The so-called "dean of the White House press corps" is at it again - not abusing her front row position at White House press briefings and criticizing the Bush administration, but this time by taking shots at the new media.
Helen Thomas, columnist for Hearst newspapers and long-time White House Press Corp member, blamed bloggers for contributing to the "deterioration" of journalism that led to the Iraq war.
[Click Here For Audio]
Story Continues Below Ad ↓
"What I really worry about is that I think the bloggers and everyone, everyone with a laptop thinks they're journalists," Thomas said. "And, they certainly don't have our standards. They don't have our ethics, and so forth. There's a deterioration," she continued. "Reporters laid down on the job in the run up to this [the Iraq] war."Thomas made those remarks at a January 4 round-table discussion that followed the premiere of a documentary about the National Press Club 100th anniversary, "The National Press Club at 100: A Century of Headlines." The documentary chronicled how the National Press Club has changed over the years as forms of media have changed - from newspapers to radio, TV, magazines and now bloggers.
"I think they did a lousy job and we're making for it now because the questions that should have been asked were not asked and because of 9/11 and the fear of being called unpatriotic, un-American and so forth. We let the country down," Thomas added.
Thomas openly admitted she was liberal in a November 5, 2006, Philadelphia Inquirer interview and her actions have proved it. She has repetitively derided her colleagues in the media for not being more aggressive with their questioning of the president. In March 2006, she appeared on CNN's "The Situation Room" and accused Bush of killing innocent people.
"In this case, in the case of the President and his cohorts, I think they have really spread war throughout the Middle East," Thomas said on March 22, 2006. "They have really encouraged all of the horror that's going on. We have killed so many innocent people."
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
"And, they certainly don't
January 6, 2008 - 21:12 ET by motherbelt"And, they certainly don't have our standards. They don't have our ethics, -Helen Thomas
What standards, Helen? What ethics?
They are not us
January 6, 2008 - 23:02 ET by KC MulvilleThe standards and ethics don't matter. They're just placeholders for her perception of superiority. What matters is that she is above others, for whatever reason.
The chief difference between bloggers and the Helen Thomases of the world is that bloggers have no access to power. Helen Thomas goes to cocktail parties with powerful people, and powerful people return her calls. If she didn't challenge those in power, she has no one to blame but herself. To resort to such self-serving propaganda, and assign blame to others, simply displays her own unwillingness to be honest.
Besides, she displays her mindless liberalism by taking it for granted that Bush was wrong about everything. Bush is wrong because Bush doesn't believe everything she believes. Therefore, he must be evil. End of thinking.
Apparently by "standards"
January 7, 2008 - 00:05 ET by ziplinedownApparently by "standards" and "ethics" she means liberal bias.
"give me a break!" - John Stossel
Helen is the best liberal role model we could ask for....
January 7, 2008 - 11:25 ET by WildBillPlease keep her front and center. Refer to every liberal as the Helen Thomas view point personifide. Best moments of my life have been when Helen, in all her Halloween glory, tries to sway people with her pontification mildly disguised as a question.
"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged." -Abraham Lincoln
Hey Hell-en,
January 7, 2008 - 16:52 ET by mattmIf you have a dispute with anything said in a blog, you get published in every MSM outlet in the country and get time on TV. But, if a blogger disputes you, what can they do, but continue to blog?
The MSM's hysteria against bloggers is proof that they are advocates, not journalists; because it is the free exchange of thoughts and ideas that tends to ferret out the truth.
It's only when information is suppressed, as in the MSM, the Educational System etc., that lies can thrive.
No, they certainly don't have your standards and ethics.
January 8, 2008 - 20:19 ET by TeeDeeAnd, like Martha Stewart would say, That's a good thing!
Helen's just upset because she can see her's, and the MSM's, relevancy going down the tubes quickly.
"It isn't that liberals are ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so" - Ronald Reagan
... did you say the "dim" of
January 6, 2008 - 21:28 ET by Warner Todd Huston... did you say the "dim" of the White House Press Corps?
double-post
January 6, 2008 - 21:40 ET by Blazerdouble-post
O.K., Who let Helen out of
January 6, 2008 - 21:34 ET by BlazerO.K., Who let Helen out of her coffin again?
"And, they certainly don't have our standards. They don't have our ethics, and so forth."
Or lack thereof.
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
Blazer -
January 7, 2008 - 01:34 ET by drillanwrO.K., Who let Helen out of her coffin again?
You're on a roll!
<Doing that sinister deep chuckle thing under my breath ... woops! slipped out into a full-fledged laugh>
Helen, strip BINGO in the White House basement in 5! Come on! Move that boney ass, woman!
Uhhhhhhhhhhh
January 6, 2008 - 21:34 ET by planetrepublicanWhy do you put this woman's picture on the web??? To terrorize women and children? Now I can't sleep, thanks a lot. I saw Will Smith in "I Am Legend" and those ghouls looked better than Helen. Man, what a skank!
What a gas bag...
January 6, 2008 - 21:35 ET by notinstl....she talks about having ethics? Standards? She has consistently lowered the bar....a "true" journalist reports facts and doesn't editorialize....why does anyone still defer to this uh, er, uh, choke, woman?
Back in her day....
January 6, 2008 - 21:42 ET by BarkerHelen Thomas expressed the same sentiment about the telegraph.
Helen Thomas expressed the same sentiment about the telegraph.
January 7, 2008 - 00:20 ET by GalvanicLOL! Nice hit, Barker.
Helen, referring to her cousin Green Helmet:
January 6, 2008 - 21:41 ET by Hunter12"They have really encouraged all of the horror that's going on. We have killed so many innocent people."
Let's not forget that Helen is of direct Lebanese descent.
Thomas was born in Winchester, Kentucky, to Lebanese immigrants.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
"Let's not forget that
January 7, 2008 - 00:37 ET by Blazer"Let's not forget that Helen is of direct Lebanese descent."
Well that would explain the beak. Anyone else here see the resemblance with Helen ?
http://images.entertainmentearth.com//AUTOIMAGES/AC132lg.jpg
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
Wow. She looks like 40 miles
January 6, 2008 - 22:02 ET by rbosqueWow. She looks like 40 miles of bad road.
Questions for Helen
January 6, 2008 - 22:10 ET by nkviking75If the MSM is so easily intimidated by bloggers or public reaction, how can they stand up to the president of the United States?
The Iraq War was questioned constantly by the press during the entire runup to the war and during its first hours, not to mention every hour since then. The press was calling it a quagmire when the military paused for a sandstorm en route to Baghdad. So when did they lighten up on the administration? The answer is "never".
Since when is it the press' responsibility to prevent the government from going to war? You folks are supposed to find out and report facts, not carry out an agenda.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
The war will be going great if a Dem hits the White House
January 6, 2008 - 22:50 ET by Hunter12Heaven forbid, but about 3 months after a Democrat hits the White House, the Iraq war will have success. All the news that has been supressed will be trotted out and trumpeted as crowning achievement of a liberal being in charge. The press has an agenda for the common clay that doesn't apply to them. They are all too smart and too important to be restricted by all the laws and taxes they want to shove down our throats.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
More than that...
January 7, 2008 - 16:00 ET by JungusIf it was a Demonrat as the Commander in Chief when this war started we would constantly be hearing how wildly successful the war has been. About now our brave troops would be digging in to surround Bagdad while another division is starting to push Iran back over the border and to the north highly intelligent diplomats led by ambassador Joe Wilson will have worked out a deal to get the Turkish army out as well. The press will be sure to point out that 44,000 dead G.I.'s is amazingly good as compared to WWII.
I am not trying to diminish the abilities and bravery of our armed services, but I am trying to relate how they would be managed by the current batch of wishy washy liberals. As a (lame example on my part) I offer you the Balkins. This has been labeled a success and we are still there. How long did the fighting take? Remember we had less area to fight over, more help from other nations (actually, WE where the help), and a less equipped enemy.
Would this be an unreasonable comparison? Yes? No? Thanks,
regretably helen doesn't want to face the ugly truth
January 6, 2008 - 22:32 ET by lunaticcringeradiodon't know which is uglier her or the truth, but it stands that her relevence as a bad reporter, not the iraq war, is what the bloggers have exposed.
lunaticcringeradio
This woman has the nerve to talk about ethics?
January 6, 2008 - 22:36 ET by BERT CONVYThis woman has the nerve to talk about ethics? GAD, she is the most particin hack in the press corps.
She is an idiot and her main job is to do the heavy lifting for the democrats, still she is so inconsequential and dim witted that no one on either side takes her seriously anymore.This article gives her more credit than she deservs.
*bert
*
Arrogant...
January 6, 2008 - 23:08 ET by Army Bratcan only just barely begin to describe this supposed "journalist". The sickness in her mind is killing her body as can be plainly seen. Go home Helen. Recuperate from whatever fever of the brain you've been dying of for the last 50 years and leave journalism to the journalists.
The idea that if us stupid citizens had just kept silent then everything would have turned out fine is typical of the MSM. They, like some government orgs, see us as sheep. Incapable of determining what is best for ourselves, we must be kept safe from the harm that self-determination can cause. We must be guided by those wiser, better informed and educated than the Sheeple in general.
Thanks Helen, but I think we're gonna keep talking to one another no matter how you feel about it.
Happy Trails...
"cough, cough"
January 6, 2008 - 22:54 ET by Scout FinchJayson Blair! Mary Mapes!
How about them apples for "ethics" and "standards", Helen?
"I think they did a lousy
January 6, 2008 - 23:02 ET by alamojb"I think they did a lousy job and we're making for it now because the questions that should have been asked were not asked and because of 9/11 and the fear of being called unpatriotic, un-American and so forth. We let the country down," Thomas added.
I have a few questions I wish the press would answer or even begin to ask about:
1. Why are there at least 47 (forty-seven) Mexican Consulates in the U.S.? Why are they allowed to send out "mobil consulates" to areas where "too many" illegals are being arrested and give out matricular consular cards as ID in order to help illegals avoid arrest "for failure to ID?" (I have seen numbers as high as the low 50's for the consulates, but the most reliable number I can find seems to be 47.)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58430
http://michellemalkin.com/category/immigration/matricula-consula/
2. Why are several U.S. banks operating part time in the Mexican Consulate in San Antonio? Who are they catering too?
3. Why does the press not investigate M.E.C.H.A.?
http://www.utpa.edu/orgs/mecha/aztlan.html
http://www.vdare.com/awall/la_mayor.htm
4. Why does the press ignore voter fraud by illegals and the left?
http://michellemalkin.com/category/voter-fraud/
5. Why does the press not cover Mexico's attempt to foster continuing loyalties to Mexico City among new American Citizens of Mexican descent?
6. Why does the press ignore the dwindling black population in Los Angeles but reports every little "noose" found somewhere else?
7. Why was a non US citizen allowed to host the Univision debates for both the Democratic and Republican parties? Was there not an American Citizen that could do that job? How many Americans would love to ask the canidates a question?
http://www.vdare.com/awall/071210_memo.htm
8. When will the press begin to report on the continuing loss of free speech in Europe and Canada and how it is now spilling over into America?
http://www.terrorfinance.org/the_terror_finance_blog/2007/12/ny-legislators.html
9. When will the press begin to cover the emerging problems of "multiculturalism" in Europe?
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1609/print
10. When will the press begin to cover the plight of non-Muslims in the Muslim world?
11. When will the press begin to cover the dying of old England? Her native peoples are fleeing by the hundreds of thousands.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CalThomas/2007/08/28/vanishing_england
The poison of Multiculturalism has made people so that if the "Borg" of Star Trek were to show up saying "resistance is futile, you will be assimilated", half the Western World would call those of us who resisted "Bigots" and "xenophobes".
Good questions
January 6, 2008 - 23:47 ET by well99As soon as we can find some real journalist in the msm they will be answered.I am sure our President Calderon will find some.Opps I mean President Bush.
-
January 7, 2008 - 00:19 ET by dahliatraversand 12. When will the press begin to cover the plight of Muslims in the Muslim world??
Torture is not acceptable in Guantanamo (which I agree it is not) or any other US prison but torture is acceptable under the guise of "culture"?
"Flogging. Oh dear. But that's their culture and we can't judge it."
Complete bunk.
http://www.abcarticl...
[I agree with all of your questions, Alamo.]
Not just H Thomas
January 6, 2008 - 23:56 ET by richb313It is not just Helen Thomas who is mad at the bloggers and the rest of the new media. It is really the rest of the so called established press as well. No longer do the so called journalists have an exclusive on the news. As has been shown too many times to count the media in all its forms is now under a magnifying glass. The more we inspect the more we find that they are basically a lazy one note bunch who do not do any real reporting at all. So Miss Thomas what standards could you possibly be refering to? IN fact it is the new media, bloggers and the like, that are showing the compltete lack of standards and ethics that resides with yourself and the rest of your accredited pals.
FACE IT old media..
January 6, 2008 - 23:22 ET by JoggerNotThe new york times, ad nausia is going down in flames..And the bloggers are shinning a BIG SPOTLIGHT ON TRUTH. YOU CAN NOT HIDE anymore...effin fools..All for now, jn
"And, they certainly don't
January 6, 2008 - 23:42 ET by fitzfong"And, they certainly don't have our standards. They don't have our ethics, and so forth."
That's right, Helen, you fat, disgusting fossil...we don't have your standards or ethics. Your standards and your ethics are and always were non-existent.
helen thomas makes eleanor roosevelt look like miss america ...
January 7, 2008 - 00:23 ET by pmohbuckugh ... what a hideous woman
Helen might have a point
January 7, 2008 - 04:53 ET by wiwfHelen might have a point about bloggers causing the war. But you think maybe Saddam might have been an issue too? Nah...
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
Hmm
January 7, 2008 - 05:41 ET by well99Let see.Msm who constantly misrepresent facts.Do creative editing and give bias views.Or blogs which in most part post links which using the internet you can check for accuracy.I will choose blogs.Sorry Helen I am not into propaganda.I refuse to be one of those who just reads the headlines or waits for the latest sound bite.Search for your lemmings somewhere else.
Helen Thomas : Re-defining Collosal Idiot
January 7, 2008 - 07:25 ET by thoridflyThere's only one problem with Vulture-woman's theory : BLOGS WERE A NON-EXISTENT POLITICAL FORCE IN 2003.
And by the way, reporters DID lay down on the job before the Iraq war ... THEY DIDN'T PROPERLY REPORT AND COVER THE SERIOUS THREAT THAT SADDAM HUSSEIN TRULY WAS.
Since the Democrats first
January 7, 2008 - 07:27 ET by ConservativeRexSince the Democrats first response is to always attack a Conservative man or woman on how they look, I will resist pointing anything out about Helen Thomas' appearance.
However, I will attack her on everything else. There is a very large segment of our populace that believes any and everything this old Arab says. She is an ol' Roosevelt Marxist along the lines of Andy Rooney who used to be on 60 minutes (not sure if he still is) or alive for that matter.
McCarthy pointed these people out more than 50 years ago to what they truly are. These people are Marxist, they do not believe in the American way of doing anything, they would rather spend their time running down our country and our leaders who do not fall lock step in with their screwed up way of thinking.
So in answer, yes, she is threatened by the new media, it shines a light on the Lefts propaganda and strangle hold they've had on the media for over 40 years. She should feel threatened, worried etc. Her, and the Leftist hold on the dissemination of information is nearly over. And not a day too soon.
Translation
January 7, 2008 - 08:23 ET by StephCHelen Thomas thinks the media no longer has power over the minds of the "little people" because of bloggers and "new media" finding the facts and distilling them to the "little people." What a shame.
Her brand of journalism is to sit in a chair and ask the same question 20 different times hoping to get the answer she wants to hear rather than the one she was given those 20 different times... that's journalism?
The Creature Speaketh
January 7, 2008 - 12:26 ET by the_red_stateIt is people like The Creature who have diminished the respect that journalists used to receive.
Well
January 7, 2008 - 14:01 ET by dwillmoreWhaaaaa! wha wha WHAAAAaaaza!!!
They are all too stupid to care about what I have to say!!
Her real complaint is...
January 7, 2008 - 14:14 ET by JerryHer real complaint is... "We can't get away with the crap we used to get away with.", plain and simple, or simple and plain, whichever you prefer.
When asked if he went to war with Iraq to derail the impeachment vote: “I don’t think any serious person would believe that any President would do such a thing." - President Clinton (Dec 1998).
Helen Thomas
January 7, 2008 - 15:08 ET by PAPA LI think it's time to put a sock in her mouth. OH and pleazzzzzzzz a bag over her head.
A PROUD AMERICAN
Proud of it.
January 7, 2008 - 16:03 ET by ForeverOnTheRight"And, they certainly don't have our standards. They don't have our ethics, and so forth."
I am proud of the fact that I don't share their standards, ethics "and so forth." Someone has to have standards that are higher than their’s. And who said that one must be a journalist to exercise one's freedom of speech. We have never claimed to be "journalists."
Shut up, Helen
January 7, 2008 - 17:37 ET by SFCMACThat old bag needs to retire. She's cranky, obnxious, and delusional.
The reason I started my blog was so that I could have a forum to fight back against visceral, mealy mouthed leftists and Islamofascists and their supporters. With the vile nastiness spewed by the Democrats after the 2000 election I could no longer maintain the status quo,so I traded in my kid gloves for brass knuckles. With the advent of the Internet, average citizens now have a venue for counterpoint, much to the chagrin of the media elite. It gives the rest of us a vantage point to skewer idiots like Thomas, in return.
By the way, does anyone have Methusela's e-mail?
The closest I could get was her "agent" at: ninespeakers@usa.net
"On the Eighth Day God Created the United States Army and the Devil Stood at Attention"
Helen Thomas
January 7, 2008 - 19:23 ET by sharinliteAll I can say Helen is thank God we don't have your "standards"...we'd spend our time lying and cheating like you and your cohorts in the MSM do daily!!