Whitewashing Helen Thomas

michellemalkin.com ^ | August 19, 2008 | Michelle Malkin

[Free ThinkerNY]

Your must-read of the morning: Miami Herald TV critic Glenn Garvin’s barbecue of a fawning documentary about Helen Thomas.

Here’s a taste:

Multiple choice quiz: Helen Thomas has been covering the White House for 48 years. Which of the following stories did she break?

A. President Kennedy’s plans to invade the Bay of Pigs.

B. President Nixon’s secret bombing of Cambodia.

C. The Pentagon Papers.

D. The Watergate scandal.

E. None of the above, or anything else, either.

The answer, of course, is E, though you might not guess it from the fawning HBO documentary Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas At The White House, the latest unfortunate example of the increasing tendency to confuse public temper tantrums with good journalism.

Though Thomas is routinely referred to these days as iconic, legendary and fearless, journalism has little to do with it. She’s celebrated not for her work as a journeyman reporter at a second-rate wire service or as a virtually unread political columnist for the Hearst newspapers.

Her reputation really derives from scolding, tendentious speeches nominally delivered as ”questions” like this one to George W. Bush, admiringly featured in Thank You, Mr. President: ”Why do you refuse to respect the wall between church and state? You know that the mixing of religion and government for centuries has led to slaughter.” Just in case you thought that was intended to produce an actual answer — the usual aim of reporters — Thomas interrupted Bush before he could even complete a sentence. Perhaps that’s because when presidents have gotten a chance to reply to Thomas’ tirades, they’ve often made her look like a fool.

[Enchante]

MurryMom is pretty much a clone of Helen Thomas. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Helen moonlights here as “MurryMom” (who claims to live near Pittsburgh, but who knows?). They both share an obsessive devotion to every foolish left-wing talking point and a complete inability to actually consider evidence and sound reasoning.

[ShasheMac]

No, David and Bathsheba.

[blau993]

Truth be told, Helen Thomas is not very bright.

I used to work in downtown DC, and one day I ran into her (almost literally -- I amfairly tall and she is very short) in the Au Bon Pain at the food court across the street from my office. She was wandering around, seemingly in a daze. One of the managers went to help her. She wanted to order lunch but hadn't a clue how to do it. The manager must have spent 15 minutes walking her through the menu, ordering her food for her, and then walking her and the food to the checkout register.

I guess if you wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, you could say it was old age. However, I suspect there never was much of anything rattling around in that hideous head.

[phillyfanatic]

Thomas is a throw back to all those old lefties that reigned from the late ‘40’s on at the WH Press Corps. Whether it was Reston, Lippmann, Severeid, Alsop, or whatever resident lefty intellectual opeder, they like Helen have always been Dem flackers and have always asked the USA to be less than say Ronaldus Magnus wanted for this nation.