Readers of National Review's group blog, The Corner, are always thankful for the contributions of former White House press secretary Dana Perino. Perino, if you remember, was the woman who frequntly got confused when asked about things like the Cuban Missile Crisis ("It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I'm pretty sure"). Anyway, yesterday she responded to the GQ piece written by former Bush speechwriter Matt Latimer, which I blogged about earlier. Latimer wrote about Bush's reaction to the Palin VP selection as follows:
“I’m trying to remember if I’ve met her before. I’m sure I must have.” His eyes twinkled, then he asked, “What is she, the governor of Guam?”
Perino comments:
Seems that every administration goes through this — yes, even the Obamas will have someone take advantage of the career opportunity of a lifetime to try to feather their own nest at someone else's expense — no matter how far-fetched their story may be." For example, he writes that President Bush didn't know who Sarah Palin was. That's rubbish — Bush had just met Palin the previous month in Alaska, and he mentioned that to me literally two seconds after McCain made his announcement.
Er, Ms. Perino, I think Bush--you know, the guy whose eyes "twinkled"--was joking.