Dana Perino called out White House journalists yesterday for putting on performances for the cameras during press briefings — using their questions as vehicles for viral moments and personal agendas rather than doing the actual job of reporting.

She knows exactly what she is talking about — having stood at that very same podium as White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush — and what she said about the difference between real journalism and grandstanding for a clip is something most Americans have been thinking for years but nobody on television has had the courage to say out loud. Dana Perino has never once needed the approval of the room she is standing in. That has always been exactly what makes her impossible to ignore.