Veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas, who has covered every president since Jack Kennedy, advised the White House to abandon their attacks on Fox News today. She attributed the administration's visceral reaction to the cable outlet to a naive sense of invincibility generally held by new presidents (video embedded below the fold).

Asked by Joe Scarborough of MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' what "we want our president to know and do," in reference to the title of her new book, Thomas immediately replied "stay out of these fights... They can only take you down. You can't kill the messenger."

Thomas's coauthor, CQ reporter Craig Crawford, added that "presidents are better off, Joe, when they punch up and not down."

NBC's Ann Curry, on Tuesday's "Today" show, called longtime liberal White House correspondent Helen Thomas her "inspiration." As part of an ongoing series "Today's Mentors and Inspirations," Curry visited the former UPI reporter and current Hearst columnist in Washington and offered a bouquet of a profile to her hero as, over video of Thomas challenging former presidents Curry gushed:

CURRY: Affectionately called the First Lady of the White House press corps, Helen Thomas has made 10 presidents sweat-

HELEN THOMAS: Charged with perjury-

CURRY: -stammer-

GEORGE W. BUSH: That's where, that's where-

CURRY: -and answer to the people. She first walked through those White House gates half a century ago.

While the tenor of the interview was mostly cheery, interspersed with clips of Thomas questioning presidents throughout her many years as part of the White House press corps, the segment took, literally, a darker tone when the Iraq war came up. Over video that suddenly turned black and white with Bush, in slo-mo, walking to the podium, Curry relayed Thomas' one chastisement to her fellow reporters [MP3 audio highlights here]:

Washington Post reporter-slash-columnist Dana Milbank leans mostly toward the columnist today, hailing 89-year-old scold Helen Thomas for pressing relentlessly on White House press secretary Robert Gibbs (and by extension, President Obama) for being too wimpy in advocating the Brave Socialist Initative known as the "public option." Objectivity does not become her, Milbank writes. Lecturing does:

"Has the president given up on the public option?" she inquired from her front-row-middle seat.

The press secretary laughed at this repetition of a common Thomas inquiry, but this questioner, who has covered every president since Kennedy, wasn't about to be silenced. "I ask it day after day because it has great meaning in this country, and you never answer it," she said.

"Well, I -- I -- I apparently don't answer it to your satisfaction," Gibbs stammered.

"That's right," Thomas snarled.

"I -- I'll -- I'll give you the same answer that I gave you unsatisfactorily for many of those other days," Gibbs offered. "It's what the president believes in --"

"Is he going to fight for it or not?" Thomas snapped.

By this time, the NewsBusters connoisseur will have surely heard about yesterday’s unofficial celebration in the White House press briefing.  Like many parties, it was somewhat louder than normal, a bit tense at points, and the press – specifically Chip Reid and Helen Thomas – topped off the early Independence Day festivities by roasting (figuratively, of course) Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

That, incidentally, does not normally happen at parties – even at the White House.

The Robert Roast was, of course, in reference to the recent spate of staged White House press events.  The White House press corps, apparently, do not enjoy heavily produced events, such as the “town hall” meeting with DNC volunteers and union members.  However, Carl Bernstein, appearing on the July 2 Morning Joe, did not take kindly to the gentle press-corps broiling:

After watching this video of the press fighting back against the White House's fake townhalls and pre-screened questions, one almost feels pity for poor Robert Gibbs failing at his job. Mitchell Blatt's post covers the topic well and includes a transcript of the exchange, but CNS News got a little more from Helen Thomas:

“Nixon didn’t try to do that,” Thomas said. “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try. “What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.” Thomas said she was especially concerned about the arrangement between the Obama Administration and a writer from the liberal Huffington Post Web site. The writer was invited by the White House to President Obama’s press conference last week on the understanding that he would ask Obama a question about Iran from among questions that had been sent to him by people in Iran. “When you call the reporter the night before you know damn well what they are going to ask to control you,” Thomas said.

Is the press corps starting to tire of the Obama Administration?

At a press conference today, Helen Thomas and CBS’s Chip Reid got into it with Robert Gibbs over how the administration has been prepackaging media events.

First Reid asked why the questions for Wednesday’s town hall on healthcare were being preselected. After Gibbs tried to dodge that question a few times, Thomas became involved, saying, “We have never had that in the White House. I’m amazed that you people … call for openness and transparency.”

Thomas said that the administration was trying to control the media, and she pointed out how they coordinated questions with the Huffington Post at a press conference.

On Wednesday night’s O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly circled around the David Letterman teen-got-knocked-up crack against the Palins, noticing that the Women’s Media Center, founded by uber-feminists Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda, harangued O’Reilly for mocking Helen Thomas for having a voice like the “Wicked Witch of the East,” but made no protest on Palin’s behalf to the Letterman show:

BILL O’REILLY: Now, women's groups. As you know, Sarah Palin and David Letterman. Not one woman's group -- no, NOW said something. I'm sorry. The National Organization for Women said, "Dave." OK. But no protests, no anything like that. But remember when I made fun of Helen Thomas, what happened? Roll the tape.

HELEN THOMAS, JOURNALIST: Do you think that Pakistan and -- are maintaining the safe havens in Afghanistan for these so-called terrorists?

CBS anchor Katie Couric was roasted Wednesday night in Washington at the Helen Thomas Award dinner of the American News Women's Club. The Washington Post's Reliable Source column relayed Helen Thomas's historical verdict on Couric's Sarah Palin interview:

Helen Thomas wrapped with a bit of political commentary on the Palin interview. "The ballgame was over after that." Couric, she insisted, "saved the country."

McCain-Palin adviser Nicolle Wallace joked that if Palin can see Russia from her house, well, Couric can see New Jersey from hers -- "but that's as close as you media elites get to Jersey."

CBS veteran Bob Schieffer and former White House correspondent Helen Thomas spoke Monday at the CityClub luncheon at the downtown Seattle Sheraton, reported Andrea James on seattlepi.com. Perhaps out of perpetual loyalty to Dan Rather or perpetual denial about the daily CBS product, Schieffer smacked Bernard Goldberg.

From the audience, John Hamer of the Washington News Council asked about liberal media bias, citing specifically Goldberg’s books Bias and A Slobbering Love Affair.

"Is he right?" Hamer asked. "To what degree is he right?"

Schieffer rejected the criticism: "I don't think he's right. I never thought he's right. He's found a way to make a living by criticizing CBS news and journalism as a whole."

...After the event, Hamer said that he was disappointed by the answers.

"I thought it was an inadequate response," said Hamer, who bills himself as a moderate slightly to the right of center. "I wondered if Bob Schieffer had read either of the books."

Hamer was also offered the opportunity to question Helen Thomas:

Washington Times White House correspondent Christina Bellantoni has online conservatives a-Twitter with some overheard snippets of a Helen Thomas interview, including what may well be a racially-tinged joke about Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.).

Around noon today Bellantoni noted via Twitter:

breaking Helen Thomas tells filmcrew Bush worst POTUS in history, "too many people are dead" in Iraq sez Kennedy, Johnson best #whpresscorps

Coming from someone who constantly complains about how many soldiers President Bush "killed" by invading and occupying Iraq, it's odd that Thomas considers two Vietnam era presidents to be among the best presidents in American history.

A few moments later Bellantoni added a tweet that hinted at a racially insensitive crack Thomas may have made about Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R):

During Wednesday's "Media Mash" segment, Fox News' Sean Hannity cited several NewsBusters reports as evidence of liberal bias in the press.

Featured in this installment were: Michael Bates' February 9 article about Rick Sanchez's (CNN) absurd argument against tax cuts; Warner Todd Huston's January 31 piece about CNN selling Obama T-shirts, and; Mark Finkelstein's February 8 posting of Claire Shipman's (ABC) irresponsible comment about speed being the only thing that matters when crafting a stimulus plan.

The video of this segment is embedded below the fold along with a transcript:

With Barack Obama’s first press conference as president scheduled on Monday night, one obvious question that comes up is what kind of questions he will receive from the White House press corps. His predecessor, George W. Bush, faced some pressing questions during his first press conference on February 22, 2001.

Liberal firebrand Helen Thomas offered the most politically-charged question: “Mr. President, why do you refuse to respect the wall between the church and state? And you know that the mixing of religion and government, for centuries, has led to slaughter. The very fact that our country has stood in good stead by having this separation -- why do you break it down?” When President Bush answered that he did “respect the separation of church and state,” Thomas blasted back: “Well, you wouldn't have a religious office in the White House if you did.” Since President Obama has decided to retain Bush’s faith-based initiative (although with a new name and slightly new mission), one wonders if Thomas will press the Democrat on the issue.

Update: The highlight thus far is the testy exchange between Gibbs and Tapper. Checking the tape again it appears he did answer Tapper's second question, albeit tersely muttering the response, before turning to Chuck Todd of NBC.

Gibbs starting press conference about 10 minutes late, at 2:10. Says was late getting started due to news about Associate Justice Ginsburg's pancreatic cancer surgery.

[N.B.: I'm watching via Fox News ]

14:10, Jennifer Loven, AP: question about stimulus size.

14:13, Loven question about potential conflict of interest for Obama's Labor Sec. designee, Rep. Solis.

14:14, female reporter notes more "combative" tone to Obama's talk on stimulus, asks if he's "given up on bipartisanship"

sorry for the gap, had Internet connection problems for a few minutes.

14:19, Ed Henry: President talked about the trillion dollar deficit, why then if that's a failure does he want to add $8 or $9 billion on top of that?

14:20, Henry: Paid for with a cigarette tax but we're not sure how many are going to buy cigarettes

14:22,Henry: Notes Labor Secretary-designate Hilda Solis's husband's reported tax liens, asks if White House knew about it.

14:24, Jake Tapper, ABC News: Can we get copy of the waivers for former lobbyists given by the OMB. It's not available by email or the Web, can we get them. 

Update (14:33): News conference just ended. Gibbs faced numerous questions on Tom Daschle, including one from each major broadcast network's correspondents. [audio excerpt available here]

Live blogging the press briefing. Official WH ranscript available here.

13:47 CNN cuts to Brady briefing room, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs making opening announcements before questions. Announces Obama event to commemorate 200th anniversary of birth of Abraham Lincoln.

13:52, female reporter: On Tom Daschle, if you could take a step back, we have two nominees paying back taxes. An awful lot of money... what kind of a message does it send?

Robert Gibbs says Daschle discovered a mistake and paid for it, including penalty fees. Says he hopes Senate will examine not just "one mistake in a career" but Daschle's whole career in public service. 

WARNING... Video Below Fold

So what do you get when you mix a Canadian TV hostess with the venerable Helen Thomas? An admission of bias so strong that it could ward off a vampire. Just why the image of the undead first came to my mind is anybody's guess, but there you have it.

On a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation morning TV interview show called "Sun Day," Thomas was interviewed on how she felt about presidents past, present what was to be future with the Obama inauguration still then days away. She was also quizzed on her profession in which Thomas claimed only liberals should be engaged. And that isn't all. She also said that conservatives are neither thinking nor caring people.

President Bush came before the White House press corps for the last time on January 12 to thank them for doing their jobs. This exercise was akin to thanking the sharks who ate you.

The president said he didn’t always like the stories that were generated, "but always, the relationship, I have felt, has been professional." Walking in the footsteps of his father, he’d politely unfurled an obvious fib in a display of social graces.

Always professional? President Bush didn’t draw any attention to Helen Thomas in the front row as he praised the media for their never-failing professionalism. Helen’s accusatory rants at White House spokesman Ari Fleischer about the president’s bloodthirsty ways were legendary, like this one in 2003: "Why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?" She lectured Bush directly in 2006: "Your decision to invade Iraq has caused the death of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime." She wanted to know if the "real reason" he caused all these deaths and injuries was for oil, or for Israel.

There is one famous journalist who’s unafraid to denounce Barack Obama’s agenda. Legendary left-wing journalist Helen Thomas appeared on Tuesday’s Democracy Now on radical Pacifica Radio, and denounced Obama’s acceptance of pro-Israel U.S. foreign policy: "I think that Obama, during the campaign, made many promises, as every president, potential president does to Israel, that they seem somehow bounded by their promises, promises to uphold all Israeli goals. I don't see how the U.S. can provide F-16s, gunships, Apache gunships, phosphorus, possibly phosphorus, and cluster bombs and so forth to kill helpless people, children who are starving to death."

Thomas also denounced the White House press corps for bowing to Bush yesterday at his final press conference, offering a "platform of self-defense and self-delusion," and then compared the Israelis to the Nazis: "I remember the rabbi who spoke at the Martin Luther King march on Washington. [Rabbi Abraham] Heschel had a cameo appearance, and he said, ‘The greatest sin of all in the Nazi era was silence.’ When you remain silent to the suffering and the incredible aggression against a people, then you are culpable."

Liberal-media legend (and long-time UPI White House correspondent) Helen Thomas returned triumphantly to the White House briefing room yesterday after a bout of bad health, and the blog Fishbowl DC has video of an interview with reporter Ken Herman of Cox Newspapers. When Herman asked (superfluously) who she voted for, Helen said Obama. Why? "Because I really thought he was a great gift to democracy that it would show the American people were fair and balanced, and honorable, and understood [it] didn’t make any difference in terms of race, color, creed and so forth."

Voting for Obama showed the American people were fair and balanced? That would be a rather elastic defense for all the pro-Obama bias.

Kevin McDonough (photo at right from UFS) can’t seem to avoid inserting liberal commentary into his TV reviews. The syndicated critic on Tuesday wrote about an upcoming PBS documentary on a Chilean judge’s investigation into the government of Augusto Pinochet, and editorialized that "The Judge and the General" "offers a cautionary tale for Americans," since Chile "had a long history of democratic government" before Pinochet’s coup. He continued that the film "begins and ends with scenes of rallies by fanatical supporters of Pinochet, who died in 2006 before facing trial. None of the attitudes expressed by these angry thugs would seem out of place on American talk radio."

McDonough doesn’t explain what exactly these attitudes are, but the implication of his argument is that conservative talk show hosts and their listeners are "angry thugs," that they’re a threat to "democratic government," and that they would install a Pinochet-like regime if they were given a chance.

Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales heaped loads of praise on Helen Thomas even as he lamented that documentarian Rory Kennedy will present HBO viewers tonight with"A Story With a Few Holes." Shales found it disappointing that Thomas's affinity for Israel's enemies was left untouched in Kennedy's "Thank You, Mr. President."

Shales started by insisting that "[o]ne can't help wondering if the film was shortened in the final edit to obscure a blemish or two on Thomas's celebrated career-- the documentary equivalent of cosmetic surgery." [Keep it civil, comments thread!]

Even so, Shales himself gussied up "Hell No" Helen in his review, insisting she's a reporter who "can't be accused of party partisanship" and who was "brave enough to chastise fellow journalists -- for supporting the Iraq war in the aftermath of Sept. 11 and abetting what she considers the right-wing persecution of Bill Clinton." Nah, the Hearst columnist sure doesn't sound like a left-wing partisan hack to me.