A book about lies and deception to sell the media and the people on an unnecessary war isn’t shocking news. There are more books on the subject than anyone would care to read, from the angry to the academic.

But Scott McLellan’s version — the inside story — poses more questions than provides answers. It makes me wonder why the White House press corps put up with this faux briefing charade, playing along with a wink-wink, nod-nod, just like the way we play along with our children, pretending not to know they are hiding behind the curtain when their feet sticking under give them away.

They grill, they whine but that give people like McClellan a pass, ultimately. See how former press secretary Tony Snow stonewalls a seemingly unrelenting press who seem to know they will get non-answers. Dana Perino the present voice at the podium (once referred to as “the Doogie Howser of press secretaries”) does a terrible job of explaining what the president knew or did not know, but she carries on, and she gets a pass too.

The ‘revelation’ that the White House has a PR, marketing and messaging problem, is part of a larger problem. We let things slide, too. The lessons for us?

1. This malady of saying something without really saying something has infected corporate and political life far greater than we admit. What Jay Rosen accurately “strategic non-communication” which lives on. It is the PR creep that invades the stories and should not be tolerated.

2. PR should aspire to being more than a “propaganda machine.” People can spot the man behind the curtain, even if his feet are not sticking out!

3. “Selling of the positive and pushing back of the negative,” as Jon Stewart observed (about another book of White House’s decision to go to war by Douglas Feith) should not be on our job description, and is not an euphemism for marketing and advertising. (Isn’t that what Toxic sludge is good for you was all about?)

4. If you don’t agree to be the official spokesperson (the jerk at the podium, as someone uncharitably called McClellan) you could, you know, resign.