Hmmm...
Posted on 09/22/2004 10:19:08 PM PDT by ETERNAL WARMING
MEDIA MATTERS Helen Thomas defends Rather 'The real issue is why doesn't the president tell us the truth?'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: September 23, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Helen Thomas
Helen Thomas, the so-called "dean of the White House press corps," is not blasting up Dan Rather over his use of unreliable documents about President Bush's military record, but instead is targeting Bush himself.
"To me, the real issue is why doesn't the president tell us the truth?" Thomas said Tuesday at a Monmouth University forum on women and journalism in West Long Branch, N.J. "Why doesn't he put out all the documents? Because he can't, because there are too many gaps."
According to the Asbury Park Press, Thomas called Rather "a magnificent reporter" who experienced every reporter's nightmare in connection with his airing of unauthenticated material in a Sept. 8 broadcast of "60 Minutes II."
"Truth is our Holy Grail" she said. "I'm sure everybody is feeling bad about it."
The paper says Thomas wasn't alone in her defense of the CBS Evening News anchor, as her comments were echoed by longtime Associated Press reporter Linda Deutsch.
AP's Linda Deutsch
"This is all so symptomatic of kill-the-messenger mentality," Deutsch said. "They are interested more in Dan Rather. ... The underlying issue of Bush's National Guard Service is ignored. ... People are gloating over it. I find that very disturbing."
On Monday, after 11 days of widespread criticism, Rather apologized and issued a statement saying he no longer will defend the authenticity of documents he used in a report that raised questions about Bush's National Guard service.
Rather's statement said:
Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a '60 Minutes Wednesday' story about President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question – and their source – vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome. Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.
But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.
Please know that nothing is more important to us than people's trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.
Thomas – the 84-year-old journalist who admits she asks herself "Who do I hate today?" – told the Press both the president and today's news media have fallen short of peak performance, especially when it comes to the amount of presidential press conferences, less than 20.
"I think this administration is the most inaccessible and most secretive that I have covered," Thomas said. "I feel a lot of information that should be in the public domain is hidden."
"I think the press rolled over and played dead," she continued. "Reporters are human beings. They're Americans, too. I think we fell down on the job. We were asleep at the switch.
"I just don't condemn my colleagues. All of us played ball when we should have questioned the president on a regular basis and held him accountable. We defaulted."
In her syndicated column for Hearst Newspapers last month, Thomas blasted Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry for his continued support of what she calls "the disastrous war against Iraq."
"Kerry has blown it big time," she wrote, "rising to Bush's bait and throwing away his ace in the hole – Bush's shaky credibility on the profound question of war and peace."
Seriously, lets not be too hard on the old dame. She probably hasn't been laid since the Johnson administration. BTW, isn't that how he died?
>The paper says Thomas wasn't alone in her defense of the CBS Evening News anchor, as her comments were echoed by longtime Associated Press reporter Linda Deutsch.
AP's Linda Deutsch
"This is all so symptomatic of kill-the-messenger mentality," Deutsch said. "They are interested more in Dan Rather. ... The underlying issue of Bush's National Guard Service is ignored. ... People are gloating over it. I find that very disturbing." <
It is not the kill-the-messenger mentality. It's the 'kill the biased messenger pretending to be an objective news organization' mentality. And you should find it very disturbing Linda, because your AP has become the epitome of such organizations, and it's living on borrowed time.
The opposite could be true, too. She's ugly due to her bitterness.
This is all so symptomatic of kill-the-messenger mentality," Deutsch said. "They are interested more in Dan Rather. ... The underlying issue of Bush's National Guard Service is ignored. ... People are gloating over it. I find that very disturbing."
Hmmm gee, could it be that's because the documents were forged?? Hmmm geee..
Well, she's already taking a powder for Kerry and the DNC...;^)
Add Robin Rather to the list with Helen Thomas and Janet Reno of those who should be on a radical makeover show. Who is her mother, Andrea Dworkin?
Many times, the lines and facial structure of an older person give clues as to the disposition they carried through life. You'll see them make some certain facial expression and all the lines and such line up like pieces of a puzzle, and you know it was that look, that disposition, that produced their face over time.
I'm serious in saying Helen Thomas is probably the single ugliest woman I've ever seen. Her face to me is a saddening embodiment of bitterness and spite, and I suspect it is indeed a portrait of the life she's lived, misery on display.
MM
Helen Thomas: You can't handle the truth. You refuse to listen to or read the papers which the Pentagon has released.
Time to call in your nurse, Helen.... It's time for your meds.
There's a great case for mandatory sterilization.
Not really. You see, Helen is really Rather's maiden Aunt -- and they have had an incestuous relationship ever since Dan's mother voted for Goldwater in '64 -- and suddenly died in an auto accident on the way home from the polling station.
Dan has been turned on by Helen ever since she finally purchased a razor and started shaving. What a dame !!!
I wish I were ten years older !! *S*
Vote early -- and often, ya'alll.
Helen when she was young and sexy
It's absolutely impossible for this hag to have been sexy!!!
Helen Thomas ...Dan Rather ...Robin Rather ...three of the ugliest women in America !!!!
My eyes! My eyes!
That's funny.
That's funny.
Senile old b****.
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