Journalist recalls nearly 45 years as White House correspondent

LOUDONVILLE - For 57 years former White House reporter Helen Thomas had a front row seat to history unfolding before her eyes, but she said the current administration is making her wish she was blind.

Thomas, who spoke at Siena College's First Woman President symposium Friday, also had plenty to say about serving as a White House correspondent for United Press International. Not all of it was encouraging.
"This president (Bush) doesn't think he has to answer any questions. ... He even says (during press conferences) this is scripted," bemoaned Thomas, 83, who gave up her reporter job to become a syndicated columnist two years ago and routinely trashes Bush on economic and military policy in her columns.

"He stopped taking questions from me," she added with a laugh.
She dubbed the war in Iraq "spreading democracy at gunpoint," calls Bush "the worst" president in American history, and blames Congress for not standing up to Bush on many issues along with the media for failing to ask the tough questions she never shied away from.
"Since September 11 (2001 terrorist attacks), reporters have been afraid to ask (tough) questions because they were afraid to be called un-American or unpatriotic, but (even when they do) the president doesn't answer them anyway," said Thomas, who added she believes reporters are beginning to get back to asking more hard-hitting questions.
While Bush might be her least favorite leader, Thomas had the most praise for President John F. Kennedy, the first commander in chief she covered.

It was during Thomas' first White House assignment that she began closing presidential press conferences with, "Thank you, Mr. President," a tradition that lasted up until the current administration's reign.
"Kennedy was the most inspirational president. ... You always got the feeling with him that he knew he was living on borrowed time," said Thomas. "He gave people hope and that's something that's missing today."

Thomas joked a little about a Kennedy press conference she attended where he was talking to astronauts about going to the moon.
"He said to the astronauts 'Do you think we could land on the moon?' and they said 'sure,' but after he left (they said) they thought he was crazy," said Thomas, who pointed out that only seven years after Kennedy's assassination the first man did in fact land on the moon.
Thomas also was present at Kennedy's funeral the moment of his son John F. Kennedy Jr.'s, poignant salute that illustrated the nation's feelings of pain and loss.

Thomas was also the only female print journalist to travel with then President Richard Nixon to China and has also traveled around the globe several times with presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and both Bushes.

As the longest tenured White House correspondent, she also wanted people to know that there is no truth to the myth that the media is softer on a Democratic president than a Republican.
"I've never seen it that way. ... Do you really think the press was easy on (President) Clinton during (the) Monica Lewinsky (scandal)?" asked Thomas, who contends that Clinton "tarnished" the Oval Office but was the complete opposite of Bush when it came to answering questions.
"Clinton would answer any question you asked. ... He never flinched," she said.

She said she was appalled at how it was recently revealed that someone who wasn't even a real reporter (Jeff Gannon) was allowed a coveted spot in the White House press corps and called upon by the Bush administration to ask "softball" questions.
"He didn't even have a (Capital) Hill pass or represented a credible, legitimate agency, but he was let in because he was considered friendly (to the Bush) administration," quipped Thomas.

She also called it despicable that the Department of Education paid a radio talk show host $240,000 to promote Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, and leaders from Bush's marriage initiative paid a syndicated columnist $10,000 to push their views.

"That's sad and reprehensible to see an administration pay off outsiders, but at least such practices have a way of getting exposed," she said.
On what makes a good president, Thomas said they should respect the honor and influence that comes with being president, and they use that power to simply "do the right thing."

"Our lives and futures are in the president's hands," she said. "Great presidents don't have to be macho, just great human beings."
Thomas is listed in the
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I miss her questions. She really stood out as a woman with great integrity. It's also fucked up that the Bush Administration can't take pointed questions from a woman who's been asking them since Kennedy. Since she touched upon Gannon/Guckert Gate I thought I'd post this lil gem I found a couple days ago. It's all Bill Mahr's comments on the scandal to date: http://win20ca.audiovideoweb.com/ca20wi ... n_300k.wmv