Today's Ari Fleischer Press Briefing: WHERE WAS HELEN?

The White House | March 7, 2003

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Just exactly how are seats assigned in the press briefing room? Are there place cards on the chairs, etc?

Also the old hag must have enemies in the press or no one from the press would have taken her traditional seat regardless of if she was permitted to sit in it or not.

[jriemer]

Ari should be pulling in Hazardous Duty pay for dealing with Helen Thomas et. al. while keeping his composure and style. Going into the the noon White House daily press briefing is like walking into a nest of vipers.

[iceskater]

OMG, that is just too funny.

[Mrs.Liberty]

HAHA! Diet Coke Spew Alert needed on that one!

[mdmathis6]

"You guys are gonna feel awful when somebody discovers Helen has been in her one room apartment, dead for the past week."


Yeahhhh.....just devestated!(said with a kind of yawning, dead-pan kind of voice)

[DaughterofEve]

Last night a friend told me that Helen Thomas is the late Danny Thomas' sister. Is there any truth to that statement?

You mean...she could be MARLO AND PHIL DONAHUE'S AUNTIE?

[newgeezer]

Thomas is better associated with that which comes out of the elephants rear.

No, that's the esteemed Senator Tom "Dung-heap" Harkin (D-Iowa).

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Letter I sent to the WH on the 4TH:

Dear Mr. President,

Whatever Mr. Fleischer is paid, given that he must put up with Helen Thomas, it is not enough!

God Bless,

X XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

XXXXX XXXX, Texas

[Congressman Billybob]

My guess is that Helen's alarm clock malfunctioned, and she overslept under her bridge. If no one in a White House press conference ever calls on Helen again, the world will be a better place for that.

It used to be that she was good for comic relief, but the joke's gotten thin. Now she's good for nothing. Best to just ignore her, like a f*rt in an elevator.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, now up on UPI, and FR, "Truth, the First Casualty?"

Latest book(let), "to Restore Trust in America."

[Search4Truth]

"No matter how bad she was, she was just an old lady...... "

Your compassion is worthy of a Conservative. Ms. Thomas is deserving of our pity simply because she is a human-being. Although I did get a chuckle from some of the jokes. :)

[New Horizon]

[Jen]

I tuned in late, only to see GWB call on a reporter and say something about the thing being "scripted,"...

The 'scripted' remark refers to the order in which the reporters were called on. One reporter tried to ask a question, and GWB made that remark to him. Ari Fleischer today said that he provided the president with the list of reporters to call on.

[mdmathis6]

"OOPS--just snorted diet coke all over my keyboard"

glad you made that crucial correction from coke to diet coke; Carnivore would have been all over you, and you would have been in jail by now...lol!

[Redleg Duke]

"You WILL feel awful, right?"

Don't rush me...I'm thinking about it!

[Roughneck]

"with the exception of Dasshole and the beast, I wish no one heart ache or sorrow, (they appear incapable of either.) No matter how bad she was, she was just an old lady......"




Here I go again, spoutin' off:

That old bit.h never cared who SHE hurt OK?

Furthermore, if a woman is a Bit.h when she is young, it does not make her less of one when she's old! If she can't take the heat, she needs to stay out of the kitchen!

You are also assuming the old bat HAD a heart that could get hurt...

[TruthNtegrity]

>>>I don't like the constant comments on her looks. We can't help what we are born with.

But her open and constant negative comments show how black her heart is. She comes out with whatever outrageous statement she wishes, only because she knows that her 'doyenneship-status' lets her get away with it. They are too nice to her.

end of quote


I couldn't agree more. But, I would add that I also believe that looks are a reflection of an inward attitude, and I suspect that her unpleasant face has something to do with her mental state. I've seen a pic of her as a young woman, and you'd never guess that she would wind up looking like she does.

To those who are interested - seating at a Press Conference at the White House is assigned - and the seat of honor has gone to Helen Thomas even though she quit her reporter job and has signed on as a columnist. There was every reason for her to be removed from the front right seat at that time, but, for whatever reasons, they continued to "honor" her.

Her attacks on the President have gotten increasingly specious and she was particularly nasty on Wednesday. I'm not surprised that they seated her in the third row at the televised press conference last night, and that she was not on the list to be called.

The use of the word "scripted" only refers to the fact that Ari Fleischer, as he admitted in his press conference today, made up a list for the President, a list of who to call on and in what order.

It is no accident that HT was not on that list.

I didn't see if she attended today's press conference, but if she was there, she certainly was not called on first, as has been Ari's pattern.

[KC Burke]

Apparently they are assigned, but that doesn't appear to be done in a manner where the senior WH correspondent gets the same one every time, or as you say, someone might have declined to take "her" seat. I'm sure that some of the top reporters knew what was happening even before it occurred. These things are obvious to the old guard.

[cibco]

"just snorted coke all over my keyboard"

You better behave or someone will call the cops!

[aristeides]

Also the old hag must have enemies in the press or no one from the press would have taken her traditional seat regardless of if she was permitted to sit in it or not.

Maybe it just goes to show how ambitious and cutthroat the Washington press corps is.

[Cinnamon Girl]

I just watched the briefing on C-Span internet and I saw a lot of empty chairs and NO SIGN of the sock puppet.