Dana Perino: No Terrorist Attack During Bush's Term

Except for that one big one. And the anthrax. Geez. . .

Perino: "We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term"

Dana Perino and the Millionaire Middle Class

Can there be any question now, that members of the former Bush Administration are out of touch? Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino is apparently unaware that people who get million dollar-plus bonuses in a contract are something other than middle class!

[Excerpt]

Perino Defends AIG Bonuses: They Are ‘Middle Class People’ Who ‘Are Expecting To Get This Bonus’



Source: Think Progress

Another Dana Perino Moment: Mission Accomplished

White House Spokesliar Dana Perino answers a question about the fifth anniversary of George W. Bush's flight suit, Commander Guy, Mission Accomplished moment.

Reporter Finally Gets to Question Dana Perino

Photo from Chron

Poor Dana Perino. She has the same job as any other White House Press Secretary: she's a spokesliar. And in the Bush Administration, that is a doozy of a job. But she doesn't have the slickness of Ari Fleicsher or Tony Snow. She doesn't have the flop-sweat of Puffy McMoonface Scott McClellan, but he genuinely seemed to be repeating what he thought was true, like someone else supplied the lies to him.

Perino is different from all of them. She sputters and stammers, while sounding irritated should she get the odd tough question. One of my favorite (and probably too frequent) sources for this blog is The Raw Story. They have their own reporter in the press room, but he's been shut out of the questioning by Perino after a particularly difficult question he asked some time ago.

Perino was shamed into letting him ask a question today, which resulted in her trademark stammering. From my point of view, it was pretty funny. But I'll bet he doesn't get picked to ask another question for a while.

[Excerpt]

White House Blacklist Breakthrough: Online media team up for free press victory

I thought it was shameful that 10 days after David Barstow's NY Times article about how the establishment media colluded with the Pentagon to sell the war in Iraq and the "war on terror" to the American people by hiring the Pentagon's "message force multipliers" as military analysts, no one had asked the White House about it. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Raw Story White House Reporter Nails Dana Perino

Photo from source, Raw Story

I've read a few posts at Raw Story about how they have a White House reporter, but they always get ignored in press conferences. Well that reporter, Eric Brewer, finally got picked today. But I'm pretty sure Dana Perino wishes she hadn't called on him. Kudos, Raw Story!

[Excerpt]

Bush: Al Qaeda is in Iraq, stealing our oil

I had a lot of fun at the White House Wednesday afternoon, and not because I made Dana Perino mad. In fact, I felt a little sorry for her today. It's not her fault that Bush's speechwriters put ludicrous statements into his speeches. [snip]

His question:

"The President warned of the danger that al Qaeda could gain access to Iraq's oil resources. But I don't understand how a fragmented, clandestine, non-Iraqi terrorist organization could produce and sell Iraqi oil on the global market, especially when the majority of Iraqis have turned against al Qaeda. Could you describe a plausible scenario?"

Read the rest of his question and Perino's befuddled response at: Raw Story

White House Admits Telecoms Spied

Photo from source, Raw Story

I think the people at the Bush Administration are getting tired. This past week, it sorta slipped out that, yeah, we waterboarded. But only three times! And they were bad, bad guys! Honest! And now, on a day when the Senate laid down and died on the issue, we have this. . .

[Excerpt]

Oops: White House spokesman admits telecoms spied

On the eve of a vote to give telephone companies immunity for their alleged participation in the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretap program, White House spokesperson Dana Perino admitted that the companies actually spied.

Because they were patriotic. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Dana Perino and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Photo from source, Raw Story

I wanted to put this under my "Stuck on Stupid" banner, but this is less stupidity than just plain ignorance I guess. Still, you'd think a person elevated to her position of White House Press Secretary would have some idea of what the Cuban Missile Crisis is all about. And given her reputation for obfuscation, you think she'd have dodged rather than admitted her ignorance.

[Excerpt]

White House press secretary admits she didn't know what Cuban Missile Crisis was

White House press secretary Dana Perino has been front and center of the White House's push to continue to label Iran a rogue state for its pursuit of uranium enrichment technology. [snip]

Turns out she doesn't know quite so much about nuclear weapons as she supposes. And we're not talking about Iran. . .

Read the rest at: Raw Story

Bush Clueless About Destroyed CIA Tapes

Photo from source, RawStory

In a recent post, I commented on the fact that whenever scandal looms, the GOP Presidential candidates spin and weave and bob, and as more news drips out they just keep digging their holes deeper. Small wonder. They've learned from the master.

On two recent issues, the White House has sent out Dana Perino, the current Presidential Spokes-liar to try to extricate Bush from sticky issues. Issues like, when did the President learn about the NIE report? And now, did Bush know about the destroyed CIA torture tapes? According to a very uncomfortable looking Perino (reminding me very much of Scott McClellan), nope, he didn't know anything about it. How much do you want to bet that the story changes over the next week?

[Excerpt]

Bush doesn't recollect being told of CIA tapes

Despite the fact that at least two Democratic lawmakers knew about CIA tapes being destroyed, President Bush is claiming that he has "no recollection" of ever being briefed on the matter. . .

Read more at: RawStory

Are We or Are We Not in the Business of Torture?

The White House has asserted, time and again that they are not "about torture." Even today, White House Press Secretary, Dana Perino, denied it one more time, in the face of this story. The denials are becoming less and less convincing, at least to me. See what you think.

[Excerpt]

Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations

When the Justice Department publicly declared torture “abhorrent” in a legal opinion in December 2004, the Bush administration appeared to have abandoned its assertion of nearly unlimited presidential authority to order brutal interrogations.

But soon after Alberto R. Gonzales’s arrival as attorney general in February 2005, the Justice Department issued another opinion, this one in secret. It was a very different document, according to officials briefed on it, an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency. . .

Read this explosive--and lengthy--report at: NYTimes.com

Blackwater in Iraq

I have not yet said anything on this blog about Blackwater, the company employing contractors and mercenaries in Iraq. That is mostly because I don't have all my ducks in a row on the issue. Much of what I have heard is disturbing. I'm still reading up on the matter, and hope to have a more comprehensive opinion written soon.

One thing I wonder about is, how many Americans know that there are more American contractors and mercenaries in Iraq than there are military personnel? Before this evening I didn't. I also wasn't aware that they are lobbying in this country to be outside the military code of justice and outside the reach of American courts. This would make them above the law, unless I'm missing something.

Here is a video of White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, attempting to address questions about Blackwater from the press. . .and not doing a particularly good job of it, either.



More about Blackwater is available at this link, which is also where I found the video: TPMMuckraker.com.