Dana Perino auditions for Fox News on The Daily Show

Dana Perino, the Colorado-bred White House press secretary -- and 2007 Westword profile subject -- came out, so to speak, during an appearance on The Daily Show last night. Wearing a shwing!-worthy red dress, she thoroughly charmed host Jon Stewart during a mammoth eight-minute interview segment, displaying a warmth and humor that seldom surfaces during typical briefing sessions.

Perino chuckled along with Stewart when he pointed out that the administration's recently released list of its one-hundred greatest accomplishments wasn't numbered and even added a joke to the host's claim that plants die three days after outgoing veep Dick Cheney touches them; she suggested that President George W. Bush take Big Dick down to his Texas ranch to lay hands on the cedar, so he won't have to clear it later. Moreover, she actually took a shot at the press without seeming like a finger-wagger. "They don't talk about substance," she said, noting that reporters covering a lunch gathering of President-elect Barack Obama and all his living predecessors in the office only cared about what the men ate, what color ties they wore, and how close they stood to one another. Betcha Fox News overlord Roger Ailes was watching this performance with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, Jabba the Hutt-style.

The Perino segment is accessible after the jump. -- Michael Roberts