"I Think It's Important To Look Back At What President Bush Has Said From The Beginning:" Take Dana Perino's Whitehouse Challenge Today

There was a really fun exchange at Wednesday's Whitehouse press briefing. It furthers the argument that the W, Rove and Co is very selective in "hearing what they want to hear, and disregard the rest" (points to the blogger who can name the tune and artist I stole that lyric from). There are three purposes for this post:

1. There is one line I would like to highlight that Dana Perino (pinch hitting for Tony the Snow job) stipulates.


2. Then I'm issueing an all hands blogger challenge.


3. Then I'll give you the remainder of the exchange.

First, well...it's not a mystery as it's the title for this post:

I think it's important to look back at what President Bush has said from the beginning.

Yes, indeed! I fully agree Ms. Perino, but you should be careful what you wish for. There are whole web locations dedicated to pointing out some of the astonishing things W has said.

But, I think we can expose the WWW to some of the more troubling things things W has said that are just plane wrong. Care to take the challenge? I dare you. I double dare you. Come on; you know you want to take what I will call...drum roll please....

Windspike's Dana Perino Whitehouse Challenge?

• What are some of W's words you that you can quote that you find most troubling or disturbing.
  


• Explain.

Here's the whole of the exchange. Enjoy:

Q Senator McCain, in his comments yesterday, said that the American people had been led to believe by the administration that the Iraq war would be a "day at the beach." Does that concern the White House? Do you feel that you're losing support among Republicans?

MS. PERINO: I think it's important to look back at what President Bush has said from the beginning. If you look at what he has said, starting even in March of 2003, that, "Helping Iraqis achieve a united, stable, and free country will require our sustained commitment." Throughout the year, since we've been in Iraq, he has called it -- he has said that it is difficult work to do, going to require sacrifice and patience, prevailing in Iraq is going to require much more tough fighting, it's going to require more sacrifice, and he's thankful for the sacrifices that the military and military families are making.

It's puzzling to me that McCain's comments yesterday are getting so much attention today when if you look over the past couple of months, Senator McCain has made similar comments. He is a Senator who is not shy about sharing his views. That's one of the reasons he is such a unique figure in American politics, and also one of the most popular. And he shares, however, a commitment with the President that we win Iraq, and he understands the struggle that we're in. The President appreciates his support.

The President has never made the comments that you referred to. Any time that the President has felt a need to acknowledge mistakes in the war on Iraq, he has done so. And other members of his administration, they can speak for themselves. And I know that the Vice President has repeatedly been asked about comments that he's made in the past, and he's answered them. So I don't understand why we're going back over all this ground now.

Q Well, perhaps because support for the war seems to be slipping, it's down at a new low point in the latest polling, and may reflect concern for the political year that we're in.

MS. PERINO: I think if you look at what the President said on Monday, this is tough work that we're doing in Iraq, and criticism is part of our system of government and certainly a part of when you take tough action and when you are stalwart in your action. We're aware of the polls, and the President said on Monday, of course, you want people in America to support your positions. You've seen him out talking about it. His administration is going to continue to explain to the American people the situation that we're in, the struggle that we face and how important it is that we win.