White House Press Secretary Dana Perino Reacts to "Another Question" by Helen Thomas

I've watched this clip a half-dozen times (scroll down for clip) and I can't tell if Dana Perino is angry or genuinely offended. Perion's attempt to draw the other journalists in the briefing room as also experiencing a "state of offense" was shallow and a bit desperate. Certainly Perino's barely veiled-threat that being a journalist allowed into the briefing room was a "privilege" was a mistake -- better than she have tried to intimidate Helen Thomas and failed. The angry eye-blast she gives Helen Thomas at the end of the clip turns Perino's performance into a childish display.

Nor does Perino's try at turning Thomas' comments into an anti-troops statement work - as anyone who has followed even part of Thomas' 45+ career as White House journalist would know.

Regardless of what motivates Dana Perino, Helen Thomas' attempt to shake her up succeeds. Helen Thomas did not choose her words without thought - never does.

Helen Thomas is known for her tough questions and for her courage - asking unpopular questions when her colleagues remain silent... as illustrated by this quote taken from Wikipedia's entry on her:

On March 21, 2006, Thomas was called upon directly by President Bush for the first time in three years. Thomas asked Bush about the war in Iraq:

"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?"

Scroll down past the clip for more of Helen Thomas on the war, civil liberties and the responsibility of the press.

Helen Thomas on war, civil liberty and the responsibility of the press

Truth, Fear and War

Excerpt from Helen Thomas' speech at her WiLL/WAND Torchbearer Award ceremony delivered at the Sewall-Belmont House in Washington, DC on Saturday, September 13, 2003.

". . . But now it is once more into the breach for us, and once more truth is the main casualty of war. In the brief five months of the Iraqi war, we already have learned that the human and financial costs are too high. But when will our leaders learn--war is not the answer. It's time for women to make their voices heard. Their silence on the subject of war and peace is deafening."

"We have lost our halo, because we represented the...best hopes and ideals of mankind and we have disappointed the world. To be a military superpower does not arrogate to us the right to invade countries, defy laws and dictate to other people. That is not us. It never was. We have no choice--it is imperative for us to take back the dawn." [Read Thomas' full speech at thenation.com}


Lap Dogs of the Press

posted March 15, 2006
"Of all the unhappy trends I have witnessed--conservative swings on television networks, dwindling newspaper circulation, the jailing of reporters and "spin"--nothing is more troubling to me than the obsequious press during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. They lapped up everything the Pentagon and White House could dish out--no questions asked." [Read complete article at thenation.com}

Helen Thomas on Wire Tapping

Thomas questions press secretary Scott McClellan about wire-tapping under the PATRIOT Act. Follow this link to video.