Helen Thomas, Impartial Journalist, in Today's WH Press Briefing

White House Website ^ | 6 January 2003 | the White House

[SFConservative]

ARI FLEISCHER: And with that, I'm more than happy to take your questions. Helen.

HELEN THOMAS, Hearst Newspapers columnist: At the earlier briefing, Ari, you said that the President deplored the taking of innocent lives. Does that apply to all innocent lives in the world? And I have a follow-up.

FLEISCHER: I refer specifically to a horrible terrorist attack on Tel Aviv that killed scores and wounded hundreds. And the President, as he said in his statement yesterday, deplores in the strongest terms the taking of those lives and the wounding of those people, innocents in Israel.

THOMAS: My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?

FLEISCHER: Helen, the question is how to protect Americans, and our allies and friends --

THOMAS: They're not attacking you.

FLEISCHER: -- from a country --

THOMAS: Have they laid the glove on you or on the United States, the Iraqis, in 11 years?

FLEISCHER: I guess you have forgotten about the Americans who were killed in the first Gulf War as a result of Saddam Hussein's aggression then.

THOMAS: Is this revenge, 11 years of revenge?

FLEISCHER: Helen, I think you know very well that the President's position is that he wants to avert war, and that the President has asked the United Nations to go into Iraq to help with the purpose of averting war.

THOMAS: Would the President attack innocent Iraqi lives?

FLEISCHER: The President wants to make certain that he can defend our country, defend our interests, defend the region, and make certain that American lives are not lost.

THOMAS: And he thinks they are a threat to us?

FLEISCHER: There is no question that the President thinks that Iraq is a threat to the United States.

THOMAS: The Iraqi people?

FLEISCHER: The Iraqi people are represented by their government. If there was regime change, the Iraqi --

THOMAS: So they will be vulnerable?

FLEISCHER: Actually, the President has made it very clear that he has not dispute with the people of Iraq. That's why the American policy remains a policy of regime change. There is no question the people of Iraq --

THOMAS: That's a decision for them to make, isn't it? It's their country.

FLEISCHER: Helen, if you think that the people of Iraq are in a position to dictate who their dictator is, I don't think that has been what history has shown.

THOMAS: I think many countries don't have -- people don't have the decision -- including us.

[SFConservative]

We should pressure Hearst to dump this non-journalist from their payroll (I know, fat chance). What an embarrassment for the journalism profession, although it's pretty clear that it has virtually no capacity for embarrassment left.

[paul544]

No, Ari should grow some balls and either bitch slap her around, or revoke her press pass based on her editorializing her position in the press corp.

[Munson]

Maybe the WH should dump Helen Thomas from the press pool.

[hole_n_one]

[Paul Atreides]

Is there any way the old worthless hag can be frozen out of the q & a? I mean, can she just not be called on for questions? She has already stated her hatred for the President. I certainly wouldn't fault the administration if they dropped her on Iraq. However, maybe a little dry spell on the q & a will send her a message.

[sweetliberty]

I saw this most recent display of Helen's whining and nit-picking. Ari must have the patience of a saint. If I was in that position I'm afraid I might succomb to the urge to slap that witch silly.

[billorites]

Helen's so far out there, it's hardly worth the FR bandwidth to ridicule her.

Seriously, in what venue is she not a risible buffoon?

[Jean S]

Maybe the WH should dump Helen Thomas from the press pool.

I agree.
I also think Fleischer allowed her too many questions. She demanded two and he let her ask eight (?).

[clintonh8r]

One big advantage of having dial-up service is that I was able to click off that page before the picture was fully revealed. You may make amends by posting a picture of Anna Kornikova or Ann Coulter. Thank you for your cooperation.

(I am thinking of pressing the abuse button on you, so watch it!)

[Blue Screen of Death]

Each time she makes a fool of herself some republican gets his wings.

[hinckley buzzard]

"bitch slap her round...revoke her press pass..."

No. Helen Thomas is a blatant fool and surely no one takes her seriously.

But she appears to be what passes in the media as an "institution," and to summarily dispense with her nonsense would, I believe, be construed as
heavyhanded and punitive.

Besides, if she is sent to the farm, we would miss out on a lot of really egregious utterances to have fun with.
Think about it--there are few people in this world who can enable you to feel more intellectually and morally superior than old ding-dong Helen.

[sweetliberty]

Maybe they keep the old bat around to make the others look sane, or maybe just for comic relief.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Speaking here, from a purely personal view, I believe that Ari Fleischer and the entire Bush administration would go right through the roof in popularity polls if Fleischer just stepped out from the podium and went down to Helen and slapped her upside her obnoxious, stupid and butt-ugly head.

As an American, I would be damn proud.

[Paul Atreides]

I am beginning to wish that W would put her in a wheelchair and shove her over the side of a cliff.

[Paul Atreides]

Amen!

[sweetliberty]

ROTFL!

[Paul Atreides]

Every time I see Helen Thomas, I know how Jabba The Hutt's mother must have looked.

[Dog Gone]

As long as she's the voice of the opposition, we have nothing to fear. It's a plus.

[HP8753]

Sigmund,The Sea Monster strikes again.

[lizma]

Ari should grow some balls and either bitch slap her around

Nah, ever listen to some of the exchanges Bush has with her? I think they look at at her as some crazy old crone and is a source of entertainment.

I must admit Ari sometimes grows a bit weary. It's like a patient teacher with an obnoxious 1st grader.