Perino: I Didn't Know What The Cuban Missile Crisis Was

Still looking for that last-minute Christmas gift for White House press secretary Dana Perino? May we recommend a gift certificate for the forthcoming book on the Cuban Missile Crisis by our colleague Michael Dobbs, "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War," due out next summer?

Appearing on National Public Radio's light-hearted quiz show "Wait, Wait . . . Don't Tell Me," which aired over the weekend, Perino got into the spirit of things and told a story about herself that she had previously shared only in private: During a White House briefing, a reporter referred to the Cuban Missile Crisis -- and she didn't know what it was.

Read entire story here.

Read more about Dana Perino from HuffPolitics reporter Jason Linkins.

Comments

[Weathermaker]

It's not a disaster she didn't know the answer. It would have been nice, though. I'm actually surprised that someone can graduate from college (like she did) with a major in mass communication and a minor in political science not knowing about the Cuban Missiles Crisis.

You know, it's not like that freaking crisis still influences our current foreign policy towards Cuba...

[dolphy]

She should duke it out with Sherri on The View. That will be stupidly funny.

[monseree]

johnmcd72? do you have an original thought?

[monseree]

so many assholes and so Little Space

[andyboy]

Dana is a classic Breck girl. My God she's hot with that Stepford I've had a lobotomy look.

Dana looks like she just took a load in the mush. Those dazed eyes clouded by a strong dose of tranquilizer just to take the edge off. Then the President himself ejaculating in your mouth.

God bless the Troops and Blackwater and Dana Perino. I am saluting her as we blog.

[unhipcat]

Good for her! She got the "Cuba" and the "missiles" parts right. She should already have the "crisis" part down.

[monseree]

So many assholes and so little space....

[jbcowan]

With apologies to Dan Aykroyd: Dana you ignorant slut !

[TheCrusher]

Come on posters get a life! Some of the comments here are just mean. I will be the first to bash on Bush and his cronies but some of the comments on this story are pretty pathetic. Of course you would expect and should expect that someone in an important position in the administration should know a little more about history than she has demonstrated but give her a break! She admitted that it was a something she should have known and it sounds like she felt pretty stupid afterward. I would say however that some of you posters if not stupider than she is, are at the very least bigger jerks. And that's saying something from someone who loathes the Bush Admin. Actually I was a little disappointed to even see it posted on the site.

[NewRiver]

Oh Dana, that was NOT a smart move. Age is no excuse for not knowing this important bit of history.

Makes me wonder how many HuffPo posters didn't know about it either until the read the story or Googled it.

C'mon folks, George Santayana was right: "Those
who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

[andyboy]

I forgive Dana. Lot's of people don't know about the Cuban missile crisis. This is the kind of thing the average American will empathize with Perino on.

And even more have never heard of the theory of mutually assured destruction.

So what of it? Has Dana or her predecessor Tony Snow ever sounded to you as if they really knew history? C'mon kids. They read off of cue cards. Plese wake up. It's embarassing to listen to your faux outrage.

[mimsnpips]

Well her husband knew she's a ditz anyway. And in the full article I have to LOL about our POTUS working to fight AIDS next year. Puhleeaz.

[historian1900]

"To not know what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child." Theodore Droysen

[JimGroom]

Are you fucking kidding me? Is is possible that anyone born in the last fifty years does not know about this important piece of history? She is the president's mouth piece, so perhaps we should not really be surprised. God help us all! I hope she can.

[Dandy12]

From an Orwellian administration where ignorance is usually strength, this one takes the cake! Where did Dana go to high school? Never mind junior college... Was she sick during the chapters covering mid-latter 20th century US history?