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.
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