When is "Thank You Mr. President" really "F*** You Mr. President?"

When the words are spoken by Helen Thomas.

That's the only conclusion I can come to when I see the woman engage in what others call journalism and what I'd call symptomatic of one of the most serious cases of Bush Derangement Syndrome.

And I'm apparently not alone:

Multiple choice quiz: Helen Thomas has been covering the White House for 48 years. Which of the following stories did she break?

A. President Kennedy's plans to invade the Bay of Pigs.

B. President Nixon's secret bombing of Cambodia.

C. The Pentagon Papers.

D. The Watergate scandal.

E. None of the above, or anything else, either.

The answer, of course, is E, though you might not guess it from the fawning HBO documentary Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas At The White House, the latest unfortunate example of the increasing tendency to confuse public temper tantrums with good journalism.

Though Thomas is routinely referred to these days as iconic, legendary and fearless, journalism has little to do with it. She's celebrated not for her work as a journeyman reporter at a second-rate wire service or as a virtually unread political columnist for the Hearst newspapers.

Her reputation really derives from scolding, tendentious speeches nominally delivered as ''questions'' like this one to George W. Bush, admiringly featured in Thank You, Mr. President: ''Why do you refuse to respect the wall between church and state? You know that the mixing of religion and government for centuries has led to slaughter.'' Just in case you thought that was intended to produce an actual answer -- the usual aim of reporters -- Thomas interrupted Bush before he could even complete a sentence. Perhaps that's because when presidents have gotten a chance to reply to Thomas' tirades, they've often made her look like a fool.

Making Helen Thomas look like a fool would be synonymous with making cotton look fluffy.  There's no effort to it, it simply happens naturally.

How in hell HBO can dedicate anything to this journalistic joke is beyond me.  Not having seen it, I can't help but wonder if it might be satirical.  Perhaps something like an SNL skit.

One thing I do know.  I won't be watching it. 

I'd rather experience waterboarding.

With props to Michelle.

Comments

[tim aka The Godless Heathen]

“I'd rather experience waterboarding.”

Niiiiicccee Rick. LOL!

BTW, this begs the question; if we sent down Helen Thomas to GITMO to interview the detainees, would that be considered torture?

What about if we convinced them that their 72 virgins looked like Helen?

Lastly, Helen, got burka?

Thats funny from the clips I have seen of Helen Thomas asking questions the dimwitted Bush press secretaries spit propaganda without any substantial answers. For example in this HBO piece they use a clip of her asking Ari if Bush has weighed the human cost of life starting a war for one man. Another question to Perino brings up the fact that we often ignore which is the cost of life to civilians which is the leading reason why we have increased aggressions in Afghanistan. It seems to me that someone who seems to be in favor of religion doesn't see how ignoring the innocents within the countries we are supposed to be helping.