In Today’sGaggle Dana Blames The Katrina Victims — Because They Were Warned

Q Dana, the fact that the President will be on the ground tomorrow in southern California, how much is that a reflection of lessons learned by the White House that — from Katrina that even though the President may be engaged behind the scenes, there’s a need — the public wants to see him more involved?

MS. PERINO: Remember — we’ve gone — these fires are not the same disaster that we had in Katrina. There’s so many differences. Katrina wiped out 90,000 square miles of the United States, and there was no electricity, there was no sewer system. And they knew for days that the storm was coming. This is just a very different situation.

Dana Says It’s Irresponsible To Make Any Predictions About The Cost Of Chimpy’s Vanity War

Q Dana, I wanted to ask you about the CBO estimate for the cost of Iraq and Afghanistan. Why is that $2.4 trillion figure wrong?

MS. PERINO: Well, part of it is that when you start having all — just a ton of speculation. It’s a hypothetical that was created based on questions that Democrats in Congress who don’t want us to be in the war asked the Congressional Budget Office to provide. Our force structure in Iraq and Afghanistan has fluctuated. Already this year, the President said that 5,700 troops would come home by December. We don’t know what the costs are going to be over the years, and so because that fluctuates, it’s just wildly premature to put out a number like that.

Q Okay, so what might be a more reasonable estimate? I’m sure folks at OMB have their own counter.

MS. PERINO: Look, spending to fight the global war on terror is an investment in our security and it is something that the President is committed to prioritizing in the budget. We hope that Congress would agree. We don’t know how much the war is going to cost in the future.

[snip]

Q If you can say it’s inaccurate and others can say it’s wildly inaccurate, surely there must be some kind of quantifiable sense as to what this —

MS. PERINO: I think what they looked at 10 years ago — the answer is we just don’t operate that way in terms of providing a federal budget.

“We Just Don’t Operate That Way In Terms Of Providing A Federal Budget”? Oh Yes You Do!

Q Can you just explain why the administration takes issue with the CBO’s projections of the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it’s perfectly reasonable to put out — OMB puts out a five-, 10-year budget deficit projections?

MS. PERINO: Well, remember the budget deficit projections include our war costs, and so we look at those, that’s a — we do projections for the budget and the deficit every year. That’s a pretty good economic — they have it down to a science over at OMB. We’re not always a nation at war and that is different and there are changing circumstances on the ground, and when you don’t know what the generals are going to need, then you have to wait and see. That’s why we think it’s too speculative to put out a number like CBO did.

Q So how can OMB then put out that five-, 10-year budget projection if they don’t know, for instance, how long the war will go five or 10 years out?

MS. PERINO: As I said, we try to take as many — we take into account the projections that we can. In the budget deficit projections that we have we have included those war costs in the past — I can’t remember — the past, I think five years — I’m sorry, four years, but Sean Kavelighan at OMB can give you more information about it. He was here talking to me about it earlier. We just don’t think that it’s appropriate to wildly speculate and throw out a number like $2.4 trillion that is based on just hypotheticals. It’s just — it’s not a smart way to run a railroad.

Continue reading “Today On Holden’s Obsession With [Yesterday’s] Gaggle”

I’m SurprisedDana Didn’t Claim She Knows Nothing About Katrina

Q Dana, the aggressive response to the fires, how much of that is done sort of with lessons learned from Katrina?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think that there were lessons learned from Katrina, especially in regards to early communication and coordination between the federal, state, and local governments. Obviously, the situation is different. When you have a hurricane, there are days when you can prepare and prepare for evacuation. These fires can spark up overnight and literally your house is going up in smoke. And so that’s why the President declared the emergency so that we can help people get to a place where they can be safe.

[snip]

Q Well, when you send Secretary Chertoff out or Director Paulison or you take a minute to show us 280,000 bottles of water, is that designed to make sure folks know that the administration won’t repeat its own mistakes?

MS. PERINO: I would say that it’s not designed to do anything for me to show you that; it’s to alert people to what the federal government is doing in order to help the people of southern California. The whole world is watching how much of the state — the southern part of the state is on fire.

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

Sorry I’m late. I fucked up one of my eyes and couldn’t use th ecomputer for a few days.

Anyway, Can Someone Please Tell Me HowDana Peroxide Is Qualified To Be Press Secretary? She Can’t Spin For Shit

Q Secretary Rice didn’t seem to come back with much progress from her trip. Does this set back the idea of a peace conference in November, move it to December?

MS. PERINO: Well, I took her — I’ve been reading the reports of her trip. She did have a — they were going to have breakfast with the President this morning, she and Secretary Gates, to talk about the trip. Steve Hadley is going to go to the Middle East region next week as well. We believe the time is right for there to a substantive and serious discussion about getting to a Palestinian state. I have not heard anything to suggest that we would not be holding a meeting. They’re all working towards it. We don’t have a date yet.

Dana Just Can’t Bring Herself To Say “Pervez”

Q Are you learning anything more about the explosions in Pakistan, and any concerns that the President has about what impact that might have with Benazir Bhutto being back —

MS. PERINO: Well, we continue to get the reports back. Obviously, it was a horrible tragedy, with over, I think, 136 people being murdered, innocent people that were there just to rally around someone that they support. We, obviously, will offer our support through the embassy. The President is concerned that overall — when you look at a moderate Islamic state like Pakistan, that any time they try to make moves towards stabilizing their democracy, that radical Islamic extremists do something in order to try to stop that progress, and that is a concern to the President not only in Pakistan, but in the entire region.

[snip]

Q Dana, has the — have U.S. officials gotten any fix on what organization might have been behind this attack? And is there any suspicion that al Qaeda was the author?

MS. PERINO: I’m going to just decline to comment; there’s conflicting information coming in. Until there’s something concrete, I’ll decline.

Q Judging by the kind of attack it was, and the target, the location, I mean, is there any sense of —

MS. PERINO: I’m going to decline to comment as to who it was.

Continue reading “Today On Holden’s Obsession With [Friday’s] Gaggle”

Tony Farto Thinks World War III Is Nothing To Worry About Q On Iran, why should the American public trust that the administration isn’t making a case laying the groundwork for military action, when you have the President and the Vice President talking about World War III and the possibility of the country facing serious consequences if they don’t stop their nuclear pursuit? MR. FRATTO: Look, the President and the Vice President, Secretary Rice, Secretary Gates, have all been incredibly clear and consistent in our message on Iran, and that is that we first seek a diplomatic solution and we … Continue reading Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle