And Now, The Gaggle In Which Dana Peroxide Made Glenn Reynolds Cry

Q What does the President think of the gun control rule which prohibited guns on the campus of Virginia Tech?

MS. PERINO: I haven’t spoken to him about that specifically. I do know as governor he supported weapons-free school zones.

Q He supported?

MS. PERINO: When he was governor of Texas, yes.

Unka Karl Told Dana To Hammer His Idea That The Democrats Are Divided

Q What’s the President’s strategy for his meeting with congressional leaders today? Is he open to any talk of compromise, or is he just going to hear what they say and insist on a clean bill?

MS. PERINO: The President looks forward to having the members come down — that’s why he invited them. I think one of the things that he is looking forward to hearing is how the Democrats have decided to compromise amongst themselves first so that he knows what their position is.

[snip]

Q I mean, there are differences. Both the Senate and the House have passed bills, though, and both of them have some form of a withdrawal deadline, timetable. And that’s unacceptable —

MS. PERINO: And here’s the point on that, which is that the President has said he will not accept a bill that has an artificial timetable — time line, deadline for withdrawal, a forced retreat, a legislative failure for our troops.

[snip]

The Democrats have said that they will not vote to cut off funding for the troops. And yet, they can’t come to an agreement amongst themselves as to how to get a clean bill to the President.

[snip]

Q But to pick up on that, once they have negotiated among themselves and have a unified position —

MS. PERINO: Well, let’s see what that is.

Q — then they can negotiate with the President?

MS. PERINO: You’re asking me a hypothetical situation.

Q No, no, no, they will — let’s say that they have a coherent —

MS. PERINO: Well, that’s hypothetical. It’s speculative. I don’t — I would like to see if they would come forward and have a position before we talk about anything that would tie the generals’ hands or have a deadline for withdrawal.

Q But the way you’re stating this leads to —

MS. PERINO: Well, what I’ve said for many days is that I’m not going to negotiate anything from this podium. I’m going to let them have a meeting.

Q I’m just asking you to finish your thought.

MS. PERINO: I finished my thought.

Q With an incomplete thought, an incomplete sentence?

MS. PERINO: No, I thought it was complete.

Continue reading “Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle”

I’m back, and Dana Peroxide is as well

She’s the Queen of Non-Denial Denials!

Q Does the President not remember having a phone conversation with Senator Domenici about U.S. attorney Iglesias? Or is he clear that one did not take place?

MS. PERINO: I’ve never asked him that question. I do know that his vague recollection was that he had heard complaints. And then I’ll refer you to his statement — or his answer to a question that he got in Mexico, in which he was asked that question, and he said that he recalls being at a meeting on the Hill in which this issue was brought up — a meeting of senators on the Hill in which it was brought up. But I’ve never heard anything about a phone call.

Q So he’s never actually answered the question.

MS. PERINO: He answered the question. And I don’t know anything about a phone call; I’ve never heard that — except for questions from you all.

Q You mean the phone call —

MS. PERINO: I don’t know that the President ever received a phone call. I don’t have any record of that, or any recollection of it, and I’ve been dealing with this issue for many weeks.

Q When he was at the meeting on the Hill where it was brought up, it was Senator Domenici —

MS. PERINO: I don’t think people remember, necessarily, who it was. And, remember, complaints about voter fraud cases were coming in from various different places.

Q Right. Just to be clear about this, then, Senator Domenici and the President, has there ever been a direct conversation between the two?

MS. PERINO: I don’t know. I don’t believe so, necessarily, about this particular issue, but remember, when — the President sees members of Congress all of the time, and as I think I said last week, whenever a senator has the President’s ear, whether the issue — whether the topic of the meeting is the Iraq war supplemental, if they have a chance to talk about other issues, they will. And so I’m not going to rule it out, but I just can’t say that Senator Domenici and the President ever had a one-on-one conversation about it.

Chimpy Is Getting Tough on Putin

MS. PERINO: In Russia, we are deeply disturbed by the heavy-handed manner in which this weekend’s demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg were broken up by the authorities, and by an emerging pattern of use of excessive force by the authorities in reaction to similar events. We also find it intolerable that journalists were detained — an unacceptable practice that hinders freedom of the press. We underscore that allowing peaceful expressions of protest is an essential element of democracy and a universally recognized human right.

Without Actually, You Know, Doing Anything About It

Q Has he communicated these concerns to President Putin, about the demonstrations?

MS. PERINO: I don’t believe that they’ve spoken, no.

Q Will he do so, or might he do that?

MS. PERINO: Well, I know that the —

Q Or bring in the Russian Ambassador to talk about it, or anything like that?

MS. PERINO: I haven’t heard of any such plans.

Continue reading “Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle”