Sometimes I feel bad for Dana Perino and the job she has...but then again, she decided to be George Bush's official spokes-liar. Day in and day out, there is always a new whopper she tries to press on the media and the American people. Yesterday's exchange was a beauty, as she attempted to make George Bush-confidant Stephen Payne into a passing acquaintance....too bad they've been friends for over twenty years.
From ThinkProgress:
In yesterday’s press conference, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino continued to downplay the long relationship between President Bush and his longtime fundraiser Stephen Payne, who was recently revealed to be selling access to Bush administration officials:
QUESTION: Does the President know Steve Payne?
PERINO: I think — yes, he believes that he would have met him before. I don’t think that he knows him all that well, but he has met him before. Certainly he’s been — Steve Payne has been somebody who’s been involved in Texas politics for a long time and been a supporter of the Republican Party. So he knows who he is.[…]
QUESTION: You don’t know if he could carry through on promises to help people get in touch with people at the White House?
PERINO: In terms of — look, I’m sure that he probably knows a lot of people throughout the administration, given his history. But it would be inappropriate to say that he could — for anybody to say that they could get anything done or any meeting done in exchange for a contribution to the library, or to the party, or anything else.
Bush’s “belief” that he’s met Payne before is well founded, as he and Payne have known each other for at least 20 years. A photo montage of the Payne’s long relationship with Bush and the White House can be seen here.
Perino can lie her ass off all day, but as a picture tells a thousand words, a montage like that above tells the truth.
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