We owe praise, admiration, and a debt of gratitude to our young Servicemen for showing such remarkable courage, composure, and restraint while carrying out their duties under the most trying of circumstances.
Posted on 04/29/2006 6:28:38 AM PDT by oxcart
Legendary White House correspondent Helen Thomas has sharply questioned U.S. presidents for 46 years, but when she spoke at Centre College Thursday, she had a question for the American people.
“Where is the outrage?”
The subject of that outrage, Thomas said, should be the war in Iraq and President George W. Bush.
She made a plea for peace and suggested Bush do as President Lyndon Johnson was advised in Vietnam, “Declare a victory and leave.”
Thomas, a Winchester native, said she was glad to come home to find the word “liberal isn't demonized” here.
The 85-year-old was quick on her feet, passing out wit and witticism to a packed house at Weisiger Theatre. She was invited to be the sixth speaker in the Press Distinguished Lecture Series, named in honor of Kentucky civic leaders O. Leonard and Lillian H. Press.
Thomas has covered every president since John F. Kennedy, who she said was her favorite. She started in Washington D.C. as a copy girl making $17.50 a week and worked her way up to a position at United Press International, which she kept until 2000. Thomas still works as a White House correspondent for Hearst Newspapers.
“There is truth in the papers,” she said. “It's in the comic strips.”
Each president, she said, has come with his own disdain of the press. Kennedy said as president he was reading more and enjoying it less. What Johnson said about the press was “unprintable,” Thomas said.
When President Reagan was told a press helicopter in Honduras had been fired upon, he said, “There is some good in everyone.” President Clinton was asked why the press corps followed him on his morning jogs and he said they just wanted to see him drop dead.
After razzing both presidents and press, Thomas answered questions.
Asked who was her favorite president and why, she said Kennedy because he knew the difference between war and peace.
Asked if there was ever a justifiable reason for America to go to war, she said conflicts should be resolved through the United Nations and non-violent pressure. Thomas agreed with the decision to invade Afghanistan but said that bombing Iraq has just been on the agenda of neo-conservatives to secure oil and posturing in case of a third World War.
Asked what has been Bush's greatest accomplishment, she quoted Eisenhower, who on the occasion of being asked what policy decisions then Vice President Richard Nixon participated in, said, “Give me a week and I'll think of something.”
She was asked if the media is doing its job, a reference to an earlier comment Thomas made about how the press hadn't asked hard questions after 9/11 because they feared being called unpatriotic. Thomas answered the question by saying, “I think the media is coming out of their coma.”
Asked if there was anyone in the political arena today with the same qualities as Kennedy, Thomas said, “No.” She said presidents come into themselves once they are in office. “There is no such thing as an instant president.”
Asked who she thought would get the Democrat and Republican nominations for president in 2008, Thomas said Hillary Clinton and John McCain. She added that she is always wrong.
Asked if bloggers have had any impact on journalism, she said there has been a tremendous effect, putting some politicians out of business. However, she said, “We have reached the stage where everyone with a laptop thinks they're a journalist. ... It's very frightening.”
Helen should take up jogging.
She did...fell down and her face got run over by a truck.
We owe praise, admiration, and a debt of gratitude to our young Servicemen for showing such remarkable courage, composure, and restraint while carrying out their duties under the most trying of circumstances.
"Wonder if Bill nailed her?"
That's disgusting on *so* many planes. However, JFK more than likely did. He nailed just about anything in a skirt.
I can not wait to see when she and Tony Snow have their first encounter.
Verses every dried up skank with a pen and a press pass thinks shes a real journalist!
Stopped right there.
No draft. Duh. A lot of folks don't even realize that we are at war.
APf
Thanks I needed that!
DFU SONG: If (Bwahahahaha....if Cheney runs, Helen Thomas will kill herself....run, Dick, run)
DFU SONGS | 7-2005 | Lyrics, Doug from Upland
Posted on 07/29/2005 7:54:19 AM PDT by doug from upland
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Square/6987/midi.html
MIDI - IF
If Dick Cheney runs for president, I think that you will see
Me hanging from a tree...it is the end of me
We cannot have one more liar, when will this regime be done
At the next setting sun, I'll end it with a gun
So please, oh please, you've got to stop him now
Or you will have one more dead cow
If they hear my plea to bring Old Sparky from retirement
Through my head watch juice sent...it would be some event
A suppository laced with poison, that might show some class
I could do that, alas...and stick it in my (fill in a one syllable rhyming word here)
So please, oh please, you've got to stop him now
You will regret the death of this old cow
Actually, as time goes on I think more and more that Bush is very much like Kennedy.
Kennedy cut taxes, escalated the Vietnam war, stared down the Cuban missle crisis, and started the peace corps, sent us to the moon. All things I can see Dubya doing.
Doug, have you ever heard Rush's commercial of "Dick Cneney having a good time...UAeee!"
I don't think I remember hearing that.
What's REALLY frightening is YOU thinking you're a "journalist", and not the truth that you're one ugly, propagandistic mutha-.
Helen Thomas was once married...to Frank Cormier, AP White House
Correspondent.
She married him while they were both covering the Nixon Administration. In fact, Pat Nixon playfully scooped Helen and announced to the world that the two were planning to wed. I guess she thought it cute that UPI and AP were getting married. Anyway, not long thereafter Cormier retired and then it became known that he had what we know now as Alzheimers. He died about a decade later.
Draw your own conclusions as to how the man might have wound up married to Helen Thomas. I have drawn mine.
CB, my eyes thank you, thank you, thank you!
Uh, good gawd y`all--
Helen: what is she good for?
Absolutely nuthin, say it again!
Aaahhhh,
Helen, Uh . . . .
Gn 22:17 your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies
Newspaper sale$ decline should be blamed on the Journos
. . .
People who work at journalism full time ought to be able to do a better job of it than people for whom it is a hobby. But that's not going to happen as long as we "professional" journalists ignore stories we don't like and try to hide our mistakes. We think of ourselves as "gatekeepers." But there is not much future in being a gatekeeper when the walls are down.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.