Veteran critic of White House turns on 'gullible' press pack:Helen Thomas

[cal04]

For almost five decades, White House reporter Helen Thomas has been covering America's leaders with a healthy dose of scepticism and an endless string of pointed questions.

Along the way she has ruffled presidential feathers and, since becoming a columnist in 2003, she has made clear her views on some of those incumbents - including George W Bush who she has described as the "worst president in all of American history".

Now, 85-year-old Thomas has focused attention on her fellow reporters, accusing them of failing in their duties in the run-up to the Iraq war. "I ask myself every day why the media have become so complacent, complicit and gullible," she writes in Watchdogs of Democracy?, a book published this week. "It all comes down to the 9/11 terrorist attacks that led to fear among reporters of being considered 'unpatriotic' or 'unAmerican'."

Thomas, who has covered every president since John F Kennedy, said she believed the press corps had recently recovered some of its spine and, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, had been asking more searching questions. But she said when it really mattered - when, in her opinion, the media could have perhaps prevented the invasion of Iraq - the press failed to do its public service.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1093512.ece

[LuckyLib]

1. You tell 'em, Helen. The lapdogs are a disgrace to democracy.

[blm]

35. I think she's wrong - the press was servicing Bush LONG BEFORE 9-11, so

I really don't buy that as the reason. I believe 9-11 gave them the COVER to be even more servile and less concerned about how that servility appeared to the public.

[Nabia2004]

40. Exactly - nt

[ProfessorGAC]

43. We Have A Winner

This was a press corps that failed to ask how a president who wanted to run the country like a business would have any knowledge of how to run a successful business. This was a press corps that made NO issue of his disappearance from the TANG records.

This was a press corps who asked no questions about gentlemen's C's, about drinking, cocaine, whoring, and drunken driving.

They were worshipping at the neocon altar long before 9/11.
The Professor

[NMDemDist2]

2. K&N for Helen n/t

[rosesaylavee]

3. I just love her. Thank g*d for Helen. n/t

[Joey Liberal]

4. Helen is a HERO n/t

[Fridays Child]

5. I want to bronze that woman!

Figuratively speaking, of course.

[woo me with science]

33. Why on earth would you bronze

someone made of pure gold?

(just teasing. i understand your sentiment.)

[speedoo]

6. Privileged to move this to the greatest page.

Which is where Helen belongs.

[Pastiche423]

8. Yes, she belongs on the greatest page and the front row

[tinfoilinfor2005]

7. K & R

Helen is the only reporter who doesn't come from an alien pod.

[helderheid]

9. HELEN!

:loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya:

[globalvillage]

10. Helen Thomas on Ed Schultz tomorrow

Helen Thomas and John Kerry will both be guests on Ed Schultz Wednesday.
Should be a good one!

Listen live at:
http://www.wegoted.com/

(06/21/2006) Wednesday on The Ed Schultz Show!

Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, joins the show to discuss his plan for Iraq.

Columnist and dean of the White House correspondents, Helen Thomas is our guest to discuss Tony Snow's first month.

[Seabiscuit]

18. I love listening to Helen Thomas and John Kerry but I'll have to have my

barf bag handy every time Ed Schulz opens his pie-hole with that gawd-awful phony Rush Limbaugh accent.

And no, he doesn't really talk that way naturally. I heard him a few weeks ago *without* the schtick and he sounded like grocery store clerk from Cincinnati - plain-spoken as day. Then over the next few days he gradually re-adopted his phony Limbaugh blather. It's really nauseating.

[Botany]

31. Ed "I still haven't finished Kennedy's article but I will talk ..

..... about it" Schultz. I still can figure out what % of him is "an act."

He gets listeners and overall promotes the good but sometimes i want to
scream.

BTW I heard him w/ Helen Thomas and she did great .... ed was O.K. too.

[LeahD]

32. She said she doesn't care if all of the Presidents have liked her.

Her job is to find the truth.
Go, Helen, and keep digging for the truth!

[Botany]

34. and Ed kept up the ?s on that line.

After she told him that if she was liked she would not be doing her job.

Helen Thomas rocks!

[LeahD]

37. Yes, she does, and I hope she doesn't have retirement plans! n/t

[calimary]

11. God BLESS our Helen!

She's never failed to do HER public service. The rest of the White House Press Corpse isn't even worthy to touch the hem of her garment.

K&R

[Quantess]

12. That lady is cool!

I wish there were about 500 more like her.

[me b zola]

13. "when it really mattered..."

They crumbled and you stood tall, Helen. :loveya:

[Laurab]

14. 85 years old - the woman is unbelievable

She has more strength and guts in her pinky finger than the rest of them put together. And she's a true patriot, who cares about her country.

K & R

[cyberpj]

15. BUY THE BOOK. Support Helen and send her up the bestseller's list. nt

[Cronus Protagonist]

16. Bullshit. It's not because of 9/11

The press were licking George's proverbial anal sphincter all the way through his campaign. 9/11 just gave them an excuse to bow down and worship his huge proverbial cock after they licked his proverbial ass clean as a whistle.... remember all the reporting on Bush's DUI? How about his criminal record? And then there was all the print about his going AWOL, right?

Helen, I love you for standing up to these bastards, but the press wasn't cowed by 9/11, they were part and parcel of the overthrow of this country and the installation of a criminal junta by a coup.

Educate A Freeper - Flaunt Your Opinions!
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[The Wizard]

30. The Fourth Estate

has transformed, consciously or unconsciously, into a fifth column in an effort to restore a system of vassals and serfs. They believe that they're above being reduced to minimum wage status. The reich's record demonstrates that people will either work for a pittance or not work at all. The cheap labor Rethugs have them convinced that the working class is beneath them. Look at Russert and Matthews and their efforts to take down Democrats and promote Repubes in the name of the corporate bottom line at GE. These two stooges used to be Democrats from working class backgrounds. After a meeting with Jack Welcher their attitudes and reporting lurched right. They will go down in history alongside those they have supported as lying scumbags and war profiteers. They wouldn't check into Bush's TANG records but sold the Swift Boat Liars without serious inquiry. The complicit and compliant press that played an active role in democracy's demise will rue the day they traded principles for profit. In short, fuck 'em where they breathe.

[pokercat999]

38. When the time comes we'll know where to find them.

[tigereye]

46. hmmmm

but who will be left to protect you? I'd be careful with that Stalinist- style cant, if I were you.

[pokercat999]

53. just frustration coming out i'd never harm anyone and

i feel completely powerless to prevent our govt from harming people everywhere as they do everyday

however if i was king......lol

[tigereye]

54. yeah I know

:)

I know this is probably naive of me, but our government could, in the grand scheme of things, be hurting many more people than they are. So there is always hope.

[Cronus Protagonist]

51. I hope so, but I'm not going to hold my breath

The move to a new world of robber barons and serfs is clearly taking hold. I wonder if the only thing that will take the air out of it is a severe crisis in the money supply where even the robber barons can't keep themselves out of debtors jail. In any case, we sure aren't going to get any help from the prima donna millionaire teleprompter-readers we see on TV.

Educate A Freeper - Flaunt Your Opinions!
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[Prana69]

52. What is the Democrat succession plan?

The posts proclaiming (accurately I believe), the media's complicity in this most corrupt of governments leads me to thinking about the future relationship between the WH Press Corps (and the US media generally) once the Dems win back the Congress and ultimately the Presidency.

Do you have a succession plan?
How do you deal with a complacent WH Press Corps and an overtly hostile media?
Clinton was unfairly vilified by that hostile media - what are the Dems going to do to counter this when you regain the Presidency?

It seems to me there is a lot of focus on just winning the mid-terms (understandably), with little thought going into what happens the next day.

With the hostile, rabid right wingnut media, is it going to be Clinton-era all over again? Is it just the endless cycle Dems have to put up with when the media is so biased towards the Repukes? What can you do to negate that bias?

Just thoughts from an outsider looking in...

[Poiuyt]

17. As always, she's absolutely right

[SoCalDem]

19. I claim they are NOT gullible.. They are GREEDY and GUTLESS

They (99% of them)knew which end was up.. They CHOSE to provide cover for "the boss", so they could maintain their own cushy lifestyles.. The WH is run by a bunch of petulant, vengeful freaks, and for a "rahporder" to report truthfully would have meant being cut off from the benevolent teat of propaganda.

What should have happened was for the reporters to meet together cand form a pact of sorts..to stick together and force the issues..

But of course, they don't trust each other, so they continued to suckle lies from the WH propaganda wetnurses...

the fact that tens of thousands of people have died because of their complicity, does not matter to them.. they still have their golf- outings with the admin guys, the fancy parties, the nice houses & cars....That's what America is all about.

[Seabiscuit]

22. I'm with you on this one, SoCalDem. n/t

[tigereye]

48. but don't you think the people who elected * and the congress

and accepted what he said, are much more to blame than the press?

[autorank]

20. K&R Thank you Helen Thomas,again and again!!!

[tigereye]

21. yup

why aren't there more like her out there?

[IndependentVoice]

23. Why haven't they realized yet

that the ones the people love are the ones who actually work for the people and their country, not themselves.

[tigereye]

45. well it used to be that journalists cared about the "truth"

and not just putting out some spin they were handed.

Getting the real story is what journalism is supposed to be about!


and welcome to DU!

[Samantha]

27. Because she's a one-of-a-kind

[swimmernsecretsea]

24. You can't see us here in SF, Helen

But we're standing up, applauding wildly for you. You're a treasure, and we love you.

[True Bleu]

25. Don't give these corporate whores that much credit

Their lap-dog persona reared its head during the 2000 campaign.
These reporters are spineless, soul-less individuals who have a keen understanding
of the corporate culture that keeps them well compensated. Their corporate leaders
wanted Bush elected and they complied.

Fear of being unpatriotic? Uh, no.

There is hope for us so long as Helen Thomas speaks.

[Cha]

26. FAN-TAS-TIC! Helen will make

the rounds now that she has written a book and Jon Stewart will undoubtedly have her on. If they can have potatohead timmy on with his book..they can have on Helen Thomas who has probably written a very important historical tome.

[tlsmith1963]

28. Wow...85 Years Old

And she has more guts than a lot of people half her age.

Tammy

[yardwork]

29. kick for Helen!

[Doctor_J]

36. She's being too diplomatic

Gullible? My word would be "complicit".

[blm]

44. Yep - a few of us have noticed that Helen got that one wrong.

She really pulled that punch to the point where there was no impact left in it.

[Vidar]

39. Give 'em hell, Helen!

[Strawman]

41. When this entire nightmare ends

and this sad chapter of American history is properly written for the mainstream with the full benefit of hindsight, Helen Thomas will be remembered as one of the real heroes. She is the truest patriot in the WH Press Corps.

[Maud]

42. Helen is a voice in the wilderness

Why is it that some people can see what is happening in America so clearly and others remind me of the victims in the old Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie? When Helen Thomas speaks out I feel an enormous sense of relief because it reinforces what I know to be true in spite of the efforts of so many in the media who claim everything is just fine or distract us with excessive news coverage of American Idol or sensationalized cases like the Laci Peterson murder.

[Generic Other]

47. Cheers for the truth!

:applause:

[Serial Mom]

49. Good for her! - Yet it is odd

that is published in the UK and not in the US!


Shows you which press is willing to be a true FREE press.

[Mad_Dem_X]

50. God bless you, Helen!

An oasis of sanity amongst the lunacy that is the WH Press Corps.