Tales from the Trail

White House’s Perino gets last laugh

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WASHINGTON – She got ‘em.

White House press secretaries probably dream of turning the tables on reporters and having a public laugh at their expense. Well Dana Perino got that wish.

The briefing room was packed to overflowing on Friday for Perino’s final say as spokeswoman for President George W. Bush, who leaves office next week.

“So much history has happened at the White House, and much of it occurred right here in this room,” she began.

Then followed a slide show of journalists in action over the years – working on a crossword puzzle during a briefing, apparently trying to grow a mustache, snoozing in chairs outside.

It was all good-natured humor and Perino probably got more laughs at her 145th and final briefing than any previous ones.

“I wish my successor, Robert Gibbs, all the very best. Please go easy on him — for a week,” Perino said.

COMMENT

The American people can’t handle the truth and they certainly won’t get it from Obama and his band of Clintonites. I hope Drudge and the “whistle – blowers” and Rush keep them honest. I pray all the lefty news organizations fail as it seems they are and that Obama screws thing up as he will !!!!

Posted by hal smith | Report as abusive

Ex-Bush spokesman hints at possible Obama vote

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WASHINGTON – Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan, whose explosive new book brimming with withering criticism of his former bosses in Bush administration, said he is thinking about voting for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

In an interview Thursday night with MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” the former spokesman for President George W. Bush said he was “intrigued by what Sen. Obama has been running on about changing the way Washington works.” 

In his tell-all book, “What Happened — Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” presents himself as a one-time true Bush believer who mistakenly fell in line behind a propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraq.

McClellan said he also has respect for Republican candidate John McCain “for the way he has worked across the aisle with Democrats.” He says he is still considering who to support.

“I’m going to take my time and think it through,” McClellan told Olbermann, a harsh critic of Bush and his conservative allies.

McClellan began a publicity tour for his book on Thursday and gave his first television interviews to NBC, which has come under fire from the White House for its handling of a recent interview with Bush and comments he made about Iran.

COMMENT

Zafar is relatively spot on, in retrospect: we all know what a pile of junk the Bush administration turned out to be.

The trouble is, it has done enormous damage to the US and I think whoever takes over will have one hell of a job on their hands.

I do not envy them: they may find it impossible to succeed.

Posted by The Truth Is... | Report as abusive