Dana Perino responds to McCain's assertion that he knows how to get bin Laden

White House won't say if McCain has shared Osama-capturing techniques
Eric Brewer
Published: Thursday October 9, 2008



In last Tuesday's presidential debate, John McCain said that that he will "get Osama bin Laden, my friends." He's been promising that for over a year, but it was only a couple of months ago that someone finally pressed him to describe what he would do differently than President Bush. McCain replied: "I know how to improve our capabilities so that we will capture Osama bin Laden."

That made me wonder whether McCain has shared this critically important knowledge with the President, so today I went to the White House and asked. Here is my conversation with Press Secretary Dana Perino:

Q John McCain said recently that he knows how to get Osama bin Laden. And a couple of months ago he said that he knows how to improve our capabilities so that we would capture bin Laden. Has Senator McCain shared his knowledge with the president?

MS. PERINO: Maybe you haven't been here. I've been very astute at not getting involved in the 2008 election, and I'm not going to start now.

Q It has nothing to do with the elections.

MS. PERINO: Yeah, it does. It has everything to do with the election. That's exactly why you're asking the question. And I'm not going to answer it.

Since the White House won't answer my question, we're left with four possibilities:

1). McCain thinks he knows how to capture Osama, has told Bush how to do it, and it's not working;

2). McCain knows how to capture Osama, has told Bush how to do it, and Bush is waiting for the most politically opportune time to execute the plan;

3). McCain knows how to capture Osama, but is keeping his plan a secret, therefore putting his own political fortunes over those of his country; or

4). McCain doesn't have a clue about how to catch Osama.

I don't know which is worst, but I suspect number four is closest to the truth.

The preceding article was a White House report from Eric Brewer, who will periodically attend White House press briefings for Raw Story. Brewer is also a contributor at BTC News. He was the first reporter to ask about the Downing Street memo and the Pentagon analysts scandal at White House briefings.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/White_House_wont_say_if_McCain_1009.html