Lessons In Conservative History

Considering the abject failure that Newt's "shutdown" was during Clinton's first term, why would they even be considering it as a possible "positive" for conservative gains in terms of the legislative process they claim to be championing?



You'll notice that Perino is still in her "press secretary" mode for the conservative movement, as she punctuated her statements by saying any form of shut-down would have to be addressed from a "communications" standpoint.

There wasn't a Fox"News" during the bulk of the Clinton administration, and Bill would likely have had a more difficult time seeking a second term had the conservative noise machine had the platform it does now. In that respect, Perino is likely speaking from a more accurate perspective, as the modern conservative movement is going to see a potential governmental shutdown quite differently than they did 15 years ago.

But what liberals/progressives know is that even though the conservative message is louder and will be heard by more this time around, the realities and consequences behind any shutdown will largely remain the same as they were back then.

Origins Of Speciousness

Fox"News" has been all about trying to show that the Bush Era Tax Cuts not only didn't add to the deficit, but the economy they were designed to save in the first place - which they didn't - is going to be thrown into further turmoil if they aren't extended.

Here's Dana Perino still thinking she's Bush's Press Secretary putting forth the clearly false narrative that it's the Democrats fault that the Bush Tax Cuts had an expiration date.



Considering that Republicans held majorities - albeit slim ones - in both Houses of Congress at the time this legislation was put forth, Perino's assertion essentially falls flat. And even though there would be required a certain amount of Democratic votes, the timeline of the cuts was already in the initial legislation.

The reason for this was twofold:

First, their needed to be a sunset provision in order to prevent the deficit from exploding to such an extent that the Republican could clearly be blamed for it. Not that that would matter, seeing as how upward of 86% of our debt was created by Republicans anyway.

Secondly, it was to create the alleged "trap", as Republicans are at least smart enough to know that they and their policies can't stay in power and intact forever. It was a near perfect tool to use during a Democratically controlled Washington - be it the White House or one or both Houses of Congress. Ultimately, the blame cannot and shall not fall at the feet of those that created the issue to begin with.

Spilling Over With Conspiracy

It's not just Rush that's in on this ridiculous idea.



Yeah, Dana. You're not trying to introduce anything, just push a conservative meme that isn't very thought out.

And take a look at how quickly Kilmeade leaps to BP's defense by stating that "they just lease the rig". Considering that BP likely has profits in mind over worker/environmental safety, one would think that they would be pushing this theory more. The opposite is true, as BP execs are taking full responsibility for this.

But back to this notion that some environmental group sabotaged the rig. Not only would that be extremely difficult to do, but the very notion that a group who's sole purpose is to protect the environment would cause one of the worst ecological disasters in recent history really points out that conservatives have a serious cognitive dissonance problem they need to deal with.

You Can Count On It

One of the more bizarre, and ultimately pointless, arguements the fringe-conservatives and Fox"News" has against Obama is that he uses certain words at a higher frequency than others. And these aren't words that seem odd, out of place, or have no bearing on the subject at hand. I'm talking about pronouns like "I" and their new word that they were talking about this morning - "unprecedented".



Talk about a waste of airtime. They might as well have been talking about the frequency of times that everyone on Fox"News" uses the word "interesting". Sure, they use it an "unprecedented" amounts of times during every 24-hour news cycle, but what does that prove? Nothing, that's what.

Revisionist Attacks

Here's a brief bit of silliness to jump-start your brain this morning



I'll pass on Hannity's and Perino's assertion that the Obama administration simply doesn't think that terrorism doesn't exist anymore, but will address it shortly. What is puzzling about this clip is what Perino says about her former employer, George W. Bush.

In point of fact, there were three terrorist attacks during the Bush administration. We all readily recognize Sept. 11th as a terrorist attack, but what conservative Republicans are conveniently forgetting are the Anthrax attack and the DC Sniper. But their own definition of what terrorism is requires that they describe the Anthrax attacks and the DC Sniper incidents as acts of terrorism.

But this doesn't fit the new reality that people like Perino and Dick Morris are fashioning. The conventional wisdom within the fringe conservative movement is that nothing bad happened to America during Bush's term. To them, Bush didn't start governing until Sept. 12th, and it was readily apparent that Bush stopped governing the day after Obama was elected.

Dana, Your Slip Is Showing

......well, her mental slip anyway.

Dana Perino went on Fox & Friends to show her and her former employers' "moral superiority" in relation to the Obama administration calling out Fox"News" for precisely what they are.



To hear Perino, or anyone who was once in the employ of the Bush administration, talk about how it is completely out of bounds - even dangerous to America - that people within the Obama White House to challenge Fox"News" continual and breathless assertion that they are somehow both "fair" AND "balanced" at the same time does tend to cause more than a few spit-takes.

Think Progress digs a little further on this one as well.

Perino said that it would have been “a bridge too far” for her to “go after MSNBC” from the White House Briefing Room. But she seems to be forgetting the public letter that her White House colleague Ed Gillespie sent to NBC News President Steve Capus, in which Gillespie accused NBC and MSNBC of blurring the line between “news” and “opinion.” As ThinkProgress noted last week, Fox News cheered on Gillespie’s shot at NBC.

But wait, Dana, do you not remember this:



It seems to Perino can't remember ever crossing that bridge before her reactionary stance told her that it was time to burn it.

Fox"News", though likely not in direct response to those in the Obama White House being critical, even has a new promo out defending their legitimacy. But the timing is rather coincidental, isn't it.



The reason that I think that this is direct push-back at what the Obama administration is insisting, and an even more direct response to Axelrod and Rahm in specific, is that a generous ( dare I say liberal ) portion of the dialogue in the promo is talking about how Fox"News" has no bias, no agenda.

Oh, Dear Sweet 8lb. Baby Jeebus.

I'm all for a good laugh, but something tells me that Playboy writer Guy Cimbalo is doing this in that classic "tongue-in-cheek" fashion. The topic is the ever creepy "hate-fucking" - you know, not really liking a woman ( that is nominally attractive in a sort of fetishistic way ) to the extent that you would shag them rotten.

Granted, it takes a particular kind of sick humor to understand the "hate-fuck". And no, it's not a rape joke. Needless to say, the Hot Air crew is PISSED.

Here's the list:

Michelle Malkin

Megyn Kelly

Mary Katherine ( mouth the size of a canned )Ham

Amanda Carpenter

Elisabeth ( don't make me cry Whoopie )Hasselbeck

Dana Perino

Laura Ingraham

Pamela Geller ( who? )

Michelle Bachman

.............ok, I think I just threw-up a little.

and.......

Peggy Noonan?

The last four would practially require a double dose of viagra and some whiskey in order to even tolerate an evening of neo-conservative coitus.

All this silliness aside, I have seen some comments on HotAir by guys that had to be cranking-one-out while complimenting the woman they refer to as "The Boss".

If These People Are "Middle Class"....

....then what does that make me?

And the people who are working there that are middle-class people, are expecting to get this bonus. If they do not get it, maybe they won’t be motivated enough to try to help the company turn around and getting the company to turn around and be more profitable is important for all of us.

Seems that Dana still thinks that she has to spin for her hold bosses.

More here.

And what exactly is her qualification for speaking about this issue?

Apparently, Bush Is Responsible For This

Who knew that a man that hasn't been President since January 20th would be responsible for a market rally in March?

Dana Perino seems to think he is:



More from Think Progress.

Look for this to be the start of the GOP strategy of "when things so right it must be because of what we did". Given their blatant obstructionist tendancies since the Obama administration took office - coupled with a complete lack of their own plans - it will be hard for them to convince the American public that they have done anything beneficial.

The Spinstress And Stewart

Honestly, I don't remember a single White House press breifing when Clinton was in office.

Perhaps that was my lack of interest in politics at the time. Perhaps it was that I was drinking too much. Maybe it was that ther wasn't anything spectacuar to remember. Well, aside from questions surrounding Monica Lewinski, that is.

And now, we are faced with the exit of the pretty face that brings us the "spin" each day from the White House - Dana Perino.

Much in the way that Fox"News" uses the vacant, blonde smile and glitter to present "news", the Bush White House has given us Dana.

On a recent Daily Show, John Stewart and her talk about leaving the White House, which Perino says is "like graduating high school".

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Dana Perino

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Be on the look-out for Perino's "tell-all" book to come out within the next few months. Of course, it won't be much different than what she's doing now.