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.”
Thanks for that info...I think. :)
Anyone out there listening to this barf bag except for a laugh?
Excellent article, thank you! Its in my bookmarks now.
No problem. Most people freak upon learning that Helen was EVER married to ANYONE. I just put out the facts. She did marry once, somewhat late in life and that was decades ago, and her husband, AP WH reporter Frank Cormier, retired soon after and it became known he had Alzheimers. I find the conclusion about the marriage inescapable, but others are free to draw whatever conclusion they like.
JFK was quite conservative compared to most who followed him, especially Big Spender Bush.
JFK chickened out with Cuba, probably because the Soviets had such a huge file on him.
Her English is not very good. EveryONE requires a singular pronoun since the antecedent is singular. Everyone thinks he's a journalist.
It's no wonder than most people get this wrong. They hear journalists make the same mistake every day. I even heard one TV journalist say, "Among we journalists..."
My old ears ache when I hear such verbal pratfalls.
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood,
a beautiful day for a neighbor,
would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Cuz for a dead guy, you sure have a lot of insight! :)
Methinks Helen doesn't know her history very well. What, exactly, is a journalist? By definition, it would be "one who keeps a journal." What I find frightening is that simple reporting on the facts of an event turned into this exalted profession known as journalism.
Really, we ask no more from a journalist than we do from our children: "Okay, tell me what happened." That's it. It isn't difficult. Simply report the facts. It doesn't require advanced degrees, it simply requires integrity.
Of course, therein lies the rub. Real integrity is in reporting the facts as you see it, and openly admitting to your bias. There is no honor in pretending that one is a completely impartial observer, because that is clearly an impossible task.
So, Helen, what should frighten you is that you are being called to task on your bias by "everyone with a laptop." Be afraid, Helen. Be very afraid.
1. What is the Docex Project?
A. A new health education class taught to teens on how to use condoms in high school?
B. Millions of documents sat deep within a warehouse that may shed some light on links between Saddam and Al Qaeda headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Recently they have been released by John Negroponte for bloggers to translate?
C. A sequel to The Blair Witch Project coming out this fall?
2. What is Operation Able Danger
A. Its an episode of your child's favorite TV cartoon "Bob the Builder"?
B. Its the name of the secret operation our government worked on to blow up levees that Louis Farrakhan has talked of in New Orleans?
C. Information Operations Campaign Plan against transnational terrorism, "specifically al-Qaida." According to statements by Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and confirmed by four others, Able Danger had identified the September 11, 2001 attack leader Mohamed Atta, and three of the 9/11 plot's 19 hijackers, as possible members of an al Qaeda cell linked to the '93 World Trade Center Attacks.
3. What is Salman Pak?
A. A training camp on the Tigris River some 15 miles southeast of Iraq's capital. Training is majorly on terrorism. They would be trained on assassinations, kidnapping, hijacking of airplanes, hijacking of buses, public buses, hijacking of trains and all other kinds of operations related to terrorism?
B. A soccer player from Europe?
C. A treaty signed by France to never allow any foreign cheese to enter their homeland?
4. What is Resolution 1441?
A. The numbers printed on the back of a beer label viewing through a bottle of Rolling Rock beer?
B. A study to find out what year Christopher Columbus was actually born?
C. Is a resolution by the UN Security Council, passed unanimously on November 8, 2002, offering Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations" that had been set out in several previous resolutions (Resolution 660, Resolution 661, Resolution 678, Resolution 686, Resolution 687, Resolution 688, Resolution 707, Resolution 715, Resolution 986, and Resolution 1284?
5. What was Operation Desert Fox?
A. A con artist that swindles women out of their money in Las Vegas.
B. the military codename for a major three-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from December 16-December 18, 1998 by the United States and United Kingdom. These strikes were ordered by the President Bill Clinton and were undertaken in response to Iraq's continued failure to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions as well as their interference with United Nations Special Commission inspectors?
C. A sting operation by the FBI to stop smugglers from bringing illegal immigrants across the United States border?
Thank you, Oh, Thank you for that oasis! :-)
More laptoppers need to put this demoncRAT crazy out of business.
LMAO! Helen, dear, we've reached the stage where many journalists should never have been given a diploma, should have their citizenship stripped because they have no allegiance to this country, and be legally hung until dead.
And it says a lot that she is considered the top of the White House Press Corps CORPSE!
If Kennedy was her favorite, the Big Creep came in second.
It must be sad to live so long you get to see yourself become irrelevant.
No, she has sharply questioned U.S. presidents for 5 years. She was milque toast for 8 years prior to that. When an author gets the first sentence wrong, its not worth reading the rest.
I think Helen Thom-ASS finds GWB extremely attractive and hates herself for it. It makes as much sense as anything else! lol
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