Dana Perino may not have always offered the most coherent defenses of President Bush's policies, but she sure knows how to make an exit.
Today, in her final briefing as White House Press Secretary, Perino had this to say about the purported liberal bias of the media:
"Here’s the thing. I don't think I would always be asked about my feelings about liberal bias in the media if there wasn’t any liberal bias in the media... If it was a moot question, then we wouldn’t always have the discussion.”
As Steve Benen writes, by that logic, "I don't think Perino would always be asked about Dick Cheney's breathtaking dishonesty, if there wasn't any breathtaking dishonesty. I don't think Perino would always be asked about Bush's failures on Iraq, the economy, and the response to Hurricane Katrina, if there weren't any Bush failures on Iraq, the economy, and the response to Hurricane Katrina."
Some of Perino's most memorable responses to questions posed by the liberal media follow.
On the "Mission Accomplished" banner:
"President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific, and said, Mission Accomplished For These Sailors Who Are On This Ship On Their Mission. And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner. And I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year."
On being asked a question about the Cuban missile crisis:
Perino said she "panicked" when she got the Cuban missile crisis question because she wasn't exactly sure what the Cuban missile crisis was. "I really know nothing about the Cuban missile crisis," Perino said. "It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I'm pretty sure."
Perino said she went home that night and asked her husband, "'Wasn't that, like, the Bay of Pigs thing?' And he said, 'Oh, Dana.'"
On the health benefits of global warming:
"In some cases, there are -- look, this is an issue where I'm sure lots of people would love to ridicule me when I say this, but it is true that many people die from cold-related deaths every winter. And there are studies that say that climate change in certain areas of the world would help those individuals."
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