October 24, 2019

"I remember when I saw Laura Bush.... She said, 'Oh, there she is. The voice of reason on The Five.'"

"I hear that quite a lot. I think, partly, it’s just in my nature to be somebody who tries to bring people together. Ever since I was a kid, I paid a lot of attention to communication. I would sit in the backseat of the car with my sister. If my parents got in an argument, I would immediately start to think, 'If she had just waited until we got home and then if he had said it this way.' I was always trying to figure out, how can we all get along better through communication? I think about that now. It’s just my natural state. I want people to try to get along. Also, I feel like, again, with the background that I have, I’m like, 'Everything changes.' I worked on Capitol Hill when President Clinton was president and we went through the Lewinsky impeachment. I was there on 9/11. I was there during the Iraq War. I was there during the financial crisis. I covered the Obama administration and now Trump. I constantly seek serenity in my life. I’m not saying I’m very good at it, but I’m always seeking it. The other thing I love about being at Fox, and especially I think The Five helped me with this, is that I just am who I am. I can’t fake it. What you see is what you get."

From "Dana Perino’s Rising Stature in Fox News’ Post-Shep Landscape: A Mediaite Q&A" (Mediaite).

It’s just my natural state. I want people to try to get along.... That's the way I feel too.

56 comments:

Tommy Duncan said...

Stalin got along with people by forcing them to agree with him before they took a bullet and disappeared from history.

Wince said...

Perino's often wordy, halting, meandering, repetitive speaking style is a turn-off.

daskol said...

She's really good on television. Something's up with her teeth, which look like chicklets, but she's well spoken.

Nonapod said...

It can be futile to attempt curtail the yelling matches between Jesse/Greg and Juan Williams.

I mean, Juan is pretty damn annoying with his tedious "Guess What?"'s, that silly mocking tone he sometimes employs, his regurgitating of NYT/Dem talking points, his cliche strawmen arguments, his citing of highly questionable polls as if they're gospel truth, and any number of other issues. But he has his role I guess.

Sebastian said...

"I want people to try to get along.... That's the way I feel too."

IOW, nice women. I appreciate them. Truly.

But unfortunately, useless in the world of politics. Progs want to crush you, not get along. Wanting to get along with people who want to crush you is the first step to totalitarian rule. #Resist.

The Vault Dweller said...

I have found that the older I get the less I care about getting along with other people. Not to say that I actively seek out disagreement or want to get into arguments, but I care much less about getting along and finding common ground.

Kevin said...

There is a segment of our political class, and by extension our media, which cannot thrive if everyone is getting along.

They must constantly put people into groups and pit those groups against each other so people will stop getting along and listen to these "leaders" and their ideas.

Leaving well enough alone doesn't enable them to have the kind of history-making impact on the world that they envision their lives must produce.

After all, they're better than the rest of us.

Hagar said...

I saw an article on the theory that the American public is getting very tired of all this contentiousness and Trump may fall victim to a general "mommy impulse; " i.e., "If we just let the kids have their way on this, maybe they will simmer down and we can have some peace around the dinner table again."

Ask a teacher about how this idea will work out!

Qwinn said...

Person A wants to enslave or kill Person B.
Person B just wants to be left alone.

Person C says "Why can't we all get along" and insists that Person A and B need to compromise.

Person C is effectively an ally of Person A, and an enemy of Person B. Saying "Now now, A, we don't need to kill B, enslaving them should be plenty" isn't helping the situation. Someone who really was "middle of the road" would be fully on B's side and would tell A to go to hell.

But that never happens, because C demands B submit to A so C can maintain their facade of being fair to all sides. Y'know. "Cruel Neutrality".

Chest Rockwell said...

The Five is the best newsy show on tv. Dana Perino is great.

Greg Gutfeld is hilarious as well. He used to write these articles for the Huffington Post that were Grade A trolling of the libs. I think they deleted a bunch of them, but the ones there are still hilarious!

https://www.huffpost.com/author/greg-gutfeld

bagoh20 said...

"It’s just my natural state. I want people to try to get along.."

That is such a strange thing. I don't know anyone else who feels that way. You are truly a unique and beautiful person. I bet you are also one of those rare individuals who love puppies. So special.

bagoh20 said...

You can't get peace until you accept who is really behind making all the racket.

wsw said...

Dana Perino is excellent... Always finds the right message, and stays on it.

Here's a recent sampling (paraphrasing):

"The GOP's digital effort, and the energy such as we saw such as at the Dallas rally, is going to bring about a hand-sell 2020 turnout we can not yet imagine; Meanwhile, the D’s are worried about:
a. Impeachment
b. Electability

The Five wouldn't work with her. -WSW

Tank said...

Perino is very pretty, very good at her job and seems very nice, the kind of girl you want to marry; but she is also part of the Conservative Inc that failed and led to you know who.

readering said...

I care a lot about getting along. Just not what I come here for generally. Maybe after Trump succeeded by Pence in next 15 mouths ....

Bilwick said...

I second Qwinn. As Ayn Rand said, a compromise between water and poison is still poison.

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, Qwinn’s got you pegged, I’m afraid.

stevew said...

I like Dana Perino and I like The Five show. They all seem to like and respect each other - even when Geraldo is on!

as if.... said...

That was very good Qwinn at 3:12.

jrapdx said...

"Getting along" is a highly ambiguous phrase which makes it almost entirely meaningless.

That's because "getting along" may represent extreme passivity, going along with harmful situations. Abused spouses (mostly women) putting up with a bad situation, passively submitting to abuse is certainly not what we'd recommend.

And we easily observe the folly in the corporate world where management pushes schemes to give the appearance of happy employees productively working together when the reality is they all hate each other almost as much as the "middle-managers".

OTOH when people are brave enough to be honest with each other there's a decent chance they really can "get along", that is, interact with true team spirit. It's a genuine blessing to be on that team, but of course it's not conflict-free, just that participants can settle differences without killing each other.

In American politics there's no evidence of "teamness" at all, that is, no basis for "getting along" whatsoever. Given all Democrats' (and some Republicans') incapacity for honest expression, real teamwork can't ever happen.

Hagar said...

Dana Perino seems to be a nice person and certainly is nice looking. Now, if she would just slow her speech down to a normal cadence with a relaxed tone at a normal level ...

MarkThomas said...

It’s usually the people who claim they want everyone to get along who are the pot stirrers.

narciso said...

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2019/10/24/mattis-aides-tell-all-npr-finds-mattis-digging-and-fighting-obamas

Rob said...

I stopped watching "The Five" several years ago, but my consistent view of Dana Perino was that, pleasant as she might be, she was not very bright, and I often wondered how she could have managed to function as Press Secretary.

narciso said...

meh, I mean it's better than whatever freakshow is on cnn and MSNBC,

https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2019/10/24/just-wow-katie-hill-tweeted-sooo-much-trash-about-kavanaugh-last-year-and-gosh-was-she-projecting-or-what/

J said...

Qwinn right on.People like Perino are the bullies natural ally.

Jim at said...

I watched The Five a couple times back when Bob Beckel was on.

Other than Greg Gutfield and Kimberly Gilfoyle's legs, I found no other reason to watch.

BJK said...

It’s usually the people who claim they want everyone to get along who are the pot stirrers.

Having seen her attempts at making queso, if there's one thing Ms. Perino doesn't do well, it's stir the pot.

Birkel said...

The people who want to be nice lose, consistently.
Game theory exposes the weak strategy.

narciso said...


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/10/24/pm-gambling-electoral-power-new-blue-collar-toryism/

Amadeus 48 said...

My father, who had a weakness for pretty women, thought Dana Perino was great and ought to be president. Of course, Obama was president at the time.

wild chicken said...

Gutfield's own show has its moments. He's trying. I really like Kat Timpf, who looks like a real life Titania McGrath.

traditionalguy said...

She is very likable. But she is still stuck on stupid defending the Bush gang at all times. Which makes her anti-Trump...in a nice way....acting as if she sincerely is a confused woman . Trying to be nice about that rude Trump, but struggling since she still worships the evil Bushes.

Francisco D said...

Dana Perino seems to be a very nice person. However, she is either naive or conflict avoidant. In that sense, she was the right person for GW Bush.

William said...

I think she's better looking and far more upbeat than Virginia Woolf. I enjoy her interplay with Greg Gutfeld on The Five. Sweet and sour sauce. My guess is that she's truly who she appears to be, and she appears to be a nice person.....I think the left would like nothing more than for another Fox host--and an ex Bush press secy to boot--to say something nasty about Trump, but it hasn't happened yet and probably won't. If she ever goes over to the dark side, she'll disapprove in a polite, muted way. She can be chilly, but she doesn't do nasty woman shit. Who's afraid of Dana Perino....I'm just glad she's on The Five and never had to work a show with Matt Lauer or intern for Charley Rose. With all they've been through, it's no wonder those women on NBC and ABC are so nasty.

Marcus Bressler said...

I listen to The Five on YouTube on my drive home It's entertaining even with Williams. I LOVE Gutfield.

THEOLDMAN

Ralph L said...

I don't believe Laura Bush watches The Five enough to know. She just said that to be nice to the former help, as Bushes are reported to be. Of course, Barr got the WH Usher fired by the Clintons.

RichAndSceptical said...

If only she was as smart as she thinks she is.

Achilles said...

It’s just my natural state. I want people to try to get along.... That's the way I feel too.

posted by Ann Althouse at 2:33 PM on Oct 24, 2019

The NBA just wants China and Hong Kong to get along too.

There are only two sides in the fight for freedom.

If you are not fighting for freedom and "just want everyone to get along," you are on the wrong side.

Skeptical Voter said...


Re Vault Dweller's comment that the older he gets the less he cares (or could it be she) cares about agreeing with people.

Some people naturally just won't suffer fools gladly.

My wife sees some of Vault Dweller in me--says I'm getting crankier as I get older. But you spend your working life doing transactions and trying to get people to find common ground. And when you retire---well you don't do that as much.

iowan2 said...

Perino is great for The Five. She stays in her lane. Williams and Jesse Waters go head to head and try each and every segment to trip each other up in some hypocrisy. Gutfeld is the deep thinker and gets the daily monologue. Gutfeld also has the keenest humor. The chair to the viewers left rotates. Don't know if that will get permanate, or just keep rotating.
Perino is very fact based, seldom predicts even into the next hour or so. From the show, she is in her element dissecting polling data, and White House communication. The latter not of much use now, since President Trump does a lot of his own coms. She can give first hand experience accounts of inside the White House stuff.

As Gutfeld will comment, if he hasn't already, Perino looks up to Simone Biles, and not just respect wise.

wbfjrr2 said...

Perino is a fool, an incompetent who as press secretary for Bush was a key member of the most inept communications team ever in the White House. She got along so well with the media and democrat attack dogs that she presided over Bush’s popularity sinking below 20% and him successfully being tagged as a lying, evil warmonger.

He was none of those, just an incompetent globalist like his father.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

dana perino's dog Jasper, a weimaraner, always has a look of insecurity.

Wonder what he knows.

Gunner said...

People keep saying that she was largely responsible for the Bush White Houses unpopularity, but I seem to remember it being late-term Ari Fliescher and Scott McClellans horrible performances that sunk things.

donald said...

Well, he was a lying evil warmonger. So there’s that.

I despise Bush more than Obama. I cannot believe I thought that whatever he was, tag I didn’t see it.

effinayright said...

Gunner said...
People keep saying that she was largely responsible for the Bush White Houses unpopularity, but I seem to remember it being late-term Ari Fliescher and Scott McClellans horrible performances that sunk things.
************

Perino has herself said that the reason Bush didn't fight back against the scurrilous charges the Left hurled at him was based on his belief that were he to do so would sully the office of the POTUS.

So he was called baby killer, war criminal, Hitler, Nazi, stupid, incompetent and all the rest, unopposed.

Trump obviously fights back when he's slandered in the same way, so the Left says he's besmirching his office when he does.

From the Left's POV there's nothing *they* can't say, and nothing the *POTUS* can say in return.



effinayright said...

Ralph L said...
I don't believe Laura Bush watches The Five enough to know. She just said that to be nice to the former help, as Bushes are reported to be. Of course, Barr got the WH Usher fired by the Clintons.

*****************

Tell us the details, give us a citation.

Anonymous said...

Quinn...Y'know. "Cruel Neutrality".
Very good synopsis of the situation. However, we are beyond that now. Many folks know that we are at war. These things have to happen from time to time. Better now than later.

Bruce Hayden said...

I always liked Perino. Partly, I love her relationship with the Bushes. But also, she was born in neighboring WY, and grew up in Parker, CO (or, from the point of view of those of us who grew up on the west end of town, Parker, western KS (which includes pretty much everything East of I-25)). Maybe more so, she is a real westerner, having been born in Evanston, WY, and brought up around horses in CO. My favorite people.

JamesB.BKK said...

Qwinn provides unassailable logic.

JamesB.BKK said...

In Qwinn's example, C is either hoping A does not come for her or is misleadingly pretending not to be but is in truth on A's side. Feckless or complicit, neither of which is honest or helpful.

JamesB.BKK said...

"Greta" is promoted globally and uniformly by the global media and promoters of global governance for the sole reasons that she does not get along and more importantly people are supposed to not criticize her ideas on account of her age and mental infirmities brought about the abuse she suffered at the hands of the operators of her school controlled by Swedish feminists and her parents, because they are supposed to be nice despite her calls for yet another incremental call for their further enslavement.

Ralph L said...

Of course, Barr got the WH Usher fired by the Clintons.
*****************
Tell us the details, give us a citation.

She asked him for help with her computer months after she left the WH. The Clintons found out and fired him because they are shitty people.

Lurker21 said...

Persons A and B each think the other wants to kill or enslave them.

Person C recognizes that they are both a little crazy and would like to walk away, but recognizes that they might actually kill each other, so person C counsels compromise.

Persons A and B aren't going to compromise, but they redirect their anger at person C, which at least has the effect of preventing a violent outcome.

Fandor said...

You know, it's funny, but I've watched Dana over the years in the Bush Administration and on Fox. She appeared to be fresh and different from what we usually get as the president's spokesperson, and I think she did a good job there. The Five came about after Glenn Beck left the network. Surprisingly, the show worked as Beck's replacement. Dana has been there since the beginning, her reward for life after Bush, and has grown popular as a commentator on the political events of the day. Still, and I can't put my finger on it. There is a creepy quality about her. Is it just me, or have others gotten that vibe?

Lurker21 said...

Perino seems a little too pre-programmed. Too controlled, but not really in control. She's the girl with the big binder who has everything organized and wants to organize everything. I guess there is some depth or authenticity or warmth that isn't there -- like she relates more to her dog than to other people. It doesn't seem to be a big thing, though.