, other major papers) can't? Because I can't quite believe that nobody was aware of anything.