You probably heard about this (via Steve Benen for example):
But Perino’s appearance last night with Sean Hannity was more noteworthy than most. The topic was the shootings at Fort Hood, and Perino, playing her usual role, criticized the White House for not having labeled the massacre as “terrorism.” She emphasized that the rhetorical description of the violence “matters,” though she didn’t say why.
More important, though, is what Perino went on to argue: “We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term. I hope they’re not looking at this politically. I do think that we owe it to the American people to call it what it is.”
You may not have heard this (via NoMoreMisterNiceGuy):
Former press secretary to President George W. Bush Dana Perino was appointed as a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Wednesday evening (November 19).
The board governs all government sponsored, non-military international broadcasting outlets, such as Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and Alhurra. The BBG is a nine member, bipartisan panel.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged the Obama administration to appoint Perino.
Why the fuck would the Obama administration appoint this hack?
donovong
I can only speculate that it is intended to appease David Broder. Bi-partisanship!!
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
To get her off the television.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Because it’s a bipartisan panel. I’m sure he needed a Repup in the slot.
Yes, the former Mouth of Sauron is a hack but her training has been in this exact kinda stuff so at least at one level, she *is* qualified unlike most Dubya-era appointees who were not simply hacks but hacks with no background in what they were running into the ground.
The fact she’s an uber partisan schill (and believe me, she really is a koolaid drinking wingnut, I have that straight from one of the WH reporters) simply means the President can point to her as an example of how bipartisan he is.
Zifnab
Keep your friends close… ?
I don’t know how much power or prestige the BBG actually has. Maybe she had the creds for the job and it seemed like a nice busy-work place to slot her.
Certainly, ex-Governor Huntsman has been a prime choice for ambassador to China. Maybe Perino isn’t completely useless. Or maybe she had strong institutional backing for the job and no one else was putting up any names.
lou
So, in Perino’s mind, the first 9 months of Bush’s first term does not count in the terrorism logs. Perino surely was not looking at this politically. The surly little bitch.
Bruuuuce
Why would anyone do ANYTHING McConnell recommends?
I begin to suspect someone is running an IQ lower than his or her shoe size, somewhere in the White House.
JenJen
Apparently the Secretary of State is automatically a member of the Board, so maybe the President just wanted to throw Perino to the Clintonian wolves. For kicks.
I can’t think of any other reason.
inkadu
The planes from 9/11 had actually been circling New York City since the Clinton administration. Just FYI.
Bruuuuce
Also:
“Look at those GORGEOUS clothes the Emperor is wearing in the parade!” — Dana Perino
comrade scott's agenda of rage
One thing that just occurred to me: is she getting paid for this? By my tax dollars? It bugs me to know end that partisan assholes like her might end up collecting a federal retirement not to mention federal retirement benefits, mainly health care.
I knew plenty of staffers on the Hill (in both parties I might add) who really needed to be taken out back and shot in the back of the head and yet, I’ll be paying their retirement bennies.
The Grand Panjandrum
She didn’t know anything about the Cuban Missile Crisis either. Hard to believe someone who is so gungho and patriotic wasn’t at least familiar with it.
Ajay
She is what she is: a complete hack(minimum requirement to appear on Fox). Obama on the other hand had no reason to even consider someone like her.
And why would you trust Mitch McConnell’s judgement?
In lot of ways, Obama is significantly worse than Bush.
John PM
@lou: #5
Exactly, and neither do the anthrax attacks. You will notice that Perino said during Bush’s term. Bush had two terms. Perino did not become press secretary until Bush’s second term. Anything that happened before then was irrelevant. Therefore, there were no terrorist attacks during Bush’s term. The logic is perfectly clear. /snark off
Emma Anne
But it isn’t just 9-11. If she is arguing that the Fort Hood shootings are a terrorist attack, then the DC snipers certainly were. Not to mention the always-ignored anthrax attacks.
cmorenc
@Ajay
NO! In no even remote way is Obama even slightly worse than Bush, let alone “significantly”
THE PROBLEM WITH OBAMA is, much more accurately, that in so many ways, he is proving to be disappointingly little improvement over Bush, to the vanishing point in many cases. “CHANGE” is proving to be too empty too often.
Comrade Dread
I will say it again, you cannot say that a:
Lone antisocial Caucasian or Asian man who makes creepy videos and posts creepier racist, crazy, or misogynistic messages online, then goes on to shoot up a mall, college, or school full of civilians is not a terrorist, if…
You insist that a lone antisocial Arab or Black guy who makes creepy posts online and then goes on to shoot up a military base full of armed soldiers is a terrorist.
So, yes, Ms. Perino, if you’re going to insist that this disgusting crime is terrorism, then every single mass shooting or murder that occurred from Jan. 20, 2001 through Jan 19th, 2009 is a terrorist act and you are full of shit.
Cris
I’m sure we’ve been over this already, but exactly how does the Fort Hood incident resemble terrorism? In what way is it different from the Virginia Tech shootings? To sane people, I mean.
Zifnab
@cmorenc: This.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@The Grand Panjandrum:
More like scary. But not surprising. Her background is mass communications. To her, it’s all about propaganda and nothing about history, or facts.
In that respect, she’s like most journalists. They typically know shit about history since journalism schools don’t apparently don’t think being trained in such things amounts to much. Of course being trained in journalism these days doesn’t amount to much either.
cmorenc
If Obama was obligated to appoint a GOP to the board to keep its aliquot of “bipartisan” nature, FAR FAR better that he chose an ignorant twit like Perino than a malevolent prick like Ari Fleisher.
Not that Obama couldn’t have done much better, but (I’m being generous here) perhaps there were some implicit constraints that to be bona fide “bipartisan”, input for nominations for a “GOP slot” had to come from authorized GOP sources. Not that the Bush administration seemed very interested in good faith consideration of nominees for a “DEM” slot on purportedly bipartisan entities.
Rekster
@inkadu:
This may be the best explanation of any!
Zifnab
@Cris:
Well, for starters, it didn’t instigate another wave of NRA rallies in defense of firearms. Also, it caused a bit of an… accident… for a number of major Republicans that required immediate attention in the lavatory.
Mike in NC
Bush’s bimbette should be forced to grovel for wingut welfare someplace else. Just another parasite living off the taxpayers.
Hunter Gathers
Obama appoints GOP hack to do-nothing position on a board I’ve never heard of, and I should care why? Because it’s dumber-than-a-sack-of-hair Dana Perino? As someone who spent 10 years in broadcasting, believe me, you could get a LOT dumber than Dana Perino. Most broadcasting types would have trouble finding their way out of a wet paper sack.
neff
In another community I read, someone fretted that a couple of decades from now 2001-2009 might be remembered as a time of peace and prosperity while the Second Great Depression and the terrible Iraq and Afghanistan wars will be hazily recalled as dumb things that “that black president” did.
General Winfield Stuck
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
Yes. and
It’s how Obama operates three steps ahead of the wingnuts in the eternal political joust. Nobody believes our propaganda in the ME anyways. They would do better to just plug in XM golden age of radio channel and loosen the Mullahs with chuckles.
She could tell the world where McConnell’s lips went.
Punchy
Her and Palin in a threeway with Glenn Beck? Throw in Bachmann as a fluffer and we have ourselves a movie.
Max
@Hunter Gathers: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Face
I too noticed the singular version of “term” and thought WTF is her problem with math and/or grammar?
Jim
Yes. Because of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is so awesomely powerful and important in all our lives.
Jesus Fucking Christ. Is this blog gonna go full time Concern Troll, too?
Sputnik_Sweetheart
Because the only people allowed to look at anything politically are Bush and his cronies, huh? This is satirical performance art, right? I just can’t believe that anyone is that self-unaware.
GregB
The only reason most Republicans and the political rightists spent all of that energy to instantly classify the Ft. Hood shootings as a terrorist attack was so that they could use that rhetorical victory to attack President Obama.
They of course need to apply the Bush Mulligan to 9/11 and then shove the anthrax attacks and the Beltway Sniper attacks down the memory hole.
Viola! America was kept safe the entire Bush Presidency and President Obama left us open to attack.
One of the reasons why President Obama has begun to get rolled is that he’s getting beaten up and continues to seek the approval of the Republicans and the rightists.
Stockholm Syndrome baby.
-G
JenJen
Can anyone more fluent in Wingnut than I explain this Perino comment to me? Are there actually fellow wingnuts out there who would nod their head in agreement, as the panel did?
Really? I mean, if you just uttered, almost under your breath, “9/11” to them, wouldn’t they have to backtrack? Aren’t these the people who like to say “liberals have forgotten the lessons of 9/11”, after all?
I’m sorry, but this kind of revisionism just really pisses me off. Am I all worked up for nothing? Doesn’t this kind of matter?
Dork
If Fort Hood was a terrorist attack, why was the massacre on the Virginia Tech campus not likewise labeled as such? Ooooooooh. That’s right. The shooter had slanty eyes, not dark skin with a funny name.
How often I forget the Rules For Ultimately Deciding What The Fuck Is What Vis-a-Vis Terrorism.
Dork
Dammit, I see others beat me to it.
gizmo
In the beginning, I thought that maybe Obama had a good idea– neutralize your enemies by bringing them inside your own tent. But there is no evidence that it’s paying off. Making nice with Republicans is a losing proposition, and I wonder how long it’s going to take before this President wakes up and smells the coffee?
Face
I think you put the wrong vowel in “twit”.
Sentient Puddle
@JenJen:
9/11 was excellent news for George W. Bush.
General Winfield Stuck
@gizmo:
It’s not for the wingers in congress, tea baggers, or any of the other variety of full on wingnuts. It is for independent voters mostly, who place value in attempts at bi partisanship. As well as unenthused moderate wingers who aren’t all that comfy voting for dems, but are impressed somewhat with O’s glad handing a few repubs. But there is a limit to it imo, and when he nominated Judd Gregg for Sec of Commerce, O stepped way over the line, and he has come up close to it other times.
Llelldorin
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
I suspect this is actually it. You apparently can’t have more than 4 board members from any one political party (if Wikipedia is to be believed). Honestly, do there exist 4 non-wingnut Republicans with anything like the right qualifications?
For that matter, do there exist more than 4 non-wingnut Republicans, anymore? At all?
Llelldorin
And yes, if it were me, I’d just appoint 4 Greens or P&F types to the board, or claim that the Minnesota DFL isn’t actually the Democratic Party and appoint four MPB wonks to the board. But then, if I were running the country, it wouldn’t last long, so I don’t know how much I trust my judgement on this.
bayville
Maybe because Judd Gregg already turned it down, Geithner/Summers are busy preparing for the jobs summit (sometime next year) and David Broder is off in the corner reminiscing about the glory days of Mike Mansfield?
Danton
On somebody’s blog yesterday (yeah, I know, that’s really helpful) I first read “WTF, why did Perino get the BBG appointment?” and a couple hours later, on the same blog, I read, “OK, I just discovered the BBG by-laws require an equal number of Dems and Repubs, so the choice had to fall to a Repub.”
Still, Dana Perino????
Blue Raven
@Face:
Why, thank you for the misogyny with my morning tea. EVER so kind of you.
Has been never was
In my eyes Dana Perino was, is, and forever will remain a Rethuglican twat-waffle sock puppet. She reminds me of an extra from a remake of “The Stepford Wives”
Morbo
@The Grand Panjandrum:
1) JFK was a Democrat, so the Cuban Missile Crisis was a failure for the US.
2) You know we should have nuked them commies.
kos
Like the FTC, FEC, etc, that board requires bipartisanship composition. When a vacancy occurs from the opposition party occurs, the president usually defers to the opposition in appointing the replacement. It’s always happened that way.
The BBG is an eight-member panel, and by law cannot have more than four members from any one party. The secretary of state is the 9th (and tie-breaking) vote, though I doubt Hillary will waste her time.
inkadu
@Cris: Re: Fort Hood as terrorism.
Certainly there is a racist element to the definition of “terrorism.” But I’m more lenient with the phrase. Why isn’t it terrorism? You had a muslim concerned about US military intervention in Islamic countries politics/religion who shot at American soldiers. To me, it seems like politically motivated violence, with a dash of craziness thrown in.
So I’m not sure whether or not we should call it terrorism; but the only reason to be really hepped up whether it is or isn’t is politics. And it’s kinda stupid that one asshole with a rifle and a cause can derail American politics. Shouldn’t we by asking why we’re giving terrorists the power to cripple the presidency?
eemom
@Jim:
yeah, Obama is “worse than Bush” because he’s a slightly more challenging target for folks who purport to advance the “progressive” agenda by co-opting the time honored wingnut strategems of ignorance and mindless groupthink.
General Winfield Stuck
@kos:
Thanks Kos. Then it seems even a better Idea getting her off the teevee wanking about Ft. Hood and Bush years historical revisionism. Of course, there is no shortage of wingnuts to take her place, but she had some stature working in the WH.
Will
@Ajay:
Nice try.
Will
@Sentient Puddle:
It sure was.
Peter J
The obvious one here is 9/11. But there were also the Beltway sniper attacks in 2002.
But for some reason people don’t seem to remember these things. Considering the stupidity shit storm about Obama bowing, if the US spy plane incident had happened under Obama he would have been impeached.
Brachiator
@cmorenc:
Fleischer has been hired by the college football people to sell the BCS and to spruce up its image. I don’t know if this is a step up or a step down when compared to the irrelevancy of something like Radio Free Europe.
I mean, in the age of teh InterTubes, does an entity like Radio Free Europe really do anything useful? It seems a bit like Perino is being put into a quiet little corner where she can do little damage.
licensed to kill time
__
Dana the Disingenuous strikes again.
donovong
@Ajay: Bullfuckingshit. That is all.
Shalimar
Even more important: If the Obama administration is really as evil and socialisty as Perino and all of her friends keep saying it is, then why the fuck would she accept?
Mnemosyne
It’s funny. I remember how the wingnuts all lost their shit when some idiot here in Los Angeles decided to commit suicide by cop at the El Al counter at LAX in 2002, and yet now somehow that never even happened.
(I judge it to have been suicide by cop and not an “official” terrorist attack since the guy went on his rampage on his birthday about a month after his wife took the kids home to Egypt and refused to come back.)
PanAmerican
She was the capitol beat reporter for one of the downstate TV stations when she was at UIS. I’d guess they went with the devil someone in the admin knew back in the day.
maus
Because all of Washington, Rs and Ds alike believe in welfare. Only for liars and incompetents, of course.
These people will NEVER want for work, even if the government doesn’t keep hiring them back, news outlets will continue to hire disproven (dem/rep) conservative sources as their empires and our empire crumble. The more these assholes get disproven, the more the media makes them speak to “balance” things out, as if reality could be balanced.
flukebucket
Question asked:
Question answered:
John Cole
LBJ- Inside the tent pissing out…
Midnight Marauder
@Hunter Gathers:
You know, after her performance last night, I don’t know if you could. How do you forget about the event whose rallying cry is “NEVER FORGET”?
pablo
I Wikied Perino, and she has a Masters from Josef Goebels
University.
That McConnell thing? Barack is just trying to insure his vote on….SQUAT!
Paul in KY
Can’t Ms. Perino still appear to bloviate all her wisdom on the various shows & still be in the BBG?
If for whatever reason she can’t do that, then I guess it is a good play by the WH.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@Face:
You owe me a new keyboard. I just spittaked my lunch not just out my mouth but thru my nose. The mess is incredible…and similar to the mess that must be the ex Mouth of Sauron’s brain.
General Winfield Stuck
@John Cole:
Zen mode. Gives me something to ruminate on whilst Ignoring the latest fortune cookie from Sarah Serendipity.
Bill H
Well, anything that makes you afraid is terrorism,
therefor the 805 Freeway is terrorism.
Shawn in ShowMe
How many people had actually heard of the BBG before Obama made this appointment? Where are all those prominent BBG alumni? Sounds to me like the political equivalent of being named hall monitor.
gwangung
I’m sorry, but this is penny ante stuff to be concerned about. There are worse things that could have been done than to give a wingnut a place on a board where she might actually have some relevance, but can’t screw up very much.
Face
@Blue Raven: Not going to apologize for not being kind to former Bushies that made a damn good attempt to completely destroy this country. Fuck her and her Republican talking points.
licensed to kill time
@General Winfield Stuck:
But you prolly knew that ;-)
JasonF
@inkadu:
Traditionally, an attack on a military target — even a guerilla attack by a lone gunmen ideologically aligned with people who are willing to perpetrate terrorism — is not considered an act of terrorism.
Speaking of the putative complete and utter lack of terorism during George W. Bush’s tenure as president, let’s not forget the Los Angeles Airport El Al attack.
tofubo
Why the fuck would the Obama administration appoint this hack?
bought. and. sold.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@Face:
You forgot the horse she rode in on.
She really is a poster child for what’s wrong with the modern Republican Party.
Jen R
@JenJen:
9/11 was Clinton’s fault. Also.
Ajay
@donovong:
> Bullfuckingshit. That is all.
Compare him to how Bush successfully managed both houses with significant less majority. He sold a war, a tax cut and much more to people and congress with ease. Obama on the other hand cant seem to close a deal which people want(HCR).
In addition, Obama has this nice side which somehow wants to be inclusive of people like Periono/conservatives no matter how unreasonable they are. Judd Greg is another example of how he wanted to play good. To me its just lack of seeing straight.
I thought Bush was a complete jerk but the strength (not necessarily good for the country) he had was to rally his party to whatever the fuck he wanted. Obama just doesnt seem to have it.
Sentient Puddle
@Ajay:
On the other hand, there are some of us who want to run way the fuck away from the unitary executive theory.
Just saying.
Brachiator
@JasonF:
Terrorist Bombing of the Marine Barracks, Beirut, Lebanon
Suicide bomber killed 241 American troops … in barracks October 23, 2008
Terrorism classification
Will
@Ajay:
Oh, well it’s good to hear you don’t think Bush was necessarily good for the country!
Like Tommy from Goodfellas: “You don’t mean to be out of order? Oh, it’s a good thing you don’t mean to be out of order!”
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Um, that wasn’t a strength. He was leading *Republicans*, it’s what they do, who they are, namely follow the Dear Leader Uber Alles! Ask John, he can give us an insider’s perspective on that mind side.
We’re Democrats, it’s different. Think “cat herding”.
Comparing the two men and how they “rally the party” is comparing apples to oranges.
liberal
@The Grand Panjandrum:
That was also my reaction.
cgp
2001: The anthrax letters
2002: An Egyptian gunman opens fire at an El Al ticket counter in Los Angeles International Airport, killing two Israelis before being killed himself.
2002: The beltway sniper
2005: Attack on the British consulate
2006: Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, an Iranian-born graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, drives an SUV onto a crowded part of campus, injuring nine.
2006: A woman was dead and five others were hospitalized this afternoon after a shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building in downtown Seattle by a man who declared he was “angry with Israel.”
2006: An Afghani Muslim hit 19 pedestrians, killing one, with his SUV in the San Francisco Bay area.
2008: Knoxville Unitarian Universalist church shooting, Jim David Adkisson kills 2 people and injures 7 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
I’m sure I missed some, this is just trolling wikipedia for attacks which seem religiously motivated. I’m sure we couldn’t possibly consider the Unitarian guy a terrorist because he’s Christian.
Look, crazy is as crazy does. The only consistent thread I see in all this is that crazy people attack whenever the mood strikes.
catclub
62 and 72
But she will be INSIDE and still pissing in.
Does anyone think she will no longer be appearing on FOX,
and making the same anti-Obama statements, just because she also has this appointment to the BBG?
I know it worked so well with Lieberman, but he’s the honorable exception – America’s LAST HONEST MAN.
Northern Observer
Bush’s success had more to do with the republican house majority and the DLC Democratic Senators than any rhetorical or strategic “strength”. The DLC Senators are the open sore that keeps destroying the USA, as we are now whitnessing with the HCR debate. The centrist hacks are the worst faction in the political spectrum, because they are elected under the false premises og honoring their party’s label. The Democratic Party needs to do a better job of policing who it lets into top positions but there is a powerful faction that wants to make sure these malleable spinless wankers continue to hold high office. That is the issue facing America, not the nuttyness of the GOP or the “extremists on both sides of the spectrum”. It is the spinelessness of the center that is killing America. Dean was on his way to creating an independent Democratic Party apparatus that would have had the strenght to do this kind of policing of leadership talent from the state level up; which is why he has been so utterly sidelined by the Presidents DLC advisers. It is to weep tears of anger to look upon it now. So close, yet so far. One day the Democratic wing of the Democratic party will take control of the Democratic Party, but I can not tell you when.
catclub
83
You missed the Virginia Tech shootings.
I think there were 32 killed.
excite trike
@JenJen:
She must have been referring to the first President Bush.
NobodySpecial
The NIU shootings, as well.
Andy K
@Llelldorin:
Try pushing that through the Senate confirmation hearings without getting a Republican hold on the the nominee.
Andy K
@Zifnab:
Correct, no rallies, but I do recall hearing statements coming from the direction of the NRA that if the VaTech students had been carrying, they would have nipped the berserker in the bud.
David Hunt
@cgp:
I think there was a double attack in New York and Washington, somewhere around mid-September, 2001…
Actually I’m sure that you remembered the 9/11 attacks. It’s shameful that Perino appears to have “forgotten” them.
ruemara
@neff:
considering how often it’s the supposed “supporters” of the dumb black president whining about him, I wouldn’t be surprised. Dana Perino is qualified and the admin threw a bone to bi-partisanship here. Not a huge bone, not a major, juicy bone, just a bit of wing. I love how it makes “Obama worse than Bush” and “Not much change”. Do you guys even know what this board does?
General Winfield Stuck
@licensed to kill time:
No I didn’t/ But do now. Thanks
cgp
Honestly, all in all, there isn’t much to discuss. 9/11 was the last serious coordinated attack, and that stands true. Can we really say that some particular president can have so much influence as to be able to prevent the “lone gunmen” that inevitably crop up? Maybe over many years he can implement some strategies, but no, Obama has not had the time – I think he’s been busy with something — what is it — oh yeah, the complete trainwreck of an economy and trying to get healthcare through the minefield that is congress.
cgp
(and no, I didn’t forget 9/11 — NEVER FORGET!!1!1!!) I thought her quote was, no attacks since 9/11. Odd benchmark.
kuvasz
Going all STAR TREK-like when Spock quotes the fictional character Sherlock Holmes in saying that
What remains is that Obama doesn’t give a shit, and he ought to stop acting like some kind of scared sad sack.
What the hell is he going to do next appoint Sean Hannity to head PBS?
Obama has it all wrong. Folks did not vote for him to “get along” with the members of a political party that has nearly destroyed the economic basis of this country. He was supported so those people could be driven into the sea.
The man has been little but a disappointment.
bob h
If this was a terrorist attack, why did the perpetrator openly communicate with that militant mullah in Yemen knowing the NSA would be monitoring him?