"You had your say now SIT DOWN and SHUT UP!"

[Orwellian_Ghost]

White House Press Secretary Perino: Americans' say in Iraq war ended in 2004
Published: Thursday March 20, 2008



At a White House press briefing today, Press Secretary Dana Perino effectively tells veteran correspondent Helen Thomas that the American people's say in the Iraq occupation ended after the 2004 election.

"The American people are being asked to die and pay for this," probes Thomas. "And you're saying they have no say in this war?"

"No," Perino responds, "I didn't say that, Helen. But, Helen, this president was elected--"

Thomas interrupts: "But it amounts to it. You're saying we have no input at all."

"You had input," Perino says. "The American people have input every four years and that's the way our system is set up."

...

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/White_House_Press_Secretary_Perino_Americans_0320.html

[splat]

1. Imperial presidency, no check and balances

[Sal Minella]

10. Wouldn't want the Precedency "blown off-course." Wouldn't be prudent.

[gateley]

2. Which is why the

European systems that have the option of votes of no confidence need to be implemented here.

[Indenturedebtor]

12. Well I dunno

I'm both for and against such a system. I hate to say it and yes I do know what I'm saying here... but if we don't fix the media first that could get ugly.

[gateley]

14. Yeah,

every system has its pros and cons. I just think that in THIS instance, with Bush's scraping-the-bottom approval ratings, we could have ousted the administration.

Since it's always about the money, I feel the best way to fix the media is for We The People to demand actual news reporting, and speak with our dollars to let the advertisers know. The problem, especially now, is that we have fewer and fewer dollars with which to speak, and understandably, our focus is turning to just being able to survive.

[TahitiNut]

13. That wouldn't be desired IF impeachment were used far more often.

The notion that impeachment is some "death penalty" or worse is a fraud on the People ... an elevation of career politicians to undeserved degrees of importance. There must be no politician whose 'importance' is so exaggerated that their instantaneous remove from office is more than a mere pebble on the roadway. It's even a rule of thumb in a well-managed business: anyone deemed to be "inexpendible" should be fired immediately.

[Amonester]

3. big-corp communi$m for 3 years and 364 days, and 1 day of...

paperless electronic vote-ism "de-mock-R-ass-see"

now, sit down and shut up - damn-a peRino

[Ordr]

4. Well, she's right.

All people seem to do is complain about it. The Republicans worked together to get Clinton impeached and did it quickly. We're too concerned about our own selfish infighting and fringe issue mongering and never accomplish anything substantial. God forbid Democrats band together.

[sharesunited]

5. Have to side with Perino on this one.

You need to win the WH by a big enough margin so it can't be stolen by "theft at the margins."

You need to win Congress by a big enough majority to counter mischief by the other two branches.

Vote accordingly, and bring others along.

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. Many goofs voted for bush the second time with the belief that he was

going to "finish the job". They weren't going to "let him off the hook".
So to say that that vote was a mandate for an endless war is probably inaccurate.

Good examples of this can be seen on the Truthout "Red State Road Trip" series.

[northzax]

7. of course she is right

rare to be that bold about it (and I would say 2006 as well as 2004, had we elected people with the guts to vote to defund the war instead of just make speeches about it) we live in a representative republic, we can't influence policy directly, only our representatives can.

[undeterred]

8. I want to break her finger right off.

[bluestateguy]

9. That's quite interesting logic

I guess by that logic the Clinton Health Care plan should have been passed because the people had their say in 1992.

[dkofos]

11. He didn't win in 2000 and he sure as hell didn't win in 2004.

[lonestarnot]

15. Fuck you Perino! YEAH HELEN! Keep pointing out what they are!

:applause:

[Alter Ego]

16. No, Dana, honey, that's not how it works.

The President serves US, not the other way around.

Now go play in the corner--I even set up some Legos you can play with!

[Orsino]

17. Money HATES listening to us.

The notion that Money only has to listen to us once every four years is Money's framing.

The rest of the time, of course, we are supposed to sit quietly and listen to Money. That's the way Money set up the system, all right.

[justgamma]

18. Oh, Dana

That's why the pukes lost the House and the Senate. The people did speak.