Dana Peroxide Chokes On The “I-Word”

Q Did the President read McGovern Sunday, calling for his impeachment?

MS. PERINO: No. I haven’t — well, I don’t know if he read it or not. I haven’t talked to him about it.

Q You haven’t. You don’t know if he has any reaction to that?

MS. PERINO: I think that we’ll just decline to comment on McGovern’s comments.

Where’s Osama?

Q Do we think that bin Laden is alive or dead?

MS. PERINO: I don’t think we have a reason to believe that he’s dead.

Q Pardon?

MS. PERINO: I don’t believe we have a reason to think that he’s dead.

He’s The Steely-Eyed-Clear-Eyed Preznit

Q The President’s comments on the economy yesterday were perceived to have shown a change in tone, maybe a more, I guess, mixed view, as he described it, on the economy. Is he growing increasingly worried about the economy, in light of the jobs report, the oil prices, and some of these other figures?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think I would ask you, Caren, and others in the room who cover the President every day, and I cover — I follow closely what the President says as well, and I didn’t notice a shift in the President’s comments. We’ve been saying for a long time, many months — you can go back, especially to August when the President said that the housing market is causing headwinds in the economy and we need to do something about it, and he proposed actions in order to do that. You had Secretary Paulson, at the direction of the President, working with the credit — on the credit market issue.

So the President has been very realistic and clear-eyed about the state of the economy, that while the fundamentals of the economy are sound, there are mixed reports coming in about these different sectors of the economy.

[snip]

Q Do you think that the press misinterpreted the President’s remarks yesterday?

MS. PERINO: I saw one article that made me think that, yes — just in terms of suggesting that there had been all of a sudden a realization that there were mixed indicators in the economy, when if anyone looking at the President’s words over the past six months or so could only come to the conclusion that he’s been well aware of that situation for a while.

[snip]

Q Well, the President, as you said, has been saying that there’s mixed signals on the economy, but isn’t the administration also sending mixed signals when it says on the one hand, the economy is fundamentally sound, but then is also either posing options or considering options? Does that indicate maybe, you know, you’re doing things to prop it up?

MS. PERINO: I think that that’s the very definition of “mixed” — there are some good numbers and some numbers that are troubling. And that’s what the President is analyzing, and his economic commanders on the ground are advising him, as to what they think may or may not need to be done. And we’ll just have to wait and see what he decides.