Helen Thomas, You Da Man!

President Bush gave a speech today, in yet another failed attempt to bring up his poll numbers - you know, the ones he doesn't pay attention to - and perhaps shore up a bit more support for his ridiculous war in Iraq.

After spending a bit of time going over the usual talking points - stay the course, 9/11, Islamo-fascists, yadda yadda yadda - and wasting even more oxygen that could better be used by non-knuckle-dragging, upright walking mammals like you and me, he opened the floor to questions, which is always entertaining when the audience hasn't been pre-screened. Oh, and did I mention that this particular Q&A was in front of the White House press corp?

Among those chosen to ask questions was Helen Thomas, an intelligent, thoughtful and, above all, insistent reporter who has been covering the White House for the past several centuries.

First, it's surprising that Thomas was called on at all. As best as anyone can remember, she hasn't been called on in the past four years, and it's possible that even she was taken by surprise. However, she rallied nicely, and managed to deliver a forceful bitch-slap with her single question:

Thomas: 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, your Cabinet officers, former Cabinet officers, intelligence people and so forth -- but what's your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil, the quest for oil. It hasn't been Israel or anything else. What was it?

Damn!

But the president, always on his toes, bobbed and weaved to the best of his abilities, cutting off Thomas with any possible follow-up she might have had:

Bush: I think your premise, in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist -- that I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect.

Thomas: And...

Bush: Hold on for a second, please. 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 in September the 11th. 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. 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.

(CROSSTALK)

Bush: Hold on for a second. Excuse me for a second, please. Excuse me for a second. They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for Al Qaida.

That's where Al Qaida trained and that's where...

Thomas: (OFF-MIKE)

Bush: Helen, excuse me.

That's where -- Afghanistan provided safe haven for Al Qaida. 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.

Thomas: Did they say go to war?

And the world said, "Disarm, disclose or face serious consequences." 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 the 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.

After completely failing to give an honest and clear answer to Thomas, he deliberately turned away from her to take a question from someone else.

Now, admittedly, this may not seem like that big a deal, until you see Dubya's expression when Thomas tries to interrupt him so she can follow up. I suggest going to Crooks & Liars and checking out the video.The rest of the press conference was a practice in futility because, as with Thomas, Dubya refused to actually answer any questions with a straight answer, other than to suggest that he does not intend to let anyone on his staff go, regardless of the numerous calls for exactly that.

Later, Thomas made a brief appearance on CNN to speak with Leslie "Wolf" Blitzer, where she continued her campaign of verbally smacking around really dumb guys. According to the CNN transcript, Blitzer asked why Dubya had not called on her in the past few years. Thomas, ever the honest professional, had this to say:

Thomas: That's right. So -- well, he wasn't calling on me because I think he was avoiding what he considered very tough questions that I would be asking. And I don't blame him for that. That's his privilege.

Leslie Blitzer then moved on to a more direct question about the "confrontation" in the press room:

Blitzer: And you asked him a tough question. Did you accept his answer? Namely, that he didn't come into the presidency believing he was going to go to war against Saddam Hussein, but after 9/11 his world view changed?

Thomas: It doesn't -- it doesn't parse. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, it certainly had -- was secular, it was not tied to al Qaeda.

I think he wanted to go into Iraq because he had all the neo- conservatives advising at the top of their agenda for Project for a New American Century. First Iraq, then Iran -- then Syria, then Iran, and so forth.

Blitzer: So you believe even before 9/11, he was about -- he wanted to take out Saddam Hussein?

Thomas: Oh, I think this is very clear. You couldn't sit in that press room day after day. Every time -- every time it was mentioned by Ari Fleischer or Scott, they would say in one breath, 9/11, Saddam Hussein, 9/11, Saddam Hussein.

I don't -- I don't blame the American public for thinking there was a tie.

After that, things started to get a bit tense, and ended with Thomas pointing out that Blitzer has basically turned into a puss:

Blitzer: Let's go back to this issue, being the worst president ever. And you've covered a lot of presidents, going back to President Kennedy.

Worse than Richard Nixon?

Thomas: Well, I think what this president has done is really strike a match to the tinderbox that we all know is the Middle East. And I think that Nixon's crime, so-called, was the abuse of government power.

In the case, in the case of the president and his cohorts, I think they have really spread war throughout the Middle East. They have really encouraged all of the horror that is going on.

We have killed so many innocent people. I mean...

Blitzer: But you can't forget 9/11. Three thousand people were killed.

Thomas: But the Iraqis didn't do it. I mean, how can you -- why don't you go bomb some other country? I mean, if you have no reason -- this is -- I don't believe in preemptive war, and it certainly is against international law. It's against the U.N. charter, it's against Geneva, and it's against Nuremberg. BLITZER: Tell our viewers, who, as I said earlier, have grown up with you, Helen, what you're up to nowadays, how you feel, what your goals are right now.

Thomas: My goals are to seek the truth, wherever it leads me. And I do think that's the goal of journalists, and I think we fell down on the job.

Blitzer: The news media in general? That we weren't watching?

Thomas: Come back. All is forgiven.

Blitzer: You're going to forgive us?

Thomas: To the White House.

Blitzer: You're part of -- they're part of the news media, too.

Thomas: Right.

Blitzer: We sat in those briefings for a long time together.

Helen, I hope you're around...

Thomas: You ask very tough questions.

Blitzer: Well, I'm trying to do the best I can, like you.

Thomas: You asked President Clinton why he wouldn't resign.

Blitzer: I asked him some tough questions, but that's another time. And this is another story right now.

From there, Blitzer ended the interview.

Again, the man is a total puss, and I give huge props to Helen Thomas for standing up for the Truth (with a capital "T") while so many other White House reporters, as well as others in the mainstream media, fold under the smirking pomposity of the Chimp-in-Chief.


All the best,
Derek
(DCF)