By GottaLaff
After Helen Thomas persisted in asking Boy Georgie why he went to war, he "shut down" completely when it came to calling on her.
They press is "emboldened" now, with President Obama, she says.
She wants to know what Obama believes in [slightly paraphrased]:
"Where is his courage?"
"He should give up on bipartisanship, just fight for what he believes in. [...] He has great integrity and conviction, but he wants to be liked."
By GottaLaff
Helen's like a little bulldog. She won't let go until she gets an answer... or until they move on, which is how it usually ends. From yesterday:
It's amusing how such a tiny, frail person can make so many people in power blink.
Of course, it goes without saying, there's nothing tiny and frail about her mind or her vocal chords.
By GottaLaff
Awww!
Via Political Punch
Class acts, both of them. What more appropriate than to have these two share a birthday?President Obama surprised Hearst newspapers columnist Helen Thomas today with cupcakes and a serenading of "happy birthday" to the trail-blazing journalist, 89 years young today.
Thomas wished for world peace, for everyone to be happy, for health care reform and for no more prejudice.
By GottaLaff
Helen: "Never look back"? What is this??I loved Helen's questions (what I could hear, that is). I'm not as enthusiastic about Gibbs' answers, if you can call them that.
Gibbs: Let's not conflate his position on a commission with Webster's definition of history.
Helen, there are important things that face this country right now. We don't doubt that we can learn from history. There are crises [happening right now] [he lists them].
Helen protests strongly: Nobody should pay any price for the horror we've gotten into...? [the rest was hard to hear, as was most of what she said
Gibbs: It's important to understand, Helen, first and foremost to change the policy of this country. History will be left up to historians. The most important step that was taken in all of this debate was to end, once and for all, end the interrogation techniques.
[Torture] won't happen on President Obama's watch.
By GottaLaff
Veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas [...] shared some observations about the office’s newest occupant with Washington Flyer magazine. “I think he has to be very daring, [but] I think he plays it very safe, very cautious, which is probably smart, but I’m not sure he’s going to really be as bold as I want him to be,” said Thomas, who is known for voicing critical, usually liberal opinions during press conferences. “I want to see a real transformation—a caring for the people, not just giving a $700 billion bailout to Wall Street while Detroit suffers.”
By GottaLaff
Helen Thomas back in the house. Front row. Center.That made my day. I had to share.
By GottaLaff
Only The Daily Show can get away with this stuff. Pay special attention to the question asked of Chip Reid, and how he responds. Honestly, do these people even bother to listen? Helen Thomas sure did. Snerk! Enjoy:
What a couple of douchebags. Oh and the "oreo" story is bull.
Oops, via Newshounds.
You know, they're all just a bunch of snitty little kids wanking each other around. Just astounding that anyone would take anything they have to say seriously. Via Newshounds.
By GottaLaff
...I have a thousand of them,” Thomas responded. “What are you going to do to fulfill your ideals expressed on the campaign trail? Or are you going to submit, like most presidents, just . . . try to carry out your promises that have no meaning except for how many people gave you money?”What a different and welcome new era it will be: President Obama will respect Helen Thomas, instead of kicking her out of her well-earned front row seat, and he will then proceed to answer her questions.
Skip to 2:13 if you don't want to watch the whole painful thing. Helen should have kicked him in the shins for that.
God bless Helen, I hope she lives forever. Via TP.
During today’s White House press briefing, spokesperson Dana Perino echoed President Bush’s claim that Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi’s frustrations are not representative of the Iraqi public’s sentiments. She pointed out that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki apologized for the mistreatment of his guest. When reporter Helen Thomas pointed out that U.S. forces are actually “occupiers,” Perino bristled:
QUESTION: Why not worry about it? Does it reflect the feelings of the people?
PERINO: I don’t think that you can take one guy throwing his shoe as representative of the people of Iraq.
And I will tell you that Prime Minister Maliki and the journalists who were there in the room, who apologized on behalf of the Iraqis, saying this is not how they would treat a guest. […]
QUESTION: But he wasn’t a guest. We’re occupiers.
PERINO: No, we’re not. We are absolutely a guest.
By GottaLaff
Check out this exchange between the wonderful, sharp-as-a-tack, no b.s. Helen Thomas, and the-- well, Dana Peroxide:
Good for Helen.Q: What about the chief of British intelligence saying you were going to fix the facts around the politics?
PERINO: I think that that’s been debunked.
Thomas quickly countered, “It’s never been been debunked.” Caught off guard, Perino admitted that she was the one who “debunked” it:
Q: It’s never been debunked.
PERINO: Well, it’s been debunked by me.
Q: Good for you.
PERINO: Good for me.
Recall, the Downing Street Memo — which was authored by former British foreign policy aide Matthew Rycroft before the Iraq war — reported: “Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”Dana, know when you're outmatched, 'k? 'K.
By GottaLaff
Few prominent economists will say it, but to me it looks and feels like we are in another Great Depression or a reasonable facsimile.Depression now describes my mood as well as the state of the economy.The current meltdown is dubbed a "financial crisis." But a rose by any other name would still inflict the same hardship and suffering on most people and businesses.
Clearly, the lessons have not been learned from the Herbert Hoover era. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, a columnist for The New York Times, says the current banking crisis is "functionally similar to that of the Great Depression."
"Many of the symptoms" are the same, including the impotence of monetary policy -- like cuts in interest rates -- that has not halted the economic downturn." [...]
It's all going to get worse, according to the experts. We have had recessions before but nothing like this, with massive layoffs, hundreds of foreclosures, retail stores closing, stock market losses, and widespread fears about the future.
I grant you I have yet to see former wealthy men selling apples on the street corner as I did during the Great Depression in the early 1930s but the current uncertainty is cause for worry. [...]
Obama will have the customary honeymoon and some political running room, at least at the start. But he has to move fast to restore confidence in the market place and trust in the banking system.
His heady presidential campaign is over but prosperity is not just around the corner.
Someone else has a birthday today, but I'm sure it's not as important as Helens!!! Happy birthday and many more!!! Some linkage here.
NEW YORK In an interesting pairing, liberal columnist Helen Thomas and conservative-leaning editorial cartoonist Chip Bok have teamed up for a children's book.
"The Great White House Breakout" is scheduled to be released in mid-August by Dial. It's a 32-page hardcover aimed at readers 9-12.
In the book, a woman president's young son -- frustrated with constant Secret Service surveillance -- leaves the White House with his cat and rat to tour Washington, D.C. Adventures ensue.
By Paddy
My personal hero. You can send her get wells at helent@hearstdc.com
NEW YORK Washington, D.C. legend Helen Thomas has been off the job for the past three weeks suffering from a gastric infection that has caused her to miss her weekly column for Hearst Newspapers, according to Hearst D.C. Bureau Chief Chuck Lewis.
Lewis said Thomas, 87, was hit with the illness on May 18 and has not written a column since May 14. Her weekly columns are distributed each Wednesday to all 500 clients of Hearst News Service.
"She is being treated for an infection and is on leave," Lewis told E&P Monday. "She became ill and has been recovering ever since. We expect her back, but I am not sure when. We have been moving a note [to Hearst clients] that she is away and her column will resume when she does."
Lewis said recent conversations with Thomas indicate "she is getting stronger and we expect her back, but not this week."
By Paddy
This is unexpected. Guess he figured he'd need that "liberal media" if he wanted to sell his book. On a related note, Scotty is on "The Daily Show" tonight. Could get interesting.
Politico has obtained a copy of Scott McClellan's book proposal, and besides noting the "softer" tone of the pitch on the Bush administration, there are a number of differences between how McClellan ultimately takes on the media in the book.
(snip)
He also hints at a chapter devoted to former White House correspondent David Gregory, who he sparred with at times in the briefing room. "I will take a look at notable personalities in the White House Briefing Room, including David Gregory and Helen Thomas. I anticipate an entire chapter about the former," he wrote in the original proposal.
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