Give Him Hell, Helen
For the first time in three years, cowardly warmonger George W. Bush called on venerable journalist Helen Thomas during a White House press conference, who asked him why he wanted to go to war with Iraq from the moment he took office.
He said he didn't want to go to war, that no president wants war.
When she tried to challenge that claim, he kept rudely interrupting her until he managed to elude her and move on.
Thomas has been a member of the White House press corps since 1961.
She has skewered every president since John F. Kennedy, and rightfully so, because as a journalist she has always represented the rights of the American people to know what their president is doing, and why.
If anyone wanted to see a demonstration of a highly competent journalism veteran going after a weak, thin-skinned politician, the recent exchange between Thomas and Bush fit the bill.
Bush can't take the heat from serious journalists.
He cannot justify his ridiculous actions.
The emperor has no clothes, and Helen Thomas exposed him in just a scant few moments.
Helen Thomas has questioned the last eight presidents during White House Press Conferences, so she's in a position to rate their performances.
She rates George W. Bush as the worst president in modern history.
And she oughtta know.
7 comments:
Bush's overused word of the week is "progress."
He thinks we are making "progress" in Iraq, and he keeps repeating it, hoping if he says it enough it will come true.
He doesn't care that everyone with half a brain disagrees- he thinks that telling us we are making "progress" will make us believe it.
Progress to me will occur when Bush is out of office and some poor schlub will take his place and be stuck undoing all the fuck-ups Bush has brought about.
Editor and Publisher (E&P) transcribed the exchange between Helen Thomas and the Pinhead. Apparently, Bush has trouble differentiating between Afghanistan and Iraq.
President Finally Calls on Helen Thomas, Says He Only Semi-Regrets It
By E&P Staff
Published: March 21, 2006 3:00 PM ET
NEW YORK Unlike several of his predecessors, going back decades, President Bush has largely avoided calling on veteran reporter Helen Thomas, one of his harshest critics, in press conferences.
But today, for some reason, he relented, early in this morning's press gathering, and the following exchange took place.
Helen. After that brilliant performance at the Gridiron (dinner), I am -- (laughter.)
Q You're going to be sorry. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Well, then, let me take it back. (Laughter.)
Q I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet -- your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth -- what was your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil -- quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else. What was it?
THE PRESIDENT: I think your premise -- in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist -- is that -- I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect --
Q Everything --
THE PRESIDENT: Hold on for a second, please.
Q -- everything I've heard --
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me, excuse me. No President wants war. Everything you may have heard is that, but it's just simply not true. My attitude about the defense of this country changed on September the 11th. We -- when we got attacked, I vowed then and there to use every asset at my disposal to protect the American people. Our foreign policy changed on that day, Helen. You know, we used to think we were secure because of oceans and previous diplomacy. But we realized on September the 11th, 2001, that killers could destroy innocent life. And I'm never going to forget it. And I'm never going to forget the vow I made to the American people that we will do everything in our power to protect our people.
Part of that meant to make sure that we didn't allow people to provide safe haven to an enemy. And that's why I went into Iraq -- hold on for a second --
Q They didn't do anything to you, or to our country.
THE PRESIDENT: Look -- excuse me for a second, please. Excuse me for a second. They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where al Qaeda trained --
Q I'm talking about Iraq --
THE PRESIDENT: Helen, excuse me. That's where -- Afghanistan provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where they trained. That's where they plotted. That's where they planned the attacks that killed thousands of innocent Americans.
I also saw a threat in Iraq. I was hoping to solve this problem diplomatically. That's why I went to the Security Council; that's why it was important to pass 1441, which was unanimously passed. And the world said, disarm, disclose, or face serious consequences --
Q -- go to war --
THE PRESIDENT: -- and therefore, we worked with the world, we worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world. And when he chose to deny inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. And we did, and the world is safer for it.
Q Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: You're welcome. (Laughter.) I didn't really regret it. I kind of semi-regretted it. (Laughter.)
Q -- have a debate.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right. Anyway, your performance at the Gridiron was just brilliant -- unlike Holland's, was a little weak, but -- (laughter.)
Sorry.
I missed his press conf..I was at the vet's with a very sick kitty of mine. Thanks for the recap of Helen's ..i love her too.
Have you seen Doug Thompson's piece this morning on the press conference? He makes sadly chilling points about the Shrubs mental state with regards to being a pathological liar.
Dry drunks like Bush tend to be pathological liars. They are so used to lying about their addictions, they lie as a convenient defense mechanism. Cornering them with lies they've been caught telling just makes them more absolute in their denial.
For instance, Bush denies ever saying Saddam had a link to 9/11. It doesn't matter that he's on video tape saying it, he expects us to believe his denial because he believes it.
In AA they call it "stinking thinking"- the damage caused by excess alcohol abuse actually warps the addict's thinking. AA helps the addict to reprogram their thinking into stuff like basic honesty- with the self and others.
Untreated alcoholics remain mentally sick. Bush is their posterboy; he illustrates the behavior in daily technicolor.
Dusty, where can we find Doug Thompson's piece?
Here ya go KZ..
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_8315.shtml
Naturally, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and their neo-con buddies really got on Helen Thomas's ass about "being rude to the president."
She has been a reporter twice as long as those pundits combined- what the hell do they know from journalism?
Fox News and Rightwing radio are not journalism- they are propaganda machines owned by the fascists who run Bush's government.
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