The White House is TERRIFIED of a gray haired old lady!!!!

[bvar22]

I am speaking of Helen Thomas. I am generally opposed to the cloning of human beings, but in this case I would make an exception.

As a tribute to the ONLY member of the White House Press Pool with integrity, balls and a conscience, and to provide a beacon of encouragement to ALL of us, I am posting the following excerpt of my favorite press conference:

Jan. 6, 2003
12:35 P.M. EST



Helen Thomas: 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.

MR. 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?

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

Thomas: They're not attacking you.

MR. FLEISCHER: -- from a country --

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

MR. 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?

MR. 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?

MR. 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?

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

Thomas: The Iraqi people?

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

Thomas: So they will be vulnerable?

MR. 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 --

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

MR. 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.

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


http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030106-1.html#2

If a handful of our MSM CorpoMedia had 1/2 the courage and integrity of Helen Thomas, 1600 Americans and over 100,000 innocent Iraqis would still be alive today. This remarkable woman is a HERO and a TRUE American Patriot!
TRUTH to POWER!!!

[havocmom]

1. Amen

Helen Thomas is the best and yes, they fear her.

[Maddy McCall]

2. Nominated

She is a true old-school journalist.

[Starkraven]

3. Thanks.

That was inspirational.
I have ALWAYS loved Helen Thomas.
It is shameful the way she was treated by the White House.

[gordianot]

4. MR. FLEISCHER comes to a war of wits without any ammunition.

[BigBearJohn]

5. She is the epitome of the kind of news reporter WE all need!!!!!

[loudsue]

6. Helen Thomas is a REAL reporter, journalist.

In fact, one of the very few who still have a real job. All of the others who are competent and credible have been replaced by air-brained ditto-heads.

But, MOST professions in the U.S. seem to have pushed out those who are really worth their salt, for those who are fitting the "new" corporate mold. Down is up, black is white, bad is good, war is peace....such is life under a propaganda-heavy republican government.

:kick:

[FreedomAngel82]

7. She's great!

:D I wish Maher would have her on his show.

[1956]

11. Absolutely!

By the way anyone know what Maher's email is?

[Redleg]

8. Helen Thomas spoke at my university's commencement last Saturday.

She is a powerful speaker and took the administration to task for the lying about Iraq and for the Abu Ghraib abuse.

[spindoctor]

9. Lest not forget the heroic efforts of Russel Mohabir

Who's "Ari and I" columns lightened up the Common Dreams website.
He attempted "Scottie and Me" for a while but the columns are now far between.

Does anybody know what happened? I suspect he is permanently backbenched.

[LostinVA]

10. I met her about four years ago at UVA

Where she was doing a lecture/book signing. Right after Shrub's fake election. It was great, seeing this little short firebrand BLASTING * to a roomful of mostly elderly Republicans. I chatted with her for a few minutes. Quite a lady. A national treasure,a nd a REAL journalist very much mistreated by this Administration.

[undeterred]

12. oh, I thought you mean this gray haired old lady!!

[LiberallyInclined]

14. that ain't no lady.

that's the most evil hell-bitch ever spawned by Satan and a syphilis-infected goat.

[lumpy]

15. Didn't know that old hag

thumbs-up the Abu Graib torture tactics.

[smirkymonkey]

16. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......

The mother of all evil!

[Individualist]

17. That thing spawns demons

It's no lady by any stretch of the imagination.

[lumpy]

13. Helen is a hero

and a true patriot. She is a hero to all the gray haired ladies I know, include me. Take note: the older generation I come in contact with are appalled and outraged with Bushco. Don't discount this growing segment of the population.

[applegrove]

18. You gotta love the grey haired ones... they have nothing to loose

career-wise and are thus less vulnerable to coercion.

:rofl:

Plus they know this pattern in the WH. They saw it before in the 1930s. In Europe.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

19. Kicked and Nominated

Helen Thomas is what the rest of the WH Press Horps refuses to be.


:kick:

[FizzFuzz]

20. She's got Ovaries!!!!!

Yay!!

Love her!

[flygal]

24. LOL!

Right on Sista!

[FizzFuzz]

25. :) :slaphands:

I sure wouldn't want anyone to say I had balls! Yichh! What a freaking putdown of women!
(and its seeming to me like its more the women in DC who are taking a stand for integrity and against the neocons. Can't think of alot of names right now besides Hillary, Barbara Boxer and Louise Slaughter, but I know I've noticed it. I may be biased, but it seems I've heard a number of female names speaking and voting)

[unhappycamper]

21. Nominated.

:kick:

[cilla4progress]

22. Regards, Helen

It would be nice to send her this thread and our regards. She's a great lady and one of the last true guardians of the 1st amendment!

[Nothing Without Hope]

23. She's got more nads than any of them. She cannot be intimidated.

She shames the rest of them with her integrity and determination to get to the truth. She hates lies and hypocrisy and has a real knack for making it all too obvious that that is what this administration dishes out.

No wonder they fear her and banished her to the back of the room for as long as they could, while lavishing special attentions on faux reporter (among other things) JimmyJeff "Gannon."

But now she's BACK and she is UNBOWED!!!!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1757960

...and they dared to put ANN COULTER on the cover of that national magazine. Which one would YOU rather have at your back in a fight with liars and criminals? Which one has been upholding integrity and the true function of the press for decades? Which one would YOU trust with dogs or small children? Truly a travesty.

[Q]

26. Thomas represents what's left of the 'free press'...

...and makes the other blow-dryed 'infotainment specialists' look horrible in comparison.

[Virginian]

27. I liked your post so much I sent it to friends and relatives.

Here is my Email:

Helen Thomas of the White House corps was asking Ari Fleischer why we were going to go to war and kill innocent Iraqi citizens who had never hurt us. Ari tried to come up with an answer, but fumbled. Assuming Ari was kept in the loop, he already knew that there would be a war in Iraq.
Here, read it for yourself from the White House website:

Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030106-1.html#2

This is interesting in the aftermath of the Brittish "leaked memo" that the American Corporate Media will not mention.

In the memo, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is quoted as saying US President George Bush had "made up his mind to take military action even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin".

It adds: "Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.

"We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would help with the legal justification for the use of force."


Here, read about it from the BBC website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4503061.stm

Feel free to pass this on.

[11 Bravo]

28. Email her. She deserves our thanks and respect.

She can be reached at: [email protected]
I have contacted her several times, and she has always responded with a short message of appreciation.