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.