Confidence Man

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Call it a sign of the times.

Here’s a moment from this morning’s White House press gaggle, after Dana Perino fielded questions about Alberto Gonzales and Paul Wolfowitz:

Q Does the President ever get tired of having to express his full confidence in the people around him these days?

MS. PERINO: When you’re President of the United States and you have this many folks that you are employing, it’s a pretty small number that he’s had to express full confidence in. All of us who serve at the pleasure of the President, if the moment he doesn’t have full confidence in you, you no longer work for him. And we all take that very seriously.

“Pretty small number.” You gotta love it.

Note: As a bonus, I’ve included Perino’s rambling endorsement of Gonzales below the fold (preview: “He is our number one crime fighter.”).

From the gaggle:

Q Was the President disappointed in the testimony?

MS. PERINO: Is the President? No.

Q But what about the fact that even Republicans now are coming out and calling for the Attorney General to resign?

MS. PERINO: There is no doubt that there were many members from both sides of the aisle who had expressed frustration over the confusing remarks from the initial responses on this matter. And that frustration had built up over many weeks. The President believes that the Attorney General answered all of their questions honestly and forthrightly. I can understand there are some people who still don’t want to support the Attorney General; that is their right. But he has done a fantastic job at the Department of Justice. He is our number one crime fighter. He has done so much to help keep this country safe from terrorists. He has worked determinately to prevent predators from attacking our children. He has worked — they have a fantastic record of fighting corruption in government and in keeping gang violence off our streets.

And I could go on and on, but I think that following the hearing and following the tension that was in the room, I think on this new day I think — hopefully people will be able to take a step back, realize that there was no credible evidence of wrongdoing, that the Attorney General has apologized for how it was handled, and that he has a job to do, and he’s been doing it very well. And the President has full confidence in him.

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