My night with Helen Thomas - Democratic Underground

Jeanette in FL

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Sun Sep-23-07 08:02 AM
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My night with Helen Thomas

If you ever have the opportunity to see Helen Thomas, don’t miss her. What an awesome experience. I saw her at the Orlando Public Library in Florida on Friday evening. The setting was very intimate. There was a nice crowd there of about 250 people, the attendant told me.

Upon hearing all her accolades, she came out saying “It’s hard to hear your obituary”. Helen was greeted with a standing ovation and said that she had "stacked the crowd with all of her friends".

She basically began by saying that Bush has taken the country so far down hill that she doesn’t know what it will take to get us back. She said that the Iraq War is "unnecessary, illegal, and immoral". She added that we have no right to be in Iraq and that you cannot war any country into democracy. The crowd howled with agreement.

Helen is extremely humorous and gave great insight to all of the presidents that she had covered. She said that Kennedy was her favorite because he was so inspirational and idealistic. Johnson was “bigger than life”. Carter she said has done many wonderful things since he has left office and is one of the best “former” presidents. Clinton was hunted from the first day he took office. Bush 43 she said “has been able to tear down the wall of separation between church and state”. I cannot remember what she said of Reagan and Bush 41. Though, she did say when Bush 41 was having some big press event, she was sent to cover the opening of the horse shoe pit at the Whitehouse. “Imagine that”, she said.

She said that when she came to Washington as a young reporter, the government was respected and liberals weren’t demonized. At that time she also said that most reporters only had a high school education but that they had a nose for news. Nowadays, she said that many of the reporters have college educations, master’s degrees but they do not have the instincts to get a story. This was another great applause line.

She said that in her day, reporters verified their facts and were not stenographers for the Whitehouse. She said “If your Mother tells you she loves you, check it out” was the mentality of journalists in that era.

She ended by saying “let’s give Peace a chance and let it begin with us”.

I wish I could remember everything she said. She was fantastic.

When she finished, the host said, “Now Helen, please tell us how you really feel.”

She took questions from the audience, that were previously written to her on cards prior to her coming out.

The final question was regarding her longevity and how she has been able to live so long, one word “Outrage” she said, to another standing ovation.

What a night it was. I was not able to get her to sign my book because they only allowed books that were bought right then to be signed. Oh well.

I feel so honored to have been able to see her and will remember that evening forever.