Spinning Iraq

When the President of the United States uses the term, "Catapult the Propaganda," you have to understand that one of the primary jobs of the Presidential Spokesmodel is to spin the news to gain favor of the American People.

Q Just a general question, then, Dana. I mean, one of the things he talks about is spinning, exaggeration, I mean, what goes on at the podium -- which is an indictment of you, as well. Do you think there's no spinning?

MS. PERINO: You know, it's a term that I don't necessarily use. I come out here, I answer your questions, I answer them to the best of my ability based on the information and the facts that I have.

Of course not, because the term spinning is something the communists did and we are not supposed to do. Inevitably, Scotty McMessage McClellan is just calling a spade a spade and the W, Rove and Co. is in a snit about it, because, as one person said in a letter to the editor, it's what happens when the "needle of truth approaches the power bubble."

None of the current batch of spinning changes Iraq. In the lead up to the Iraq mess, we were sold a bill of goods that were not true, and the President has firmly blamed faulty intelligence, effectively deflecting any responsibility for the fact that we are in an intractable situation that is costing American lives - almost daily. Dana Perino continues to launch the propaganda for the President:

Q Can we just talk about what isn't true in the book? I mean, you go to the part about weapons of mass destruction and the big threat wasn't great and gathering as the White House said. And you said that's not true? Was there no exaggeration? Was there no hiding? Was there no spinning about the war?

MS. PERINO: Not that I'm aware of. But did we communicate about the war? Yes. And I would point you to the President's speeches -- all the speeches that the President made leading up to it; he made several comprehensive speeches making the case for why Saddam Hussein was a threat, which was, based on the intelligence that we had -- and not only the United States had, but that's what the world had. And in addition to that he talks about -- in his speech especially on February 26, 2003, when he spoke to AEI; it was before I was a part of the press office, so I would encourage you to go back and look at it, as I've had to do myself -- where he talks about that the benefit to a free Iraq would be to the Iraqi people and also to the region, and establishing a change in the Middle East when it comes to freedom and justice and democracy.

Q But the order of what was talked about at the time in the buildup to the war was largely about weapons of mass destruction.

MS. PERINO: I think that that was -- well, I think you could go back, you could weigh it -- you know, I'm looking at it, what I have seen is a comprehensive case for confronting Saddam Hussein, and that's what the United Nations of course was talking about, specifically weapons of mass destruction. But there was also a gathering threat in terms of the nexus of working -- for example, paying suicide bombers, paying families of suicide bombers.

And you know better than anyone, Martha, about the buildup to this, the reaction to this. The problem that we have is this --

Q There were no suicide bombers in Iraq.

"But we did communicate about the war?" We know. We were there, holding their feet to the fire, but no one with authority to stop it did so. Alas, we remain married to one giant welfare state called Iraq, and there is no divorce in sight.