Dana Perino, unhinged....... Pt. VI

[marmar]

from ThinkProgress:



Defending Cheney, Perino Says Americans ‘Had Input’ On Iraq War In 2004»

In an interview with Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday, ABC News’ Martha Raddatz noted that “two-thirds of Americans say” the Iraq war “is not worth fighting.” “So?” Cheney caustically replied. Referring to Cheney’s comment during today’s White House press briefing, a reporter asked Press Secretary Dana Perino: “So is the vice president saying it really doesn’t matter what the American public thinks about the war?”

“No, I don’t think that’s what he’s saying,” Perino responded. But later, she echoed Cheney, saying that the 2004 presidential election was the last time American public opinion on the war really mattered:

HELEN THOMAS: The American people are being asked to die and pay for this. And you’re saying they have no say in this war?

PERINO: No, I didn’t say that Helen. But Helen, this president was elected…

THOMAS: But it amounts to it. You’re saying we have no input at all.

PERINO: You had input. The American people have input every four years, and that’s the way our system is set up.

Watch it: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/20/perino-four-years/


Like Cheney, Perino is clearly suggesting that current opposition to the Iraq war is inconsequential. But in claiming that American attitudes only matter every four years, Perino leaves out one inconvenient fact: the 2006 mid-term elections.

The 2006 elections — which the Democrats won control of both the House and Senate — were largely a referendum on the Iraq war with most Americans wanting a change in Bush’s Iraq policy. Indeed, exit polling in national House races and Senate contests in which a Democrat defeated an incumbent Republican shows that a large majority of voters cited the Iraq war as “extremely” or “very important” in their decision.


http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/20/perino-four-years/

[LSparkle]

1. Too-Much-Cappuccino-Perino forgets we elect REPS too ...

Yes, every 4 years we elect a president. However, we ALSO ELECT Congressional
representatives -- Senators and Congressmen/women -- to be OUR VOICES during those
4-year terms. And we EXPECT the president to listen to THEM on our behalf.

This POS WH squatter -- with the aid, I will admit, of Speaker Pelosi who TOOK
IMPEACHMENT OFF THE TABLE before even taking her oath -- has treated our elected
representatives LIKE DIRT, as if their voices were unimportant. He had his
"accountability moment" and felt we should all just shut up for the next 4 years.

Somebody throw a high school history/civics text at that bastard (and his percolated
spokesperson as well). She won't even know what hit her ...

[JDPriestly]

6. Democrats in Congress should withdraw or clarify the war authorization

that has allowed Bush to do what he did. After all, it appears now that the evidence he provided to Congress to support starting the war was totally false. Perino's admission today puts the whole thing in perspective.

I would like to share my story about the point at which I realized that the grounds for going to war were fraudulent.

Before it began, I supported the war in spite of the fact that members of my family opposed it. I only supported it because of Colin Powell's speech to the U.N. On the day he gave that speech, I heard portions of it on the radio while driving to work. And, naive and stupid me, I reasoned that no American president would start a war that would inevitably result in many, many deaths unless it was really necessary. I think a lot of Americans supported the war for these same reasons.

I knew that there probably was no significant link between Al Qaeda and Iraq, at least nothing that would justify war with Iraq. But I also knew that Hussein had used chemical or biological weapons against the Iranians. I had heard and believed the rumor that the U.S. or U.S. companies had sold some of the components or actual chemical/biological weaponry to Iraq, so I assumed that when Bush stated that Hussein had WMDs, he knew what he was talking about. At the time, I was working very long hours and had no time to research or even read about evidence that would have shown that Bush was lying.

After the invasion, I watched the videos and reports of the troops moving toward Baghdad. I began to sense something as soon as I watched the rapid movement of our forces. Why? Because I have read a lot of French literature about the use of gas in WWI. I also recalled what had happened to the Iranians when facing the chemical weapons used by the Iraqis in the 1980s. Folks, history shows that, if you think you are facing weapons of that sort, you have to send in many, many troops. In WWI and in the Iraq/Iran War, it took waves and waves of soldiers to go in. The casualties in the face of gas/chemical/biological warfare are just enormous. You do not send in just a few troops if you seriously think you are facing those kinds of weapons. That is why I believe that the Bush administration lied about the WMDs.

And by the way, if Bush had seriously thought that Hussein had the capacity to deliver nuclear weapons, he would have conducted the war in ways that were even more different from the way he did. So, that is why I am convinced that Bush lied. He knew full well there were no WMDs. He knew there was no serious nuclear capacity. He lied. And most Americans are too ignorant about history to be able to recognize his lies.

[LSparkle]

7. You're right -- Bush had NO FEAR of a Dem Congress

and his spokesperson now obviously doesn't even TRY to disguise the true motive for
this war, knowing that NOTHING will come of admitting even war crimes.

Take this together with Cheney's "SO?" comment and it shows just how foolish it was
for Pelosi (and others) to take impeachment off the table. It ENABLED the Bush
Gang to rampage on unchecked and certainly unbalanced.

[JDPriestly]

2. Did Dana Perino admit that the invasion was a war crime?

She stated that Bush started the war to get rid of Hussein. I do not believe that getting rid of another country's leader, even if he is a cruel tyrant, even if he is an annoyance internationally, is a legally cognizable ground for starting a war by bombing and then invading that country. I would argue that Perino admitted that Bush committed a war crime.

[aquart]

3. Well, love her then.

Hope they all step forward and testify.

[MrCoffee]

4. Hey, don't tell the Congressional majority leadership that!

[madame defarge]

5. Look at it this way...

It speaks volumes about this administration that the *best* they can come up with for press secretary is Dana Perino.