Helen Thomas Replies ‘Hell No’ To Question of Liberal Media Bias

Photo of Matthew Balan.

Helen Thomas, Former UPI White Correspondent | NewsBusters.orgJeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin, in the Tuesday edition of the Washington Examiner’s "Yeas & Nays" feature, reported that Helen Thomas gave a vehement denial of whether the media, and the White House press corps in particular, has a liberal bent. "Yeas & Nays got a sneak peak at Rory Kennedy’s new HBO documentary -- ‘Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at The White House’ -- which premieres next month, and Thomas is asked whether most White House reporters are liberal. ‘Hell no!’ she responds. ‘I’m dying to find another liberal open their mouths. Where are they!’ This is the second day in a row that Dufour and Gavin have reported on interesting quotations from members of the mainstream media.

During the documentary, Thomas went on to accuse the press of treating Former President Bill Clinton oppressively, especially during his second term. "[Thomas] exhibited great empathy for what President Clinton went through during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. ‘I don’t know how he could have taken what he took,’ said Thomas. ‘For reporters, it was a story you couldn’t avoid as much as you’d like to,’ but ‘no president has been subjected to that type of tyranny.’"

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

Perhaps Helen Thomas has high standards as to what defines a liberal, but one need only to look at one current and one former member of the White House press corps to cast doubt on her assertion that she is the only liberal member of the corps. During an episode of the syndicated "The Chris Matthews Show" in February 2006, Chris Matthews asked David Gregory, the White House correspondent for NBC News, "Reporters who hang around the White House, like you do, everyday of your lives. Is there a sense in the group that this guy's a winner or a loser? Just as a politician?" Gregory declared that the "overriding sense in the press corps is that, that he's [President Bush] losing."

CNN’s John Roberts, a former White House correspondent for CBS News, had Scott McClellan on as a guest when the former Bush White House spokesman’s "tell-all" book was about to be released in May 2008. Roberts, responding to an excerpt from McClellan’s book, declared, "[McClellan] finally articulates what we all came to believe...and further goes on to say that this war was unnecessary."

Roberts voiced similar sentiments about the Iraq War during his time at the White House. During a July 30, 2003 press conference with President Bush, he asked, "The world is a better place, and the region certainly a better place, without Saddam Hussein. But there's a sense here in this country, and a feeling around the world, that the U.S. has lost credibility by building the case for Iraq upon sometimes flimsy or, some people have complained, nonexistent evidence. I'm just wondering sir, why did you choose to take the world to war in that way?"

—Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.


Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

"I'll get you, my pretty...

"I'll get you, my pretty... and your little dog too!"

Now that was

a good on SoL I just spit my beer all over the desk. The song O E O Awayyyy O comes to mind you know the one with the guards going into the castle LOL

 

Guns and Violence are not the answer but they are one solution to the problem== SARG

I'm thinking she is the

I'm thinking she is the spitting image of the lady that did the Wendy's commericals..."where's the beef".

Why have you posted a photo

Why have you posted a photo from BATMAN w/ this report?

Wrong comic. I think you

Wrong comic. I think you were thinking of Pruneface. ;-)

Dick Tracy, perfect. Nuke

Dick Tracy, perfect.

Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.

i thought we banned HT pics

i thought we banned HT pics due to obscenity concerns

Amazing

Morticians can now animate the deceased.

"All generalizations are false, including this one.” Mark Twain

"Hell No!" is a response

"Hell No!" is a response Helen Thomas should be used to by now.  No doubt that's the response she always received from frightened men when she offered to sleep with them.  If you really want to scare the neighbors this Halloween, have your kids dress up as Helen Thomas and Rory Kennedy...positively ghoulish.

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan

fitzfong.blogspot.com

would she be

classified as a 6 pack 2 bagger or a 1 case body bagger?

 

Just sayin

 

Guns and Violence are not the answer but they are one solution to the problem== SARG

IAD

The human form could not possibly consume enough alcohol to find helen attractive and remain conscious, (or alive). In other words "not enough beer in the keg".

"This
liberal would be all about socialize -- uh, uh, would be about
basically taking over and the government running all of your companies."-Maxine Waters 2008

Restless

I fear you are right it would take more Wild Turkey then even I could drink. By the time you drank enough you would blow a .652 and be dead.

Guns and Violence are not the answer but they are one solution to the problem== SARG

Old Bag

Somebody give that old bag an enema & get her back to the home.

Everytime

Everytime I see Helen Thomas I think of a mudfence that I helped build.

Helen is proof that we throw ugly girls out of Kentucky at an early age.

Wow. Just wow.

These comments so far are an embarassment to this website.

God forbid any of you should ever age gracefully.

Even Thomas made fun of her

Even Thomas made fun of her own appearance. From the Examiner link above:

There was one other topic Thomas feels strongly about: Her sex appeal … or rather, her lack of it. When asked if she ever used her sexuality to benefit her reporting, Thomas laughed and said: “I didn’t have the potential for being a femme fatale. … Nobody made a pass at me … I don’t think I ever got a story out of my charm. Far from it. Maybe quite the opposite.”

Surely you can recognize the difference

Between you having a little joke at your own expense and me savagely mocking you because of your apperance.

It just doesn't belong on any political issues website that purports to take itself seriously. And that's stated clearly:

Posting your thoughts on someone else's web site is a privilege, not a right. Your privilege to do so on NewsBusters ® is contingent upon your ability to refrain from using any defamatory, libelous or abusive language on the NewsBusters ® blog... link

And, for further reference.

Francis

The only thing that should not happen is NewsBusters  posting a picture of Ms. Thomas going into dinnertime.

bloggo is havin a down

bloggo is havin a down day:(!

are there no US misfortunes today that can possibly cheer him up...?

blogo....your "rightous indignation" is laughable at best.

You and your lefty buddies here have no problem hurling insults at the president, his cabinet, Cheney etc.  So please, don't even go there.  Because if you do, then I better see you calling out the liberals here accordingly...........HYPOCRITE!!!! 

"If a man does his best, what else is there"?

General George S. Patton Jr.

"But they did it too!..."

Is no excuse for juvenile behavior. I really don't care if you're conservative or liberal.

Your still a hypocrite!!

"If a man does his best, what else is there"?

General George S. Patton Jr.

Can I at least assume we're in agreement...

that juvenile behavior like name-calling should not be excused when the accused points to someone else also engaged in juvenile behavior?

 

All I'm asking for is...

consistency.  If your going to condem something, then be consistent, and not appear to be one sided, thats all. 

"If a man does his best, what else is there"?

General George S. Patton Jr.

You got a deal

Consistency from me in exchange for maturity from those who would attack an elderly woman for looking elderly.

Agreed.....but she still is a..

a liberal hack. 

"If a man does his best, what else is there"?

General George S. Patton Jr.

Elderly woman looking

Elderly woman looking elderly? Ye gads man! Have you ever seen her picture from when she was younger? That woman was Ugly as a 20 year old. She is not an elderly woman looking elderly. She is an ugly woman looking fug-ugly...

Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!

there is a place and time

there is a place and time for juvenile behavior

check out prime-time entertainment, or the DNC sometime:)

→ I'm incensed

And I'm shocked we would stoop so low.

I'm deeply hurt that members I hold so dear to me are engaging in flame wars over Ms. Thomas' looks.

In the words of a great American;  "Can't we all just get along?"

CA I have to know

just what great American did you get the quote from? Shurly not the drug taking, cop throwing, law breaking guy in good ole Callifornia

Guns and Violence are not the answer but they are one solution to the problem== SARG

Bloggo she is pretty

Bloggo she is pretty hideous looking and even more so when she smiles.  It reminds me of when a carnivour bares his teeth, you know he is not greeting you warmly.  Admit it she is not easy on the eyes.  Yes some of us are reverting to a baser mor honest part of human nature.

Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.

Is it just me, or does

Is it just me, or does Helen look a little like the Joker in the latest Batman movie?

45 Communist Goals for America http://www.nationmakers.com/com_goals.htm

I saw the movie 2 days ago

I saw the movie 2 days ago and remember when teh Joker was telling Dent the reason he uses knives.  He uses them because the victims take longer to die and he takes more pleasure from it.  So, yes, Helen could be the Joker.  The Joker was more pleasant to view though.

Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.

Maybe you're right...

If people around here get their kicks making fun of the elderly, who am I to judge?

I'm sorry, grow up.

hell yes let's get back

hell yes

let's get back to mocking McCain's age dammit

That at least is legitimate criticism of the left

See how the debate coarsens when we allow people who focus on appearance to dominate? This is fun and constructive like spitballs and wedgies are fun and constructive. I don't for one minute think Helen Thomas is somewhere wiping away a tear or generally giving a damn what the posters here might think of her sex appeal. I don't speak up to defend her but to defend the discourse. We should all hold ourselves to higher standards.

→ Right blogo

I came in here to have a spitited discussion of Helen's views only to find the thead has deteriorated to Junior High levels.

This hurts me very deeply.

I don't know how the thread got derailed.  I'm just too upset right now to continue.

  • LYDSEXICS UNTIE

Derailed? Serious

Derailed? Serious discussion never even began. Any time Helen Thomas is
the subject of a story on NB, you can count on the comments to be
pathetic one-liners - authored by pathetic posters who deny their own
obvious hatefulness/misogyny while projecting it onto here - about her looks.

Like clockwork, and very very sad.

 

"Issue-driven politics in red-and-blue America is like a man whose
appetite for steak is greatly enhanced by his contempt for vegetarians."

Ugly inside...Ugly

Ugly inside...Ugly outside.

Simple as that...facts are facts.

She proves it everytime she opens up her ugly leftist mouth. 

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

Ugly inside...Ugly


Ugly inside...Ugly outside.


Simple as that...facts are facts.

What is this, Shallow Hal? I guess if that's your criteria, Rush and Michael Savage would be, what, some sort of deformed hobgoblins?

 

"Issue-driven politics in red-and-blue America is like a man whose
appetite for steak is greatly enhanced by his contempt for vegetarians."

Come on Jason - you and your liberal pals self rightous

indignation on this is laughable. All your heroes like John Stuart are always making fun of Conservatives for their appearance, the way they talk and their intelligence and you guys have no problems with it.

None of you guys have bothered to respond to the people who didn't mention her looks so does that mean it's the only thing you can defend?

Hi Dee !

Watch this. It really pisses Jason off. ;-)

Dee: 7

Jason: 0

 

"They're both doofuses!" --Mark Levin (speaking of Obama and McCain)

Dee....

You scored a touchdown! You didn't go for the 2-point conversion instead, I take it.

:) 

 

* * * SOCKS THE CAT '08 * * *
For REAL Change

Haven't you heard Shy? I'm special - like a goddess

everyone else would have to work for that extra point - it's given to me because I'm one of the chosen few.

Giving me the 2 pt conversion would be taking it a little far though, the masses might rebel. ; )

Lol Free

just like the good 'ol days!

These liberals are funny to watch when they get all self righteous. It's so absurd. Like I've said before, they tolerate this kind of behavior from their top brass and the intelligentsia and then want to act like NB is some hate monger place because a few people unload about a cranky old hateful woman whose hatefulness and crankiness makes her much more unattractive than she would otherwise be.

This is a woman who accuses our military and our President of purposefully killing civilians and were supposed to worry about what someone says about her looks? Please Helen - tell us you think Pres Bush is ugly, that would be much less hateful.

This is a woman who


This is a woman who accuses our military and our President of
purposefully killing civilians and were supposed to worry about what
someone says about her looks?

Of course. It's always the "superficial" with libs. That's why this stuff botehrs them so much.

Free - oops I meant we're and I know you meant bothers

just thought I'd correct our typo's before someone else does.

But you are right it's always the superficial that they focus on here. They love to run around here nit picking every little word someone uses and ignore the big picture stuff. I'd also rather Helen just call President bush an A-hole than say he's purposefully killing civilians.

dee & free

Very true about liberals, which I know firsthand with a lot of people. They're "caring" and "compassionate", but really so much of the way they perceive things and operate is on a very high superficial level.  

 

* * * SOCKS THE CAT '08 * * *
For REAL Change

zactly shy

they care enough to buy a wino booze --- with my money

"You can not support the Troops if you do not support their Mission" 

Right Shy and Bruce

they can only care superficially and theoretically. They need forced contributions because they can't trust themselves to give of themselves. Advocating for dems absolves all their sins in their eyes. They can point and laugh at anyone less fortunate than them because they elect dems who care (even though they don't really care either).

Speaking for myself, Dee...

I don't watch John Stuart so I'm not aware of what he has said regarding anyone's appearance.

I don't have a problem with joking about Helen Thomas' appearance within limits....I think many comments have exceeded those limits.

I do have a problem with mean-spirited and cruelly offensive descriptions of a person's physical characteristics--whether he or she is a liberal or a conservative.

It is difficult to respond to posts which don't mention her looks when they are virtually impossible to find.

Jer

Jer

I'm sure you missed this post too:

Even Thomas made fun of her

 

Bonde, Dee - have fun with his response. It's late in EDT.

G'night Free

catch you next time

Free...Thanks, I had missed

Free...Thanks, I had missed that.  I believe it's to her credit that she can make fun of herself in that manner.  And, as I said before, I think some joking about her looks is OK.  But, I also think it has gone a little overboard.   Understand though, I'm in no way attempting to be an arbiter of acceptable commentary around here.  Just stating my opinion.

Jer

Hi Jer

If you will forgive me, Helen is just an old horse that has been rode hard, and put away wet.

In ever sense of the sentiment.

She should have been put out to pasture eons ago.

I agree, though.  The woman is plug ugly, but to denigrate her for her looks is just mean.  One must grant her respect for climbing up through a male dominated profession, when that just wasn't done.

Having said that, though, she should have been put out to pasture eons ago. 

Oh, how I'd love to say..."Goodnight, Helen".  And never see her sour puss in the White House briefing room ever again.

David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive

 

Back at ya,

Back at ya, Blonde...

Well, I'm sure the prevailing sentiment at NB regarding Helen would echo the old adage..."Beauty" may only be skin deep, but "ugly" goes clear to the bone. 

True, Thomas is long past her prime--and peak lucidity.  But I suppose she is a Washington institution of sorts, and is to be tolerated if not respected.

Jer

It depends on the person for me Jer

My point is that the things she says about Bush are much nastier and more hateful than what anyone here says about her looks. If she is going to run around saying such hateful things then she deserves what ever she gets.

If people started attacking a liberals looks who didn't say these hateful things then I'd have a problem with it too.

If Helen had died and people were saying this then I'd have a problem also.

Fair enough, Dee.

Fair enough, Dee.

Jer

Dee, when I got to this

Dee, when I got to this board, all but one of the 50-odd comments were about here looks, so that's what I remarked upon. The content of the story? A liberal journalist denies liberal bias in the media? You call that a story? Next you'll tell me Sean Hannity truly believes Fox is fair and balanced. Whoop-de-f***in'-doo.

Jon Stewart is my hero? Wow, touche. Dead to rights [sarc off].

Finally, you'll have to apprise me of some serious examples of liberals being so ruthless about people's looks. I'm not talking about a caricature of Bush where his ears are a little big. I mean like the way that whenever a story is about HT in this blog, the comments become utterly vicious. Every time. Often through a weird pseudosexual context. Blatant misogyny. Though it is interesting to watch a few conservatives take note of the 200-odd comments about her appearance and backpedal, essentially saying "No, what we mean is that her outward appearance is like a reflection of her political ugliness...you know, her horrible tendency to be a professional liberal woman; and ugly."

Free, being down by 7 whole points makes me want to stomp my feet and clap my hands and chant "We will rock you", or "USA! USA!" Except then I'd be one of those unfortunate people who use sports references in political blogs.

"Issue-driven politics in red-and-blue America is like a man whose
appetite for steak is greatly enhanced by his contempt for vegetarians."

Come on Jason - you can't be serious

You've never heard the comments about Catherine Harris or John Bolton? What about Ann Coulter (liberals say she looks like a man)? Then there's real broad generalizations like bill Maher and his "pasty white" comments or your favorite Red State that portrays people as ugly fat sloppy stupid hicks. Give me a break Jason the left are the first to poke fun of people for anything. Look at the treatment Hillary got from liberals just because she had the nerve to run against the Messiah. The Obama maniacs made every bit as much fun of her as any conservative for her looks and her laugh.

As I've said lots of times here, when you liberals can point to one - just one site where liberals treat conservatives with half the respect they are treated with here then maybe you'd have a point. Not one of you have taken the challenge yet so I assume there are none.

Now you liberals think that a conservative site shouldn't point out that a liberal journalist sees no media bias. Give me another f'ing break. There are many of your liberal compadres that won't even admit Helen Thomas his a bias hack.
I really can't understand why you guys think we should care if you think a story is appropriate for here or not. This is a conservative site and it makes no difference whether a liberal feels a story is worthy or not. If you want to argue the points then fine, but this superfluous nit picking is really a joke when you can't provide a single site on the liberal side that does better.

Well said Dee!!

You hit all the points....... 

"If a man does his best, what else is there"?

General George S. Patton Jr.

double post

sorry...

Jason, are you dating

Jason, are you dating Helen?

If so, we'll tone it down here (you know, to more respectable lib/nutroot sites levels :p)

Yeah, that last part was a joke. So was the first part (...or was it?)

:)

 

* * * SOCKS THE CAT '08 * * *
For REAL Change

um....

*smiles weakly and scoots away from Mr. Shy*

You have a very twisted imagination my friend.

:p

Thanks for the warning

Thanks for the warning candance. I will not be clicking those links...

"Issue-driven politics in red-and-blue America is like a man whose
appetite for steak is greatly enhanced by his contempt for vegetarians."

huh?

"twisted imagination..." ?

"I will not be clicking those links..." ??

Geez, they're just a series of pics of Madame Ugly I got off the internet, generously compiled by Mr. Shy.

Where's the gratitude?

:p 

 

* * * SOCKS THE CAT '08 * * *
For REAL Change

my apologies Shy

I thought you did that yourself. Guess I should have asked before I tasted shoelace.

*hangs head in shame*

candance

Apology accepted :)

And isn't Jason noble and honorable? The left always are, aren't they? 

 

* * * SOCKS THE CAT '08 * * *
For REAL Change

at least we're having fun

*pulls Mr. Shy into the corner to escape the impending flame war*

Sit, talk, relax. No need to talk about old Helen Whats-her-face anymore.

candance (& dee)

:p

And Dee is right, how self-righteous and utterly hypocritical leftists like Jason become when we just let off a little steam on those that truly deserve some mocking, all the while they deride, name-call, etc., up the wazzoo against everyone on the right.

That woman blurted out total falsehoods and lies in those questions to Dana. Just disgusting. She is supposed to be a professional journalist withOUT an agenda.

Oh, and speaking of Dana....

BEAUTY & BRAINS  

 

* * * SOCKS THE CAT '08 * * *
For REAL Change

yeah Shy

It's like some of us were saying before, her bad attitude and her lies about our troops is what really makes her ugly.

candance

"her bad attitude and her lies about our troops is what really makes her ugly."

Yes, but well, that, and, she's also wretchedly unpleasing to the eye.

But seriously, I agree. 

  

* * * SOCKS THE CAT '08 * * *
For REAL Change

I get the same picture with

I get the same picture with every link. What the hell????

"This
liberal would be all about socialize -- uh, uh, would be about
basically taking over and the government running all of your companies."-Maxine Waters 2008

restless

Sorry, they're all the same page, but it's a long scroll of goodies, not just one pic...  

 

* * * SOCKS THE CAT '08 * * *
For REAL Change

Never occurred to me to

Never occurred to me to scroll down. I must be tired.

"This
liberal would be all about socialize -- uh, uh, would be about
basically taking over and the government running all of your companies."-Maxine Waters 2008

Restless?....... tired

Restless?....... tired ???

:p 

 

* * * SOCKS THE CAT '08 * * *
For REAL Change

bloganator/you want ligitimate discourse

How's this for legitimate discourse.   Helen claims

no President has taken the criticism and tyranny

like Bill Clinton.  That's a big, big lie Helen.  

GWB  daily gets criticism and tyranny from your

left wing buddies.    How's that bloganator

for "politically correct" discourse.  She's still

not an attractive or personable woman.

So there!!!! bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt

 

...and Obama's ears.

...and Obama's ears.

Jer

Yea okay Helen...time for your meds.

This is like going to a psychiatric ward full of schizophrenics off their meds and asking them if they think they are delusional.  "HELL NO we are not delusional.  Listen to me son.  There is a difference between a transmitter of thought and a receiver of telepathic thought.  I happen to be a booster station."

Wow thank you for your response.  That clears it up completely.

age gracefully

Part of ageing gracefully is ageing with dignity and self respect. She is a hack and a hateful person who cares nothing of the country. Because she presents herself as a wicked hateful troll she is viewed as a physical troll. That is a basic psychology of situations like this.  She is so hateful and so unfair to the men and women of our military that when you see her you see witch.  It is her fault.

I don't buy it

When you shift over to ad hominem arguments, you're on your way to a loss of respectability.

If you think she's a hack and hateful, go ahead and back up your opinion with facts. To make those claims based on superficial appearance is just that: superficial, and rhetorically useless.

the other way around

I did not base my comments on her appearence. I simply said that because so many of us disagree with her and feel she is hateful to the country that her appearence is easy to attack her lack of attractiveness.

Familiarity with the Subject

I'm familiar with ugly. Heck. I'm uglier than a mudfence.