The Commander Guy
by dave1042
Fri May 04, 2007 at 04:48:41 PM PDT
At today's White House Press Briefing, Dana Perino had this to say about the president claiming to be "the commander guy":
- dave1042's diary :: ::
MS. PERINO: ... And I just have one more thing I'd like to mention. I'd like to just clear up something. And you might find it a little strange, but I feel compelled to do it because I attended the speech on Wednesday, when the President addressed the American General Contractors Association. And in the Q&A the President was asked a question in which he talked about how some people choose to listen to politicians in Washington, and others choose to listen to commanders on the ground.
It's been reported that the President said, "I'm 'the' commander guy." He did not. What I recalled was that he said "I'm 'a' commander guy," meaning that he's one of the people that listens to the commanders on the groung. But I saw in our transcript that our stenographers put out that we wrote 'the' commander guy, and then it's been reported that way in many places. So I asked the stenographers to take another listen last night; they did and they said that I was right -- which I love to hear. (Laughter.) He did say 'a' commander guy.
Q Does he consider himself over the other commanders?
MS. PERINO: He is the Commander-in-Chief, but the context of what the President was saying is that when it comes to making decisions about Iraq or war policy, that the President listens to commanders on the ground, not politicians in Washington. And we will send out a correction of that transcript so that the record is clear. And I'm sure none of you will be tempted to misuse it in the future.
So he's "a commander guy". Why that's much better...
While she was at it, Dana was asked about the president's threatened veto of the hate crimes legislation:
Q Why does the President oppose broadening the hate crimes law to cover gays and lesbians?
MS. PERINO: I think the President -- the statement of administration policy that we put out was very clear, in that the opposition goes more to a federalism issue. The President believes that every single person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, that violence against anyone is unacceptable and abhorrent. So I think I would encourage you to look at the statement of administration policy that says that we would oppose it solely on the grounds that it would federalize law enforcement of crimes already being addressed in the states.
Q But he found it necessary, if you will, to take specific action when people are attacked because of race, and this is another attack on a person because of a characteristic, and not something the person is doing. You have a segment of the population that you decided needed protecting, and not this one, at least not federally?
MS. PERINO: As I understand it, the state laws address these issues in terms of all acts of violence covered all people. And so I think that the President is going to leave it in the states' hands. And that's what he said.
Q So why should there be a special case for black people then?
MS. PERINO: I'm not a lawyer. All I know is what we said in our statement of administration policy. I take your point. I'll see if I can get you some more on it.
This is why I really dislike Dana Perino, Tony Snow, Scott McClellan. They lie w/o any regret. If Dana were being honest she would have responded this way:
Q Why does the President oppose broadening the hate crimes law to cover gays and lesbians?
MS. PERINO: Because the president believes gays and lesbians are evil and also he wants to continue to pander to the only group moronic enough to still support him -- right-wing, religious whack jobs.
At least I'd have more respect for her.
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