1 Boring Old Man

QUESTION: Was the President disappointed in the testimony?
MS. PERINO: Is the President? No.
QUESTION: But what about the fact that even Republicans now are coming out and calling for the Attorney General to resign?

MS. PERINO: There is no doubt that there were many members from both sides of the aisle who had expressed frustration over the confusing remarks from the initial responses on this matter. And that frustration had built up over many weeks. The President believes that the Attorney General answered all of their questions honestly and forthrightly. I can understand there are some people who still don’t want to support the Attorney General; that is their right. But he has done a fantastic job at the Department of Justice. He is our number one crime fighter. He has done so much to help keep this country safe from terrorists. He has worked determinately to prevent predators from attacking our children. He has worked — they have a fantastic record of fighting corruption in government and in keeping gang violence off our streets. And I could go on and on, but I think that following the hearing and following the tension that was in the room, I think on this new day I think — hopefully people will be able to take a step back, realize that there was no credible evidence of wrongdoing, that the Attorney General has apologized for how it was handled, and that he has a job to do, and he’s been doing it very well. And the President has full confidence in him.

Ari Fleischer, Matt McClellan, Tony Snow, and now Dana Perino. They come out day after day and present a view of what goes on in George Bush’s mind that is surely distant from what he thinks. They present how he’d like to be seen [by third graders]. In their shared dramatization, he’s "full of sugar and spice and everything nice." He has fullest confidence in everyone in government. No one ever has personal or evil motives. It reminds me of Pleasantville [the movie]. And our War on Iraq, it just gets better and better by the year. Mistakes are openly admitted, but never named. And no Administration Official ever has a memory of anything that’s happened that might be bad. Days and days go by and events and emails and meetings float from his mind with great regularity – the famous Very Important Person Defense.

I’ve kind of liked all four of them. They seem to get into role easily and do their little Disneyland dance day after day. Sometimes they have to lie through their teeth. Other times they just have to play the little Ozzie and Harriet roles. It doesn’t seem like much of a job for grown-up people to be doing, but then again, I wonder why the Press people keep going to the silly productions. They’re not very grown-up either. They ask their questions, and pretty Dana, or suave Tony, or Rolley Polley Matt, or Professor Ari talk about the made-up sweetness and light in Boy George – day after day.

I guess it’s like a morality play, and my mind plays the Greek Chorus on the side refuting the daily bah blah. It’s an exercise in what not to think. I will admit to being a bit disappointed in Dana. When she first came on the scene, she had a cute little smile that conveyed that she knew that this whole show was abject horse-manure. But lately, she’s seemed to be taking herself a bit too seriously. That’s what happened to Matt. He just got too involved in the fact that he was having to lie, day after day, about the Plame thing, so he bailed out. Maybe Tony will come back and save Dana from disillusionment or worse. I hope so. He too seems like a decent enough fellow. I hope he has a good surgical result.

The sad thing is that they are all four participating in the greatest lie ever perpetrated on the American scene, and actively covering up for a Fascist takeover of America. That’s not going to be a very strong resume builder…