Chickenhawk Chimp Snubs Helen Thomas Again

[RamboLiberal]

President Bush today again avoided taking a question from White House doyenne Helen Thomas during his 45-minute press conference, even though he took questions from every reporter around her front-row, center seat.

"He's a coward," Thomas said afterward. "He's supposed to be this macho guy. He'll take on Osama bin Laden, but he won't take me on."

Thomas, who worked as the UPI White House reporter for 57 years and is now a columnist, raised her hand every time the president was concluding an answer to a reporter's question, but he never called on her.

She had a few questions in mind, though. "I wanted to ask about Iraq: 'You said you didn't go in for oil or for Israel or for WMDs. so why did you go in?' "

She also had another question at the ready, just in case, this one about the president's contention that a 28-year-old wiretapping law known as FISA is out of date, which prompted him to order the National Security Agency to conduct a secret electronic surveillance program that Democrats contend is illegal. "You keep saying it's a 1978 law, but the Constitution 200 years old. Is that out of date, too?"



http://www.drudgereport.com/flash.htm

[yellowdoginGA]

1. is she a journalist?

I thought she started writing op-eds years ago.

[flordehinojos]

3. doesn't she have the right to be informed AND TO INFORM US?

i THOUGHT SHE HAD THAT RIGHT...especially when her OP-edS ARE BASED ON TRUTHFUL FACTS GATHER RIGHT FROM THE MOUTH OF SMART*SS OR THOSE WHO SPEAK FOR HIM.

}(

[mattclearing]

6. Opinion writers are still journalists. n/t

[yellowdoginGA]

8. no they're not

they shouldn't be. journalists should try to be objective, that's what seperates them from the faux news channel.

[mattclearing]

11. You don't know what you're talking about.

While opinion writers are allowed to write from a perspective, they are still beholden to the rules of journalism, including accuracy and sourcing requirements. They are not allowed, as journalists, to lie, though lately many do.

You should do your homework. I know what you mean, but you are incorrect.

[yellowdoginGA]

14. A journalist is supposed to report facts

An opinion writer is allowed to forget any that clashes with that opinion. She's no different oreilly, limbaugh, or coulter. just her perspective is.

[mattclearing]

16. But an opinion writer is still considered a journalist.

But don't listen to me, I just finished my minor in journalism. :eyes:

[yellowdoginGA]

17. this is why both sides bitch about bias

if journalists, or journalism minors, only cared about reporting facts the state of this country's politics would be in better shape. As it is both sides ignore every report that makes them look bad because everyone from dan rather to the local pta reporter feels free to insert whatever bias they think the public will let them get away with.

[uppityperson]

19. Everyone has a bias

News reporters, if good, try to overcome that bias in their pieces. Oped writers don't in their oped pieces. However, they are both journalists. And thinking someone, anyone, doesn't have a bias just show that their bias is the same as yours.

[yellowdoginGA]

20. do you really want a world where

objective news doesn't exist? a world past fox news and the al gore network where everyone gets their own personal news reports off the internet. everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts. the blogospere wouldn't be as big as it is, on the right and left, if everyone wasn't so afraid of reading something they disagree with. once helen thomas started writing opinion, she lost whatever right she had to get called on at press conferences. i think people see journalists playing the talking head role on panel shows then making it ok. the 24 hour news networks have killed whatever respect journalism used to command because of that.

[uppityperson]

21. I want a world where objective news does exist.

You are putting words in my mouth, telling me what I want and how I feel.

I very much want a world where objective news exists. However, I can see clearly enough that is not how it is. Yes, I think news reporters should try for objectivity. Very much so. Yes, I greatly appreciate when a news reporter/station stives for objectivity. However, everyone has a bias. The good ones strive to overcome that, but no one ever can completely.

What news reporter or news site or caster do you think is objective? The good reporters try for it as best they can.

And Helen Thomas, while she writes op-ed pieces, is very much a journalist. Perhaps not a news reporter, but a journalist.

[yellowdoginGA]

23. the 2 best newscasts are

the newshour w/ jim leher, and believe or not, special report with brit hume (or at least was, i cut the cable tv a while back). those are the best because they do 3 or 4 big stories and cover them somewhat in depth. the networks with their 90sec and 2 min stories surrounded by a bunch of insulting fluff aren't doing themselves any service. i'm at least lamenting the loss of objectivity, you're rolling with it. right now i get most of my news of the internet. check out RealClear Politics, itsgot newspapers, columnists, political mags, and well known blogs all right there.

[uppityperson]

24. again you are attributing motives incorrectly

I am not "rolling with it", but recognizing that it is there and dealing with it. I have no idea who Brit Hume is, and also like Leher due to their more in depth covereage rather and 30 second sound bites which drive me batty. I very seldom watch TV news due to the blatant bias and lack of content beyond entertainment. Have you ever seen the (made for TV) movie Special Bulletin? It's about news coverage and selling of the news. I saw it on TV back in '83 and had to watch for a while to see if it was real or not.
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1800120061
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086350/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6301650662/103-3968747-4145467?v=glance

[yellowdoginGA]

25. i blame barbera wawa

brit hume is on fox

[mattclearing]

28. Bias is allowed when you are an opinion writer.

Lying is not. Helen Thomas is a journalist. She is bound by facts...if there are inaccuracies in her opinionated reporting, an editor will edit them or a paper will later have to run a correction.

[Niche]

29. Hey dog - Biased?

Helen is trying to get the questions answered. Seems to me that's she's doing all these "reporters" f**king jobs. None of them are asking REAL questions?

[shadowknows69]

26. And I majored in it.

You mean I didn't have to take all those feature and Op ed writing labs?

[mattclearing]

27. Then you should know that op-ed and feature writers are still bound by

the same standards of accuracy as the rest of the journalism community.

Did you read the rest of the argument? Op-ed writers are still journalists. That's all I'm saying.

[shadowknows69]

32. I was on your side man

I was agreeing with you. Forgot my sarcasm sign sorry.

[mattclearing]

36. My bad.

Thanks for the assist. :)

[uppityperson]

9. she is very much a journalist. Asking questions, seeking answers

telling us about them.

[yellowdoginGA]

13. You wouldn't want bill oreilly asking

president clinton questions.

[uppityperson]

18. I want everybody asking presidents questions

I don't want them using the question time to give op-ed pieces, but I want everybody asking all presidents questions. If oreilly wanted to ask clinton questions, about stuff going on in the administration, fine with me. The more people that ask actual questions, the better. I am interested in the answers and don't really care who asks them.

[Swamp Rat]

44. LOL!

I see you. ;)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. What of Jeff Gannon of the late great Talonnews.com? or Les Kinsolving,

http://www.leskinsolving.com/reactions.html

the Baltimore wingnut who writes op/eds for WorldNut Daily, who still gets questions?

[yellowdoginGA]

15. KIck them out too

The lines are already blurred.

[CBHagman]

37. Uh, yes.

Here's the bio. Yes, she's a columnist now, but to ask "Is she a journalist?" sounds insulting, given that her career in journalism began more than half a century ago. In an age when angry little racists who sit in radio stations spewing venom can get hired by CNN, we can't afford to denigrate people who have actually spent decades reporting.

http://www.klru.org/texasmonthlytalks/archives/thomas/bio.asp

Quote from the above:

"Helen Thomas is probably best known to political watchers as the long-time White House Correspondent for United Press International, sitting front and center at Presidential press conferences for decades. This 'First Lady of the Press' was an early pioneer for other women working in journalism at the national level, and has covered the daily White House beat for every President since John F. Kennedy. She left UPI in 2000, and now writes a syndicated column for Hearst Newspapers, where she now shares her opinions about the politics and politicians she covered dispassionately for so long.

"Thomas was born in Kentucky, but spent most of her childhood in Detroit, where she began her journalism career writing for the high school paper. After graduating from Michigan’s Wayne State University, she took her first paid position as a 'copy boy' at the now-defunct Washington Daily News. Her goal, she says, was to work as a journalist in Washington, covering the events that made history.

"In 1943, Thomas moved to United Press International, where she spent twelve years writing news for radio. Until late 1960, she covered a variety of topics, including the FBI and the Federal government. That November, she began covering President-elect John F. Kennedy, moving into the White House Press Corps when he took office in January, 1961. Thomas soon began closing Presidential press conferences by saying, 'Thank you, Mr. President' – a phrase she is often credited with originating. In fact, Thomas says she was actually continuing a long tradition that had begun with her predecessor."

It's interesting that political appointees (e.g., Lawrence Kudlow, William Bennett, George Stephanopoulos, Pat Buchanan et al) populate our airwaves, but someone like Helen Thomas, who has worked in various facets of journalism, gets questioned in her ninth decade.

[flordehinojos]

2. dear helen thomas .... chimpy is nothing more than a smart*ss

does he think he offends you when he does not take your question? doesn't he know that Murricah notices what a stupid fraud he is? And when he does things like that, Murricah notices even more!

[Gatchaman]

5. Where did she get the idea he's willing to take Osama bin Laden on?

I thought he didn't even think about that guy, whoever he may be.

[flordehinojos]

12. from bush's own word, as in: "there is a saying in texas: WANTED DEAD OR

ALIVE..." AND WHATEVER ELSE STUPID UTTERANCE HE UTTERED AFTER THAT ... from Bush's own, 'BRING IT OWN!", FROM bUSH'S OWN contention that he is here to wipe evil from the face of the earth (a bit pretentious i think when, evil lurks in this world even 2000 years after Jesus Christ ...

so many instances ... you see, Helen is holding Bush to his words, not his feces smeared ass.

[fooj]

4. He's a coward! You go, girl!

Peace.

[gimama]

7. She is the best

Of course, she scares hell outta Mr.bush.
Like throwin' Holy Water on the devil.

One of these days, I expect her to ask,
"what's up with that jerky-jaw thing,
and is it true you're back on the hard stuff?"

[peekaloo]

22. Bless her heart.

An 80+ yr old woman who could kick his ass yet refrains from doing so.

[SurfRidem]

30. Not to defend the dub, but I wouldn't talk to cranky old women either.

That is one ugly looking woman!!! Is she still alive?

[Frank Cannon]

31. My doper friend, Helen Thomas CRAPS bigger than you

She's been a giant in journalism for a long, long time.

Go light up. Kick back. Fall asleep. You're gonna need all the shuteye you can get, once your idiot monkey king starts his plans for you.

[SurfRidem]

34. Now that's a scary thought (CRAPS)!

But I were going to have a press conference I would replace her with Norah O'Donnell or Laurie Dhue.

[CBHagman]

40. "Replace" doesn't come into it.

Okay. Someone on this thread is going to have to start doing his/her homework. There's this entity called "The White House press corps," and it is not winnowed down into a few faces which meet your personal approval. There are representatives of various media outlets there, and they have at Bush, Scott McClellan, or whatever administration fool lumbers up to the podium.

Helen Thomas has been in the White House press corps since the Kennedy administration, and she's not leaving any time soon. At least that's my assumption, but I'll be sure to ask the next time I see her. She is a pistol!

[SurfRidem]

43. I've just recently started paying attention to politics, but I don't

remember seeing that gnarly looking hag asking Clinton questions.

The Pres is the most important man in the world. I don't care if it is the dub, there ought to be some fine looking news babes there to ask him questions.

[chat_noir]

33. SurfRidem, Mann Coulter more your type?

She has a bigger Adam's apple than her male friend.

[SurfRidem]

35. That's scary looking chic too...

She probably has a bigger schlong too.

[RebelOne]

39. I think you are at the wrong forum.

Why don't you just toddle on over to Free Republic?

[SurfRidem]

46. I guess that's "freeper" means. I keep seeing that word around here...

I figure they must be dub's boys.

I might not fit in around here, but I definitely ain't gonna fit in over there.

Buzz off, brah.

[zann725]

38. I've been noticing in Press Conf. footage, Helen's been ignored entirely..

even my Puffy McMoon Face.

[ScreamingMeemie]

41. Molly Ivins said the entire press corps should have stood up and turned

their backs on Bush for that. It was an outrage.

[tyedyeto]

42. Her second question was mine as well yesterday while listening

to the press conference.

This is what I wrote:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=246147&mesg_id=246682

[BuyingThyme]

45. What does a chickenhawk chimp look like?

Does it have lips?