# Should Helen Thomas be President or a Reporter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 7, 2001, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368 "2001-12-07T03:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/1 "2001-12-07T03:40:36Z")
From a recent White House press conference: > [@](#): > > Helen Thomas: Ari, what makes the President – I’m taking note of his wide-swinging threats in speeches recently. What makes him think that he has the right to go into a sovereign country and bomb the people? > > MR. FLEISCHER: His threats? > > Helen Thomas: Any country. Yes, he’s – > > MR. FLEISCHER: Would you like to be more specific? > > Helen Thomas: Does he think he can go beyond Afghanistan or anywhere else? > > MR. FLEISCHER: The President has made it clear to the American people that the United States, in the wake of an attack on our country, will defend itself. And as a result of defending ourselves, you can see what is happening in Afghanistan. The President has said that this is a war against terrorism because terrorists continue to pose a threat to the United States and to others around the world, and that he is involved in phase one of defending this country against terrorists, and he will continue to do so. > > Helen Thomas: What gives him the authority to go into other countries and bomb them, which is what he is threatening to do? > > MR. FLEISCHER: The right as the Commander-in-Chief to protect and defend the American people. Clearly Helen Thomas isn’t just covering the news; she’s making policy. Who knows? Maybe she’d be better than Bush. What do you think? Should she retire as a reporter? Should she replace the President? Or both? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/2 "2001-12-07T03:42:09Z")
No, she’s asking pointed questions that Ari might not like. Heaven forbid! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/3 "2001-12-07T03:49:10Z")
[http://www.captivenation.com/aug24.htm](http://www.captivenation.com/aug24.htm) > [@](#): > > Washington (CN) Displaying the gravitas that propelled him to a top position within the administration, Ari Fleischer beheaded Helen Thomas early yesterday with a small pocket penknife. > > “I warned her,” said Fleischer menacingly after the killing. “I warned her that her stories were being noted from above, but her dedication to fair journalism trumped her will to live.” > > The White House press corps rallied behind Fleischer. “We appreciate his guidance, and of course we all know that Ari has parameters,” said CNN’s John King. “We’ll miss Helen, but she reported something other than exactly what Ari dictated to us in his last press briefing. I mean, that’s like saying, just kill me already. She was almost asking for it.” Heh. Rock on, Helen. 😃 Hey, I’d vote for her. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/4 "2001-12-07T03:55:15Z")
She’s making policy? I don’t even see a _suggestion_ of policy in her _questions_. (That _is_ what reporters do at press conferences: ask questions.) I certainly see an aggressive tone to her questions. (Of course, up against Ari Fleischer, I would hope that all reporters are aggressive in attempting to get past his standard spins.) On the other hand, her question is a valid one, even if the answer is one that we expect. The President _has_ claimed that we will seek out terrorism wherever it may be found and eradicate it (while carefully stepping around the issue of whether the Chechens or the Russians are the actual terrorists in their little set-to, responding to Hussein’s treatment of the Kurd rebels differently than he responds to Turkish treatment of the same movement, and proposing no new efforts to disarm U.S. support for the factions of Northern Ireland). I may agree with his actual (rather than his spoken) intentions, but it is a legitimate question to ask. When the President makes a declaration of an intent to use force on a worldwide scale–that may very well include waging war against one or more sovereign nations, what Constitutional powers grant him the right to make those commitments? I may wind up agreeing with the current administration in all of their choices (aside from Ashcroft’s attempts to gut the Bill of Rights), but I see no reason to shift the focus from legitimate questions to the person who asks those questions. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/5 "2001-12-07T03:57:07Z")
**December** , I’d like you explain in precisely what way you see Thomas to be “making policy.” ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/6 "2001-12-07T04:04:11Z")
**December** , I’d like to know the date of that press briefing, so I can look it up and read the rest of it. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Spider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Barking\_Spider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Spider)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/7 "2001-12-07T04:13:20Z")
I dont recall Thomas asking Boy Klintons spokesman about Boy Klinton dropping bombs on innocent civilians in order to cover up his lying under oath. Yeah, I got a good memory. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/8 "2001-12-07T04:17:15Z")
**Guin** ’s Rule #509: Never trust anyone who refers to Clinton with as Klinton. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/9 "2001-12-07T04:25:14Z")
Do you apply a similar rule to those who refer to Bush as “DuhBya” or such like? It seemed to me like homas was trying to bait Fleischer into making a comment that would be controversial. She doesn’t seem to have succeded. Fleischer seems to have answered her without really saying anything interesting. ---
**Author:** ![JDeMobray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/10 "2001-12-07T04:27:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Barking Spider \* > **I dont recall Thomas asking Boy Klintons spokesman about Boy Klinton dropping bombs on innocent civilians in order to cover up his lying under oath.** Okay, two things. First, are you a Terry Prachett fan? Just asking because I that think nicknaming William Jefferson Clinton “Boy Willie” would be fairly clever. (Boy Willie is a seventy year old member of Terry Prachett’s Silver Horde, a group of geriatric barbarians who roam the land vaguely engaging in activities that could be construed when viewed from a certain angle as pillaging. The rest of the traditional barbarian job is quite beyond the constitutions of the aged and somewhat frail horde.) Secondly, why “Klinton”? I understand the derogatory value of Shrub, of Slick Willy, etc. But simple mis-spelling? I’m confused. ---
**Author:** ![JDeMobray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/11 "2001-12-07T04:28:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by waterj2 \* > **It seemed to me like homas. . .** Who-Mooos. . . “I think he was saying humus.” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/12 "2001-12-07T04:31:54Z")
I believe it has something to do with the mini series, “Amerika”, from the 1980s. To make a long story short, in Cyrillic, the K sound is only used with a K, not a C-which is the S sound in the alphabet. Thus, in Russian his name would be Klinton (actually K–toh-(no cyrillic l or i available…). At any rate, some right wingers think it’s cute to spell the names of people they think of as pinko bastards with a K if their names have a C, like Klinton, Kastro, etc etc. For those of us with a knowledge of Russian and cyrillic, it just looks extremely stupid. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/13 "2001-12-07T04:41:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by waterj2 \* > **Do you apply a similar rule to those who refer to Bush as “DuhBya” or such like?** Or to the Attorney General as “Asscrap”? Can’t have it both ways, Guinistasia et al. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/14 "2001-12-07T04:50:33Z")
**DDG** Here you go on the link to the press briefing:[ARI](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011205-7.html#President-authority) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/15 "2001-12-07T04:50:40Z")
(\*E#JKLR)(##KC)L# (slamming head against the keyboard) I give up. ---
**Author:** ![JDeMobray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-helen-thomas-be-president-or-a-reporter/97368/16 "2001-12-07T04:55:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by milroyj \* > \*\*Guinistasia et al. \*\* In some parts of the south, this would be considered cannibalism. Personally, I never cared for the guy, especially once he grew that stupid beard. _In case it isn’t completely obvious, I have nothing, nothing, **nothing** meaningful to contribute to this discussion. I’m just very bored and stuck at work with nothing to do for another ten minutes. I apologize, but on the good side, it seems like there’s nothing much meaningful going on in this thread in any event._