Media Matters:
In his March 22 Media Notes column, Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz wrote about an exchange President Bush had with Helen Thomas, a syndicated columnist with Hearst Newspapers, during Bush’s March 21 White House news conference, in which he claimed that by calling on Thomas “for the first time in three years,” Bush found “a useful foil” that allowed him “not only to punch back but to show the country that he’s up against a left-wing press corps.”
From Bush’s March 21 White House news conference:
THOMAS: I’d like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is: Why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet—your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth—what was your real reason? You have said it wasn’t oil—quest for oil, it hasn’t been Israel, or anything else. What was it?
BUSH: I think your premise—in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist—is that, you know, I didn’t want war. To assume I wanted war is just—is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect --
THOMAS: Everything --
BUSH: Hold on for a second, please.
THOMAS: Everything I’ve heard --
BUSH: Let me—excuse me, excuse me. No president wants war. Everything you may have heard is that, but it’s just simply not true. I—my attitude about the defense of this country changed on September the 11th. We—when we got attacked, I vowed then and there to use every asset at my disposal to protect the American people. Our foreign policy changed on that day, Helen. You know, we used to think we were secure because of oceans and previous diplomacy. But we realized on September the 11th, 2001, that killers could destroy innocent life. And I’m never going to forget it. And I’m never going to forget the vow I made to the American people that we will do everything in our power to protect our people.
Link
Washington’s Overrated ‘Old Hands’
Email
Print
Share
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Ma.gnolia
Newsvine
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo
Jump to Comments
By Herbert Brubaker, June 4, 2006 at 7:32 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Bush who bought his office is still A.W.O.L.from Nat.Guards,and he has the guts to talk to them.If your rich & a politcian you can get away with everything,look at Cheny he shot a man and didn’t get punished for it or tell us how the man is.He was even to cheap to buy a hunting license.
Report thisBy Herbert Brubaker, June 3, 2006 at 11:00 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
I don’t call Bush President because he wasn’t elected,he bought it.Right now he’s worse than Hitler as he wants to rule the world,while he and Cheny reep in millions for themselves,and what a price to pay for their oil,30000 young men.
Report thisBy Diane, March 24, 2006 at 1:44 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
I can finally have a hero again. And her name is Helen Thomas.
Report thisBy pacificardea, March 24, 2006 at 1:11 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Goldberg referred to Helen Thomas as a “thespian carbuncle of bile” if I recall correctly. More civil discourse from the right. How on earth can the LA Times editors print the crap this kid spews and still have any semblance of journalistic dignity, let alone self respect?
Report thisBy Lie Detector, March 24, 2006 at 7:02 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Bush didn’t want war. You’re getting sleepy. Bush didn’t want war. Relax your toes. Bush didn’t want war. Sleep. Sleep. Bush didn’t want war. Breathe deeply. No President wants war. Relax your ankles. America is safer. Relax your calves. The world is better off without Saddam Hussein. Relax your thighs. Iran is months away from developing nuclear weapons. Relax your hips…
Report thisBy Joe DeLuca, March 23, 2006 at 11:10 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Helen asked the question that so many of us have been asking for so long: Did George W. Bush, the self-proclaimed Born-Again Methodist, in supporting the cataclysmic interests of a moribund fossil-fuel hegemony and globalized free-rein corporations, commit the Satanic acts of evil that lead to the death of over 30,000 Iraqis and Americans (Something worthy of the Anti-Christ.), the squandering of America’s esteem and resources, flagrant criminal acts and arrogant, unapologetic abuse of power, did he, as now seems so likely,do so with premeditation, or was it, hopefully, for his sake, just the bumbling effort of a recovering alcoholic/drug-addict with a resume that reads like a rich kid’s obituary, to rally his base (Al Quaeda,ironically, means “the base” in Arabic.) and serve his Neo-Con hot-walkers?
His response is both telling and pathetic.
Report thisBy TruthPlease, March 23, 2006 at 10:23 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Why is anyone still listening to this lying moron? How many times will it take before the average American finally sees what these chickenhawks are up to - create diversion half a world away, while they clean out the bank and scamper away. They obviously don’t give a hoot what history will say about them - they’ll laugh all the way to their off-shore bank in the Cayman Islands. First time - shame on you. Second (and third and fourth.....) - shame on me.
Report thisPlease wake up, people.
By kc, March 23, 2006 at 1:55 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Amazing how the truth can be so turned around! Ask a ‘real’ question and get that kind of reply, why am I not surprised. Just another...do not dare to try to hold this president accountable for his actions....display.
Report thisBy Andrea, March 23, 2006 at 11:56 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Worst was ,neo-moron Jonah Goldberg, writing in LA Times today, “swatting Helen Thomas,” in defending Iraq invasion. Does not mention the Iraq mess, etc. Blames Helen Thomas.Goldberg is a neo-moron.
Report this