Helen.
Q Is the President still going to veto anything from the Hill that sets a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq, despite the belief of the public that we should pull out?
MS. PERINO: I think that -- let me try to unpack that. The President has said that if the Democrats decide to insist on sending him a bill that includes a deadline for withdrawal, that he will veto the bill. And I understand that there are many people who are in this country that are frustrated with the war. I do think that you have to be a little bit careful in blanketing everybody that they want to pull out quickly from Iraq and with an arbitrary deadline or a rash decision, and leave that vacuum that we believe is going to be left there, if we leave that quickly.
Q Well, if the majority of people really wanted to pull out, would the President pull out? And what kind of a statistic do you have that they don't want to?
MS. PERINO: As the President has said many times before, he does not make decisions based on polls. He understands as Commander --
Q Did he make decisions based on what the American people want?
MS. PERINO: He makes decisions based as the elected President of the United States and the Commander-in-Chief and his main priority is the protection of the American people, and that's what he --
Q How do you protect the soldiers who are over there dying every day?
MS. PERINO: That is the President's gravest concern, and he talks to the commanders on the ground to make sure that they are protected and that they are doing their jobs. He understands that he has asked them to do a very, very difficult mission. It's very dangerous in Baghdad. We do have a new Baghdad security plan that's underway, being led by General David Petraeus, who is up on the Hill today providing an update to the Congress on the status of that Baghdad security plan.
Q But a hundred people are dying in Iraq every day.
MS. PERINO: It's a very tragic situation. I don't know if that number is accurate, but obviously it's not only our troops that are dying, but very many -- too great of numbers of innocent men, women, and children in Iraq, as well.
Go ahead, Kelly.
Q Can the President say both that he does not question the patriotism of Democrats, but their actions aid the enemy?
MS. PERINO: I think that I want to take a little bit more time to talk about this based on our discussion this morning, because the President's policies are held up to intense scrutiny by the media, and by Democrats, and by everyone around the world, and we welcome that. And I think that when the President and his team and other Republicans try to hold the Democrat's policies up to that same standard of scrutiny, that immediately, the Democrats play the patriotism card.
And I'm sorry, but I don't think that there's anyone in this White House who has actually done that, nor have we have engaged in name calling. Yesterday, Senator Reid called the Vice President a dog, after saying he would not engage in name calling. And I think that let's all take a step back, and if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to have a debate, then we should have a debate, and we should be able to debate on the substance and on the merits of what we're talking about.
Q Speaking of name calling, Congressman Emanuel had a pretty lengthy speech today in which he said that not since the days of Watergate has partisan politics infiltrated every level of our federal government. I know you've seen the prepared remarks, what's the response?
MS. PERINO: Look, I think that there's an interesting messenger today giving a speech at the Brookings Institute. It's one that you would consider reading in the National Enquirer rather than at a prestigious American think tank like the Brookings Institute. And I think what we have going on here is that the 100-hour congressional agenda is faltering, and in that vacuum, that they've decided to fall back on what is a tried and true tactic of theirs, which is creating grand conspiracy theories that have no basis in fact.
Q On another topic --
Q Are you accusing Brookings of that?
MS. PERINO: No, no, someone is giving a speech there today.
Q On another topic --
MS. PERINO: I just called it a prestigious think tank. Go ahead, you had a follow up . . .
entire briefing:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/04/20070425-1.html
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