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From Fox News Watch the panel has a nice 'fair and balanced' discussion on media bias, using of course Brent Bozell's winger site the Media Research Center as their guide for what to point to as their proof that the media has a liberal bias. I'm quite sure Bozell doesn't consider all the garbage Fox pumps out day after day as any sign that there might be just a slight conservative bias out there to counter whatever they manage to find from the other media outlets.

They show a clip of Katie Couric sucking up to President Obama which won Bozell's 'Let us Fluff Your Pillow Award' and cite an article by JokeLine in Time Magazine on Obama's first 100 days in office as two examples of bias towards Obama. When Dana Perino is asked to compare those stories to the kind of coverage Bush received here's how she responds:

Perino: Well there is no comparison and I gave up a long time ago as a Republican thinking that we were going to get comparable type of coverage. There are though--a lot of Democrats will tell you that President Bush got a lot of fawning coverage after 9-11 and obviously that swung back the other way. But I always say if you are, if you're looking for communications advice, ask a Republican because they've had to try so much harder.

Scott: To be fair Ellis, you think there's a quote from a conservative member of the media that deserves to be (crosstalk)

Henican: Those are two icky examples. I mean I wouldn't want to be caught on tape saying either of those things.

Scott: Icky.

Henican: But yeah, come on. Let's be honest though. There is some pretty awful stuff on the other side and I did a little poking around and how's this one from Limbaugh, right? You know he said a few things. He said we've been told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles because his father was black. And that's pretty awful.

Perino: Okay, that isn't... I would never say something like that, but Limbaugh doesn't pretend to be a... objective journalist. Okay? And Katie Couric does.

Henican: And there's a variety of quotes we can pull from any of those venues. But listen, people have asked stupid stuff in both directions. Let's admit that.

Lowry: What's different Ellis is one he's not supposed to be an objective reporter. Two if you go to the Media Research web site and look at...

Henican: An objective organization right?

Lowry: and look at every single video clip from the inauguration and in your words, icky, every single one of them is icky from every single major media outlet. They were in love with this guy. And they still are most of them.

So Perino thinks as long as you're not pretending to be objective, it’s alright to say the most foul, racist crap imaginable with sexual references to boot about the President, and Rich Lowry thinks that The Media Research Center’s video collection is a fair and balanced look at the media coverage of President Obama, and obviously doesn’t consider Fox News or right wing talk radio a 'major media outlet'.

I’m so glad sweet little Dana Perino at least qualified her defense of Limbaugh with saying that she wouldn’t have said it herself. Well, that makes your defense of his statement much better Dana. I'm sure Perino also doesn't think any of the negative coverage Bush got in the press was deserved but we'll never get any honest discussion on that on Fox News either. I assume playing apologist for him is at least paying well for her along with the rest of the Bush lackey's that keep showing up on my television screen on all of the networks.

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From Countdown Dec. 16, 2009, Keith's Worst Persons segment.

OLBERMANN: First time for Countdown‘s number two story, tonight‘s worst persons in the world.

The bronze to Jay Walder, this month‘s chairman of New York City‘s MTA, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the city‘s managers of subways and buses and stuff. The authority today approved budget cuts, closing two subway lines, reducing trains, charging school kids more to take public transportation to school. This is a result of the shocking, total surprise budget shortfall that the MTA has had every 18 months or so for the last four decades. The latest, 400 million dollars they suddenly discovered last week they just didn‘t have.

I know this is a local thing, but this has been going on since I was a kid. It is the biggest running scam in this town since they caught Boss Tweed.

Our runner-up, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann—although we really must thank her for unintentionally lightening the mood tonight—compared a Code Red anti-health care reform rally to a moment in history I guess she thought she understood. “It‘s the charge of the light brigade.” You know, like the poem, half a league, half a league, half a league onward, all in the valley of death road the 600? A little over 600 British cavalry men charged the Russian lines at Balaclava in the Crimean War on October 25th, 1854. At least half of them were killed, injured or captured, largely because the 600 were attacking 20 Russian infantry battalions that had 5,240 men and 40 siege guns.

Supposedly, Lord Cardagan was ordered to make the charge by Lord Lucan, because Cardagan was his brother in law and Lucan had hated his guts for 30 years. So, Congresswoman, if you want to compare your nut bags to the charge of light brigade, have a nice ride.

But our winner, former Bush Press Secretary Dana Perino. I‘ll admit it, when she was still on the job, I wondered, was she specifically selected because she had no clue? Had she been trained to not have a clue? Did she have one of those memory imprinting problems?

But after the president told CBS last night that he didn‘t wave the flag at West Point about Afghanistan because he thought, quote, “one of the mistakes that was made over the last eight years is for us to have a triumphant sense about war,” Ms. Perino followed up on Fixed News by saying, “I hope President Obama didn‘t mean it the way it came across, when he suggested that President Bush was too triumphant in his rhetoric when talking about war.”

Ms. Perino, over here, ma‘am. I‘d like to show you a photograph and ask you if you recognize when or where it‘s from. Hmm? No? No clue? Any idea who the guy was? Seriously? You‘re hoping President Obama didn‘t think President Bush was too triumphant in his rhetoric when talking about war? I mean, even Mr. Bush has now said mission accomplished was now a mistake.

Dana, is my head attached to my shoulders or did I leave it at home by accident, Perino, today‘s worst person in the world.

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Ex-White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told Greta Van Susteren last night on Fox that she wished President Obama would stop making those unpleasant allusions to her old boss, George W. Bush. Because, you know, Bush has not been taking shots at Obama.

Oddly, nary a mention of Dick Cheney was heard.

Perino was upset that Obama, in his interview for 60 Minutes, referenced Bush's military triumphalism:

Obama: And one of the mistakes that was made over the last eight years is for us to have a triumphant sense about war.

There was a tendency to say, "We can go in. We can kick some tail. This is some glorious exercise." When in fact, this is a tough business.

But Van Susteren at least pointed out that when George W. Bush was president, there was no shortage of blaming the previous administration:

Van Susteren: When President Bush 43 took office, was he critical in a similar way of President Clinton, his predecessor? Because one of the things I think we all want to think about, is we want our presidents having greatness about them and not getting petty.

Perino: I wasn't there at the beginning, and I think there is a certain amount of comparison that has to go on at the beginning. But almost everyone -- the left, right, and center -- columnists, even late-night talk-show hosts, are suggesting to President Obama that he lay off.

Well, no, Dana, you weren't around in the early years of the Bush administration. So maybe you weren't there for the endless list of things that Bush blamed Clinton for -- some of which included the following:

In 2002, he blamed Clinton for the recession.

Also in 2002, for the mess in the Middle East.

In 2004, for manufacturing job losses.

Also in 2004, for a shortage of flu vaccine.

In 2005, for "running from terrorists" and generally causing 9/11.

In 2006, for Bush's own failures in containing North Korea.

In 2008, for the soaring deficit.

But the best part came when she suggested Obama should not blame Bush for anything because Bush has been nice and quiet since the election and not criticized Obama:

Perino: Look, I think the other thing that you've seen is that President Bush has been an incredibly gracious post-president during the transition, and he said, 'President Obama deserves my silence.' and I would daresay that he deserves a lot more respect than he's getting right now.

Sure, Bush has been "gracious" because all Republicans have to do is send out Bush's surrogate thug, Vice President Cheney -- who in fact probably had at least as much to do with the direction of policy matters in the Bush administration as Bush himself did -- to do the dirty work for him.

Just last week, Cheney told the nation that the Obama administration was committing treason.

Before that, Cheney accused Obama of "dithering" on Afghanistan. He attacked Obama's decision to investigate torture policies under the Bush/Cheney regime. And he criticized Obama's Iraq withdrawal plans.

Yeah, pretty freaking gracious, those Republicans.

It's important to remind the public just how we got in this mess, and to remind them that the people who got us here want us to forget that fact. Their only hope is to cover their tracks, and Dana Perino is in the business of doing that.

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According to President Bush's former press secretary, the former president's refusal to sign the Kyoto climate change deal in 2005 set the stage for current climate change negotiations in Copenhagen.

"Because [Bush] declined to go forward with Kyoto, which is ultimately the right thing to do because the major economies like China and India weren't at the table, he worked to get them at the table and now this meeting is the next logical step in that process," Perino told Fox News' Chris Wallace Sunday.

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Countdown's Worst Person's segment for Nov. 30, 2009 with winner Dana Perino. Runners up Mike Huckabee and Glenn Beck.

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I’ll ask again… how’s that nomination working out for you Mr. President? Here are a few more knives in your back from Ms. Perino. Dana doesn’t think we should have a tax to pay for Afghanistan because then people really won’t like the war. Heaven forbid anyone would expect someone to pay for the military industrial complex instead of putting it on the credit card for the grandkids.

Wallace: If the leaks are correct and if the President announces somewhere between 30-35,000 more troops and trying to ask NATO for another 5000 and gets pretty close, maybe not all the way but pretty close to McChrystal’s initial request of 40,000, will conservatives declare victory and say look, the President has the right strategy?

Perino: I don’t know if they’ll declare victory but I do think they’ll rally behind the President and the Commander in Chief. I think they’ll have to set aside the fact that they think there was a really sloppy process; that he undermined President Karzai; that he alienated Gen. McChrystal and say this is the right thing to do. We wish he wouldn’t talk about exit ramps so soon, but this is the right thing to do and providing the generals what they need.

I think on the jobs issue though and on the cost one of the House Democrats, a leading House Democrat suggested that we increase taxes in order to pay for this. And I think tying taxes to this war, one is a bad thing to do in a recession, two it even more unpopular and one of the things that President Obama will need to do is rally the nation and say that he’s fully behind this.

Wallace: Yeah, wait a minute, you said he alienated or the process alienated President Karzai. There are an awful lot of people who say Karzai has been a bad actor, a weak actor and it’s important for the President in the course of this to make it clear to Karzai either you clean up your act or we’re not going to be there.

Perino: All of those things may be true. He might not have done enough, but he is the guy that you have to go into battle with in order to try to win this war and so alienating him so publicly was a bad idea. I think they probably thought that the other guy was going to win; Abdullah Abdullah was going to win. He didn’t and then we had another delay waiting to get McChrystal the troops that he needed. President Karzai is the president that they’re going to have to work with.

As we noted before, Perino still has to be confirmed by the Senate, so contact your Senators and ask them to vote against her nomination to the Board of Broadcasting Governors.

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Ed Schultz awards Sean Hannity his Psycho Talk segment of the day for allowing Palin and Perino to go unchallenged on his show when they spout B.S.

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How's that recent nomination working out for you President Obama? Dana Perino decided to show her thanks by implying that the Obama administration did not want to call the shootings at Fort Hood a terrorist attack for political reasons, and went on to say this:

Perino: We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term. I hope they're not looking at this politically. I do think that we owe it to the American people to call it what it is.

Apparently, in the carefully airbrushed world that is Planet Wingnuttia, the 9/11 attacks happened on, um, lessee, musta been President Clinton's watch! Yeah, that's the ticket.

Of course Hannity wasn't going to bother to correct her. I'll repeat here what Logan said:

Perino's appointment must be confirmed by the Senate, so it's not a done deal, but we have to make our voices heard. Contact your Senators and let them know your thoughts on the matter.

Dave N: Just for the record, let's recall Bush's real record -- and not the one Republicans want to airbrush into our collective memories -- in terms of keeping us safe:

[After the 9/11 attacks], of course, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told the press: "I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon; that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile." (As a matter of fact, just such a scenario had been foreseen by intelligence officials in 1998, as Rice later admitted.)

Then there was the Aug. 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing titled "Bin Laden determined to strike in US," which concluded:

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Yep, I did a double take too.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has tapped a former top aide of his predecessor George W. Bush to a key post on a board overseeing government-sponsored international broadcasting.

Dana Perino, the first Republican woman to serve as White House press secretary, was appointed late Wednesday to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).

Created in 1994, the BBG oversees all of the US government's non-military international broadcasting outlets, including Voice of America, Alhurra television, Radio Sawa, TV Marti, Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe. Read on...

Where to begin? I understand that President Obama campaigned on the idea of bipartisanship, but this is truly an insult. Forget that he is appointing an intellectual lightweight who ran cover for, and spread propaganda for the worst president in American history. Dana Perino stood before reporters and routinely lied to them and the world -- even defending the use of torture, calling it "effective, safe and legal."

And now President Obama believes that she has the integrity to hold a key position in an agency that oversees government-sponsored, international broadcasting?

Perino's appointment must be confirmed by the Senate, so it's not a done deal, but we have to make our voices heard. Contact your Senators and let them know your thoughts on the matter.

As Digby sez -- Perino is just a member of the club, playing the game.

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President Barack Obama accused Fox News as operating in a talk radio format. Fox News only strengthened that argument Sunday as they allowed only White House detractors to comment on the situation. Chris Wallace went so far as to suggest the White House was using mob tactics in it's "war against Fox News." Of course, Fox couldn't find any White House defenders to appear on the Sunday talk show.

It's "what some people are calling the administration's Chicago way of doing business," said Wallace referring to a scene from the classic mobster movie "The Untouchables." Wallace's comparison follows other commentary by the right wing echo chamber. The Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel was one of the first:

A White House set on kneecapping its opponents isn't, of course, entirely new. (See: Nixon) What is a little novel is the public and bare-knuckle way in which the Obama team is waging these campaigns against the other side.

Glenn Beck followed the script with a rant about the White House "beatdown" of its enemies the following day.

That's the Chicago way and now we have it in Washington with Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama.

What was it that Obama promised on the campaign trail? Oh yeah, a "new kind of politics." America didn't think the "new" politics would be even worse than the "old" politics.

Agree with the administration? Fantastic. Dare to stand in the way of "reform"? Uh-oh.

No longer is it a gentlemen's disagreement that can be debated. No, you are going to play ball or get a beatdown.

Media Matters put together some examples of how Fox opinion bleeds into Fox "News."

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Always willing to milk every possible drop out of an Obama scandal, even one of their own imagination, Fox News host Martha McCallum asks Bush's former Press Secretary Dana Perino--a highly impartial source, to be sure--if sending out "unsolicited" emails is a problem for the Obama White House.

Of course, the ever-so-concerned Perino thinks it is, and of course, thinks the Obama White House is getting a free ride on it:

PERINO: Imagine this: imagine if it was three years ago, and all of the sudden, people across the country who, unsolicited, started getting emails from Karl Rove. The media would have gone ballistic. They would have demanded answers, and I would have felt obligated to give some. And I think that standard should be….that the Obama administration should be held to the same standard. I know that if I all of the sudden started getting emails, I would wonder how did they get my email address. People get your email address through various ways, but when it’s the White House Political Advisor, it’s a little bit different and kind of creepy.

Honestly, I'm not sure what the big deal is. I got an email from David Axelrod myself. It was hardly unsolicited, as I know that the Obama administration kept their campaign email list, of which I was also a part. In fact, I was on McCain's email list as well, so I could keep tabs of what he was sending out to supporters. Methinks Fox News would not be so up in arms if President McCain had sent out an email to his supporters list.

But the attempt to claim that the mean ol' media would have beaten up on poor, persecuted Karl Rove for a similar infraction is laughable on its face. Karl Rove LOST FOURTEEN MILLION EMAILS which could potentially have implicated him in a whole host of infractions and the media yawned. Rove was improperly using his RNC email address to avoid the oversight law demands, and the media shrugged. Karl Rove had his stubby, sticky little paws in sandbagging Don Siegelman, the fired US Attorneys and the media didn't say boo. In fact, the media was so deep in the pocket of the Bush administration that they were part of the reason that the Valerie Plame investigation didn't go further than Scooter Libby.

So, yeah, Dana, let's try to draw an equivalency over Axelrod sending emails to a list culled from passionate supporters over a two year campaign and all manners of impropriety and illegality that Rove committed. It's so fair and balanced of you.

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From Larry King Live April 28, 2009. While discussing Arlen Specter's defection from the Republican party, David Gergen has to explain to Dana Perino what the term "big tent" means. I love the pinched look he got on his face while she was spouting her nonsense. Hint to Dana...it doesn't mean all moderates. And I hate to break it to you there girly but the idea that there's a chance in hell of your party even becoming slightly more moderate right now looks laughable at best.

March 10, 2009 CNN

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Looks like Dana Perino is already auditioning for a job at Fox News! Who'd a thunk it? During a panel discussion held at the Brookings Institute on Dec. 18, 2008 both Perino and former Clinton spokesperson Mike McCurry are asked this by Garrett Mitchell:

I want to ask a question that comes to the point about one never lies. One never misrepresents from the podium. And I want to use two examples from the Clinton administration and the Bush administration and I hope that the question will be viewed as a positive attempt to get at something but I won't pretend it's an easy one. There was a long period of time when the President, when President Clinton was maintaining that things that happened, didn't happen. I don't think I need to go into the details.

(crosstalk)

And I believe that a large chunk of the American public knew that was the case. I would say the same thing is true with President Bush on, on, why don't I limit it to issues relating to whether the United States was involved in torture, etc., where the official point of view from these two White Houses was not true. The perception in the public was "We don't believe that" and as it turns out the pubic was right. And my question is how then does, it must be extraordinarily difficult for a press secretary to be in a situation where as I've described it, you're free to disagree that description, but I'm interested to know, how do you, how do you negotiate, how do you navigate the fundamental commitment that you have not to dissemble from the podium, not to mislead and yet be forced to deal with a situation where it is, it is clear that the truth is not forthcoming from the White House.

Mike McCurry responds with some regrets that he could not have been more forthcoming from the podium during the Lewinsky scandal but Ms. Perino still has her talking points in order.

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December 18, 2008 News Corp