White House spokeswoman Dana Perino for months has declined to answer any of the questions posed by WND White House Correspondent Les Kinsolving that are in any way connected to the 2008 presidential election or its candidates.
But yesterday, she responded to such questions from other reporters, according to a transcript of her briefing with members of the press.
“Dana, has the president reached out to any of the candidates for the presidency to ask them to withhold their view – recently in the past few months – on pulling troops out?” one reporter asked early in the briefing.
“No, not that I’m aware of. I think that the president has made public statements about his feelings, and we live in America, so they can do the same,” she responded.
Later in the briefing, another reporter asked: “You call it the return on success, the ability to bring troops home. On the campaign, for example, Barack Obama points out that the president didn’t want to bring troops home when things were going south in Iraq. Now things are going well, according to the administration, and the president doesn’t want to bring troops home yet. How do you respond to that rhetoric on the campaign trail?”
“The president ultimately – of course, the president of the United States wants all of the troops to come home, but he’s going to do that when conditions are right. Right now we’ve had these security gains. That’s plain for everyone to see. There are starting to be some more political progress with the Iraqis having passed three major laws – and on the verge of a fourth – and they’re about to hold more elections. And so they’re starting to move and cement their democracy,” Perino said.
 Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama |
She even answered a followup to the issue raised by the comments from Obama, a contender for the Democratic nomination for president this year.
“Right, I guess the question is if without firm benchmarks like, you meet this, then we go, there are people who question when are you able to then pull troops out, return on success,” the reporter questioned.
“Well, that’s what I think Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker – the things that they talked to the president about today, and what they will talk to Congress about in just – in less than two weeks, is what is that point, and when are they going to feel comfortable. And I’ll let them make public when they’re going to feel comfortable with that, and then the president will make his recommendation based on not only that information, but that from the Joint Chiefs, from Secretary Gates, and also from the State Department,” Perino expounded.
When it was Kinsolving’s turn, he asked: “This question concerns three people who are not running for election. … In the president’s dedication to elevating the level of public discourse, he agrees with the Gov. of New Mexico’s statement that it was gutter politics for James Carville to compare Richardson to Judas Iscariot, doesn’t he?”
“Not commenting on the ’08 election. I’m not…,” said Perino.
“None of these are running for election, Dana. None of these are running for election,” Kinsolving protested.
“Try your next question – next and final,” Perino said.
Kinsolving then asked, “Does the Bush White House have any explanation of why we continue to diplomatically recognize Red China when they brutally treat Tibet, while we refuse to diplomatically recognize Red Cuba?”
“Let me just say that Secretary Rice spoke to her counterpart in China and expressed the president’s feelings. I would also let you know that Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, who is the President’s Deputy National Security Advisor, had a meeting this weekend, over the weekend, with Ambassador Zhou, who is the Chinese Ambassador to America. He expressed our deep concerns over the widespread security crackdown in Tibet. He urged them to be more peaceful, to open a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, which is something we have stressed before. So we continue to have conversations with them. And then, of course, the president is getting an update right now from Secretary Rice – or soon, as soon as he gets to the State Department, about the situation in Tibet,” Perino responded.
Her response, however, did not address the issue of Cuba.
Just last week Kinsolving raised the issue of members of the Congressional Black Caucus rejecting a new member because of his race and participation by Obama in that group.
“California’s Democrat Congressman Fortney Stark, who you may remember risked his life in civil rights advocacy in the 1960s, was refused admittance into the Congressional Black Caucus because of his white race. And my question: Does the White House know if Sen. Obama refused to join this racially segregated caucus, as did Oklahoma’s former Republican Congressman J.C. Watts?”
“You know I’m not going to talk about ’08 politics. I told you that before,” Perino said.
Only a few weeks earlier, Perino had declined to respond to the “election-related” issue of Obama’s use of the Bible’s Sermon on the Mount to justify same-sex unions.
Kinsolving had asked, “There has been extensive media coverage of Sen. Obama’s statement in Nelsonville, Ohio, on Sunday: ‘I don’t think same-sex unions should be called marriage, but I think it is a legal right that they should have. If people find that controversial, then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans,'” Kinsolving said.
Then he went on to his question. “Has the president, as an active Christian, been able to find where in the Sermon on the Mount there is any justification for same-sex unions? And does he consider…,” Kinsolving was asking.
“I am not going to comment on ’08 politics. I welcome your questions in the briefing room, but I’m not going to comment on ’08 politics, and I’m not going to comment on that,” Perino.
Perino earlier told WND questions about links between Obama and the militant anti-Semitism of Louis Farrakhan also are off-limits.
“I’m just not going to comment on 2008 politics,” she said at the January briefing.
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