Posted on 04/24/2015 8:37:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
Dana Perino, former White House Press Secretary and co-host of Fox News' The Five, is out with a new book, entitled, 'And the Good News Is,' which Katie wrote about here. It's a delightful blend of autobiographical anecdotes, political observations, and morsels of sound advice gathered over an extraordinary career in public life. I taped a radio interview about the book with Dana last evening, and thought I'd relay one of the stories she shared about President Bush's very personal role in helping to mend an important relationship in her life:
PERINO: One of the reasons I wrote this book is that historians and political analysts will be writing and talking about and studying the Bush administration for many years to come, but they'll only be looking at public policy decisions and the political decisions. My book provides a personal look because the president became much more than my boss; he was like a second father to me. And what I write about is this one scenario where President Bush gave me back my relationship with my dad, and it meant so much to me. My dad had not come to visit [me] in Washington DC. My parents had divorced. It wasn't that we were estranged, so much as that I hadn't seen him. People are busy, and it was hard, and you sort of grow apart because I was so busy those years. We were coming to the end of the administration, and there was one big dinner left for [Italian] Prime Minister Berlusconi, and I come from an Italian-American family, so I got invited to the dinner. My husband loves anything American, any event, he will go -- he loves it. But I told him that I wanted to invite my dad. If he declined, I would understand; but to my surprise, he said yes. So my husband, Peter, arranged for him to get a flight, and then he rented my dad a tux, which was the first time my dad had ever worn a tux..."
GB: [Laughs]
DP: The president knew about my relationship with my dad...he knew about how I'd felt sort of abandoned after my parents divorced, even though I was 28. So one day after the invitations had gone out, I'm on Marine One waiting for the president to board so we could go to Andrews Air Force Base. He gets on the chopper and he's looking out the window, and he says, 'so, I see you invited your dad to the White House.' And I said, 'yes sir, I did.' He's still looking out the window, waving at everyone down below, and he said, 'that's a bid deal.' [I responded] 'Yes sir, it is.' Just then, we were passing by the Washington monument, and I'll never forget it because he looked right up into my eyes, and he said, 'I am so proud of you.' And that meant so much to me because he knew how big of a deal this was.
So my dad comes to the White House. It's Italian-American fest, okay? You've got Giuliani, and Alito, and Scalia, and Peter Pace, and I could go on. They all know me, and they're giving me hugs, and they're so excited to see me, and I think it was kind of overwhelming for my dad. He wasn't saying much. He was just observing and smiling -- trying to play it cool. We get into the line to be announced by the military aides to see the president for a photograph, and before they could say our names, the president stops them and says, 'I know who this is! Leo Perino, we have been waiting for you for years. We are so excited that you're here. Have you met Condi Rice? Do you want to meet her?' He takes my dad off my hands, and I never saw him again 'til the end of the night. The president took him to meet the Cheneys, (he sat next to them for the dinner), and [Bush] took him around to see some of the paintings and historical artifacts.
As we were leaving, my dad and I were walking on [West Executive Drive] to get to my Jeep. And I said, 'it sure is something, isn't it?' My dad said, 'yeah, it's really cool.'
GB: Wow.
DP: It was great, and it meant so much to me because that restarted my relationship with my dad.
No doubts that W is a good man.
He was below average as president. So much of his problems were not standing up to the media and not placing blame where it needed to be placed — liberals.
She’s my favorite Fiver. Smart. I like KG too. But to my looksist self, Dana is like, wow!
Agree. She is definitely GOPe. Always has been.
I miss having class in the White House
My wife and I met President Bush at Langley AFB, VA on 3 March 2001.. he stopped through on the way to the christening of the USS George H.W. Bush. We were right on the ropeline, and when he and the entourage came through and we shook his hand, he had a remarkably casual, regular-guy countenance. There’s not an iota of phoniness about him.. he’s as down-to-earth as anyone.
Amen. Some Freepers brandish their negativity with a definite air of superiority.
That is a silly retort.
You should also check your attribution to the famous quotation. There is no evidence that the great Edmund Burke ever said it.
I went to the Bush Library last week in Dallas at SMU
My highlights were the full size mock up of the Oval Office and the six or so niche displays of the gifts to the American people ranging from diamonds in profusion to swords to a full sized stuffed male lion
Lunch was good too
I now surrender bandwidth to those that can only bitch an moan and carry on with negativity
Calling Perino the Bushie RINO "one smart lady" and rejecting one of Burke's most famous lines certainly qualifies you as a true, GOP-Establishment pubbie.
GWB had and continues to garnish my support. As a retired Navy Vet, I can appreciate the decisions he had to make.
Ms. Perino is an intelligent, thoughtful, and polite conservative. Would love to see her in the Political ring, but her she is better on the sidelines analyzing and commenting.
newfreep on the other hand is still seeking his village.
OK so Schrub was a great substitute father figure. Great.
He was a lousy president who failed to groom any successor, failed to close the borders, signed off on Homeland Security, and bailed out the To Big To Fail banks.
wonder how many give a rats ass?
Could not have put it better !
The piece has or had ZERO to do with GW as POTUS but as a person so why take off on a rant about a piece you missed the point of??
I can appreciate the decisions he had to make.
Every president has to make tough decisions. Problem is, Bush made a lot of wrong decisions.
We all know that’s true, whether we admit it or not. It’s why the GOP didn’t even have him at their national convention in 2012. You think if Reagan were alive, they wouldn’t want him front and center at the convention? the fact Bush wasn’t invited shows that even the GOP - though they won’t say so publicly - knows he was a failed president and that the public doesn’t want to see him.
Dems are the same way with Jimmy Carter. They dumped him down their memory hole, because they know the public sees him as a bad president.
those that can only bitch an moan
Telling the truth isn’t “bitching and moaning” If Bush was a good president, the GOP wouldn’t hide him away. Candidates wanted to be seen with Reagan. They want to be seen WITHOUT Bush. Have you ever seen a GOP candidate ask Bush to stand on a platform with him?
look very far to see how badly astray the government and the nation has gone since they served with honor and distinction.
Why do you think Obama got elected? Because Bush was a disaster, and voters punished the GOP.
Don’t you remember we were in a near-depression when Bush left office? I understand Herbert Hoover was personally a nice man, too.
In the final months of Bush’s presidency, there was fear that ATMs would freeze up and there’d be bank runs. We were close to a depression. If you don’t remember that, go to library and look up the news reports from 2008.
Bush left us with a mess, and voters punished the GOP by electing Obama. Unfortunately.
Oh and that arrogant pos occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave is a better president?
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