This is fun. In the trove of Bush White House documents released by the House Judiciary Committee is an email chain from November 2006 in which Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino first learns of the plan to purge U.S. Attorneys.
Perino's reaction after getting the heads-up email and the attached "USA replacement plan.doc"?
"Someone get me an oxygen can!!"
Lest you think Perino was mocking the plan as no big deal, here's how she responded when another communications staffer noted that one of the to-be-purged attorneys prosecuted Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham (R-CA), and another was probing Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ):
"Give me a double shot -- I can't breathe."
Read the e-mail chain right here.
And just for memory's sake, here's 90 seconds of Perino spinning a development in the David Iglesias case back in April 2007:


Alex39
August 11, 2009 5:22 PM
I always knew Perino was one of the good ones. I looked into her eyes, I think, and saw her soul.
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Agateman
August 11, 2009 5:40 PM
I notice she is parting her hair a little higher to the left. Is he loosing he hair, too?
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Agateman
August 11, 2009 5:41 PM
That should say: I notice she is parting her hair a little higher on the left. Is she loosing her hair, too?
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lousgirl84
August 11, 2009 5:55 PM in reply to Agateman
We knew what you meant. We are all guilty of mistakes(smile)
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shortstop
August 11, 2009 6:18 PM in reply to lousgirl84
LOL. You bad girl.
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tlees2
August 15, 2009 8:05 AM in reply to lousgirl84
Like Perino's in shilling for W's administration!
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GTFOOH
August 11, 2009 5:58 PM in reply to Agateman
I liked it better the first time. Would love to think the Bush administration was filled with a bunch of closet transvestites!
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mardam
August 11, 2009 6:33 PM in reply to Agateman
Losing, not loosing.
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Hamatreya
August 11, 2009 11:24 PM in reply to mardam
Thank you.
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Agateman
August 11, 2009 5:42 PM
I'm having a little trouble typing this afternoon, I spend the last couple of hours having shots to celebrate the fact that Rove is heading to the BIG HOUSE!
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lousgirl84
August 11, 2009 5:55 PM in reply to Agateman
I hope you are right about that
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trekbikie
August 11, 2009 6:03 PM
I think you mean "losing" her hair, unless, of course, it's making her feel seductive.
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uncle vester
August 11, 2009 6:25 PM
Thus defining the phrase "waste of oxygen".
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lyleleander
August 11, 2009 7:05 PM
Well, now that Rove has been definitively linked as being the mastermind behind the firings, and there's no amount of political spinning that will put that genie back into the bottle, we can all now prepare ourselves for the avalanche of concern trolling from the right-wing that we just need to move on and put the past behind us, and it's the best thing for the nation if we just get over it.
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matyra
August 11, 2009 7:10 PM in reply to lyleleander
Who cares about Dana Perino? I mean, shouldn't we be concerned with the government takeover of our healthcare?
/snark
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Homefries
August 11, 2009 7:39 PM in reply to lyleleander
I say, lets offer a trade. Rove stays out of the big house and we get the public option.
Fair dinkum.
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An Outhouse
August 11, 2009 9:45 PM in reply to Homefries
This is probably Obama's plan all along - a whole bunch of progressive policies in trade for no prosecution. I'm not sure I like it, but I'll take it.
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Noam Sane
August 11, 2009 7:48 PM
I would just like to point out that, as far as we know, nobody in the Bush administration lied about a blowjob.
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cwnidog
August 11, 2009 8:12 PM in reply to Noam Sane
Did anyone in the White House ever get one?
I'll bet that plenty were given, though.
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GregorZap
August 13, 2009 12:34 PM in reply to cwnidog
We can all underestimate Perino. She played her role very well and faithfully. She was just on the wrong team. My question is, what does needing oxygen mean? Is that for her, because she is astounded bywhat she is hearing, or for the press room to gas everyone so that they feel good about her presentation, however misleading it may be? If for her, how COULD she perpetuate her role and consider herself a patriot? When is it right to lie?
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Hamatreya
August 11, 2009 11:27 PM in reply to Noam Sane
I guess with Jeff Gannon it was, "Don't ask, don't tell."
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Texar
August 12, 2009 12:07 AM in reply to Hamatreya
He'd tell if he hadn't been paid.
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Whenwillthisnightmareend
August 11, 2009 7:51 PM
I can't breathe, isn't that what they hear from the strapped down and helpless prisoners they have their fun with. Just goes to show how these people have made an art of lying. GOP never again.
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Jeff
August 11, 2009 7:54 PM
Man, her politics are screwed up, but she is SMOKIN'!!
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decisivemoment
August 11, 2009 8:00 PM
I think I have more of an insight now of why she came across as such an incredible airhead. What she was dealing with was sufficiently depraved even to her eyes that she decided the best way of handling it was to do what the news model does on the local news -- completely disengage every brain cell not associated with basic autonomic functions.
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NobleCommentDecider
August 11, 2009 8:13 PM
Rick Renzi (R-Az) was a good ole GOP boy. He just wanted to make the most of his government service.
Johnnie McCain, hero, had honored rick Renzi as his campaign director for Arizona before Renzi got indicted on those 35 felony counts for conspiracy, money laundering, bank fraud, insurance fraud, extortion, wire fraud... There was never a purer heart who wanted to do well by politics than Rick..
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ojim
August 11, 2009 10:44 PM in reply to NobleCommentDecider
yep, WifeCheater McCrashfiveplanes sure does know how to pick em', don't he?
good old Grampy McNeedsanap is kind of a dowsing rod for felons with personality disorders. first Renzi, then Palin? hold me back! the man's a genius.
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VexSmith
August 11, 2009 8:39 PM
Never cared much for Perino. Not a particularly strong talent. Outside of Snow --a professional-- the Bush PS's were slothful hacks.
Occasionally you would hope they might feel bad about things. Not awful enough to resign or anything. Just bad.
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Cal Gal
August 11, 2009 10:01 PM in reply to VexSmith
My reaction was quite the opposite. I always thought Tony Snow was supercilious and obvious in his lies, while Dana Perino was cool as a cuke.
I never did get where Tony Snow got the "professional" rap. Was he more than a talking head?
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ojim
August 11, 2009 10:39 PM in reply to Cal Gal
tony snow was a fox news commentator for years before he stepped up to the really big leagues of lying through his teeth with a (mostly) straight face. some days he must have worn earplugs so as to ignore the complete BS coming out of his mouth. but finally, his lies caught up with him. he died. i still have my "big C" shirt.
he was replaced by 'spokespretty' perino. who was not only vapid, but vacuous as well.
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Hamatreya
August 11, 2009 11:32 PM in reply to Cal Gal
I agree.
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mentata
August 11, 2009 10:13 PM in reply to VexSmith
Funny, I thought Ari Fleischer was the jedi master of bullshit spin doctoring. Remember: he was the one that sold the Iraq war. Obviously his currency has diminished with the talking head routine, but in his day Ari was a venerable source of blindness.
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Jeff
August 12, 2009 7:22 AM in reply to mentata
Man, Ari Fleischer used to scare me. That guy can lie like no one else I've ever seen. I wouldn't want the guy within 100 yards of my person, my family, or my property. He'd rob you blind, stab you in the back, then blame it on your kids.
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Prefabfan
August 11, 2009 9:20 PM
She's a lying, thieving bitch, but quite a hottie. I forgive her. And would follow her anywhere.
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An Outhouse
August 11, 2009 9:47 PM in reply to Prefabfan
Can we stop the misogyny? She was evil. I don't care what she looked like.
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robgo2
August 11, 2009 9:49 PM
Ha, ha, ha. What fun. Anyone want to bet that not one Bushie will ever be brought up on charges for their many crimes?
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Kate in SW Fla
August 11, 2009 11:16 PM
Where were all the lunatic birther town hall hooligans when all this was going on? When a Medicare RX plan was passed with NO FUNDING? How about the Iraq War? With a matching tax cut for billionaries? Started with a surplus, ended with a HUGE deficit, where was their freaking outrage then? Democrats - DO NOT FALL FOR THIS FAUX ANGER. If these haters were the majority, you would not be in congress, and Obama would not be in the White House. Dance with the one what brought ya!
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Rader
August 12, 2009 12:05 AM
So Dana Perino had a conscience and knew it was wrong - BUT COVERED UP THE DIRTY DEEDS ANYWAY! Anyone anywhere troubled at all by that? Can we send this useless piece of garbage to the unemployment line to stand behind Alberto the Albatross Gonzalez? Dana the Dimwitted deserves ridicule and lots of smells emanating from her body. And I bet she smells them all the time!
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Texar
August 12, 2009 12:07 AM
Her head was empty --she was simply in need of a refill.
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Leon Kowalski
August 12, 2009 12:21 AM in reply to Texar
"An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish.
Hence the difficulty of forcing anything into an empty head."
-- Eric Hoffer
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blackjack
August 12, 2009 2:37 AM
Lets not Forget the CORPORATE CONTROLED MEDIA that helped Dana Perino in these lies, like CNN and the rest of the CORPORATE CONTROLED MEDIA.
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Kuyleh
August 12, 2009 5:41 AM
I would have offered him a can of air and a cigarette lighter.
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duanes
August 12, 2009 11:38 AM
all perino needs is big hoop earings and a short skirt and some gum,,,,,, the whole pack ought to be in jail, could be the same cell to save money,, and just think it wasnt hard to find people to lie, cheat,and to what purpose, have a government job? its unbelievable that none of the people have abit of honesty in them to at least now tell the trueth especially when their asses are on the line for jail,,,and the think they did a good job! where has our country gone!
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Salmo
August 12, 2009 6:37 PM
Perino was selected for the same reason the pretty news readers are selected - and she played her role. She earned contempt, but not vilification.
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dar
August 12, 2009 9:01 PM
I don't think Dana is an airhead, but she well qualifies as a cold fish.
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WellstonesGhost
August 13, 2009 1:14 AM
Check the Urban Dictionary that NAILS perino'd!
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=perino%27d
"Hit by anything Karmic you didn't see coming.
Dana Perino was perino'd by an invisible microphone during ex-President Bush's attempted Shoe Assassination in Iraq on Dec 14, 2008.
I thought I had gotten away clean running my money laundering operation when the IRS perino'd me."
Another career down the drain in the Bush White House, Tony Snow Job RIP.
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WellstonesGhost
August 13, 2009 1:15 AM
Check the Urban Dictionary that NAILS perino'd!
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=perino%27d
"Hit by anything Karmic you didn't see coming.
Dana Perino was perino'd by an invisible microphone during ex-President Bush's attempted Shoe Assassination in Iraq on Dec 14, 2008.
I thought I had gotten away clean running my money laundering operation when the IRS perino'd me."
Another career down the drain in the Bush White House, Tony Snow Job RIP.
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JohnBTipton
August 13, 2009 7:51 PM
Perino played a loyal bushie a few months ago on the Daily Show. Showed a sense of humor. She's bright, attractive, skilled and ambitious, but she's staying out of the spotlight -- maybe waiting for the return of the neocons, or for the perfect moment to rat on them.
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