Doddering Thomas

The mainstream media have been taking a lot of hits lately, and deservedly so.

1) Dan Rather and CBS based a story meant to influence the 2004 presidential election on forged documents. To this day, Rather is in denial about the matter.

2) The broadcast and cable networks reported outrageous rumors as facts in their coverage of Hurricane Katrina. They claimed New Orleans was in a state of anarchy, with lawlessness and rapes and murders and piles of corpses at the Superdome. As a result of these false reports, help from the federal government was delayed. Yes, the MEDIA lied; people died!

3) In the Valerie Flame case (or is it Plame?), Judith Miller spent 85 days in jail because....Why did she spend 85 days in jail? I don't know.

Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., chairman and publisher of the New York Times, portrayed Miller's time behind bars as some sort of principled sacrifice. Sulzberger said:

We continue to believe that a strong Federal Shield Law must be passed by Congress, so that similar injustices, which the laws of both New York and Washington, D.C. already prevent, are not suffered by other journalists.

What?

Whatever. The New York Times is a disgrace.

4) Another example of the media run amok was NBC's staging of reporter Michelle Kosinski paddling a canoe in only a few inches of water while covering the recent flooding in New Jersey.

5) Add to this very incomplete list of recent mainstream media humiliations the daily performances of Helen Thomas at White House press briefings.

The woman needs to be stripped of her WH press credentials, as soon as possible.

With all due respect to her storied past, an employee with UPI for 57 years, Thomas should not be allowed to blather on and on at the briefings any longer.

She should have retired years ago. She's sad to watch. Thomas is the most senior member of the White House press corps, and it shows.

Scott McClellan is forced to devote valuable time at the briefings tending to Thomas, much like a family deals with the increasingly senile elderly aunt who conducts herself in an offensive manner at holiday gatherings. He really handles her quite gently and respectfully, considering what a rude and graceless woman she is.

An exchange from the October 13, 2005, press briefing:

THOMAS: What does the President mean by "total victory" -- that we will never leave Iraq until we have "total victory"? What does that mean?

MR. McCLELLAN: Free and democratic Iraq in the heart of the Middle East, because a free and democratic Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will be a major blow to the ambitions --

THOMAS: If they ask us to leave, then we'll leave?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm trying to respond. A free and democratic Iraq in the heart of the broader Middle East will be a major blow to the ambitions of al Qaeda and their terrorist associates. They want to establish or impose their rule over the broader Middle East -- we saw that in the Zawahiri letter that was released earlier this week by the intelligence community.

THOMAS: They also know we invaded Iraq.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, Helen, the President recognizes that we are engaged in a global war on terrorism. And when you're engaged in a war, it's not always pleasant, and it's certainly a last resort. But when you engage in a war, you take the fight to the enemy, you go on the offense. And that's exactly what we are doing. We are fighting them there so that we don't have to fight them here. September 11th taught us --

THOMAS: It has nothing to do with -- Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you have a very different view of the war on terrorism, and I'm sure you're opposed to the broader war on terrorism. The President recognizes this requires a comprehensive strategy, and that this is a broad war, that it is not a law enforcement matter.

Terry.

Thomas was so rude, incessantly interrupting McClellan as he tried to provide answers to her questions. After McClellan wasted his time on that back and forth with the doddering Thomas, Terry Moran came to the old lady's rescue, like a Boy Scout.

MORAN: On what basis do you say Helen is opposed to the broader war on terrorism?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, she certainly expressed her concerns about Afghanistan and Iraq and going into those two countries. I think I can go back and pull up her comments over the course of the past couple of years.

MORAN: And speak for her, which is odd.

What's odd is the way Moran jumps down McClellan's throat!

Maybe Moran is the bastard son, make that grandson, of Helen Thomas.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I said she may be, because certainly if you look at her comments over the course of the past couple of years, she's expressed her concerns --

THOMAS: I'm opposed to preemptive war, unprovoked preemptive war.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- she's expressed her concerns.

What an utter waste!

What Thomas supports or opposes is irrelevant. Her personal views should not be the topic of a White House press briefing.

I hate to be too hard on this obviously confused, elderly woman; but she needs to give up her front row seat at the briefings. She has to pass the torch to the next generation before she seriously burns herself. Thomas has become a joke, a self-parody.

During today's briefing, McClellan once again went out of his way to be patient with her, despite her senseless ramblings.

THOMAS: The President doesn't want anyone who would legislate from the bench. Can you define that a little bit more? For example, is Brown versus the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas -- was that legislating? Was Miranda legislating? Was the right to a lawyer legislating from the bench?

MR. McCLELLAN: These are great questions. I'm not the one who's going through the confirmation process. These are questions that will come up in the confirmation hearing process, I imagine. I'm sure the --

THOMAS: But I want to know what you are saying. You keep saying --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sure that members of the Senate --

THOMAS: -- you can't legislate from the bench. Would all of those rulings been wrong under your --

MR. McCLELLAN: And what we mean by it is that she is someone who will strictly interpret our Constitution and our laws, that will not try to make law from the bench. That's what the President means by it.

And that means that she is someone who will look at the facts of a case and apply the law, what the law says, and that's what the American people expect in a Supreme Court justice. And that's what the President has always looked for. He's nominated more than 200 people to the bench. And Harriet Miers has been very involved --

THOMAS: Is Roe versus Wade the law --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- has been very involved in that process.

Now, in terms of cases that could come before the Court, I don't think anyone has an expectation that a future judge should answer a question about a case that could come before that Court. A judge should be fair and open-minded and look at the facts of a case and then apply the law.

What you heard from these Supreme Court justices just now was that Harriet Miers is someone who is very fair-minded, and she is someone who will look at the facts and apply the law. And these are all questions about legal issues that she will be answering.

THOMAS: But you bring them up. I mean, you --

MR. McCLELLAN: That's right. And she looks forward to --

THOMAS: -- keep talking about legislating from the bench. Does that mean that nothing changes in 200 years?

MR. McCLELLAN: Of course not, Helen. She will be talking about these issues when she goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions. And she looks forward to answering their questions, and we look forward to the American people seeing her before the Judiciary Committee, where she will have an opportunity to discuss these issues and more.

McClellan is so kind.

I wish someone close to Thomas would persuade her to give up her spot at the White House briefings. She's humiliating herself. Apparently, she no longer has the capacity to realize that she has stayed too long.

She truly has become a pathetic figure. Sadly, she didn't know when to quietly bow out with dignity. Now, she needs to be told that it's time for her to go. She squandered the chance to leave with dignity at least a decade ago.