BUSH TAKES ON PRESS, AND HELEN THOMAS TOO

Drudge ^ | 3/21/06 | Drudge

[bnelson44]

Breaking on Drudge now

[freedomlover]

What I wouldn't give for a good Thomas Slap-a-Rama.
NO PICS PLEASE!!!

[msnimje]

President Bush made Helen giggle.

[b4its2late]

She should be thrown out of the WH on her ass.

[DirtyHarryY2K]

I wached it. He more or less told the old moonbat hag to STFU up and let him answer the question. LOL

[Paloma_55]

I do not understand how Helen Thomas keeps a job.

She "asked a question" by first asserting that Bush walked into the White House wanting to go to war with Iraq.

Fortunately, GW challenged that premise, but I have such a big problem with her management not firing her for using THEIR employment as a means for pushing a political agenda.

[Tarpon]

That was quite the slap.

[manwiththehands]

"Nobody likes war. It creates a sense of uncertainty in the country," he said. "War creates trauma."

So let's spend tax dollars and bloat the federal government like there is no tomorrow.

Yep. That sure makes me feel better about this "war".

[lormand]

Did someone say Helen Thomas?

[MizSterious]

It would be too difficult to fill the resulting crater.

[technomage]

Fortunately, GW challenged that premise

Which is something the President and the Republicans rarely do. They normally allow the original premise of most questions to pass without challenge, whether that premise is accurate or not.

[Blogger]

War costs money. And, yes, we are at war. And no, it doesn't have to be in quotation marks. When you have been crouched on the front lines and are getting shot at, then maybe you can make your snide comments. But, stop your whining and be a little realistic. War ain't cheap. It never has been.

[shield]

That old HAG can't go on forever. One day we'll be free of her.

[finnman69]

transcript

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_TEXT?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-03-21-11-12-59

QUESTION: 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, your Cabinet officers, former Cabinet officers, intelligence people and so forth - but what's your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil, the 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 - that I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect.

QUESTION: And ...

BUSH: Hold on for a second, please. Excuse me. Excuse me.

No president wants war. Everything you may have heard is that, but it's just simply not true.

My attitude about the defense of this country changed on September the 11th. 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. 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.

Part of that meant to make sure that we didn't allow people to provide safe haven to an enemy, and that's why I went into Iraq.

(CROSSTALK)

BUSH: Hold on for a second. Excuse me for a second, please. Excuse me for a second. They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for al-Qaida.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BUSH: Helen, excuse me.

That's where - Afghanistan provided safe haven for al-Qaida. That's where they trained, that's where they plotted, that's where they planned the attacks that killed thousands of innocent Americans.

I also saw a threat in Iraq. I was hoping to solve this problem diplomatically. That's why I went to the Security Council. That's why it was important to pass 1441, which was unanimously passed.

And the world said, Disarm, disclose or face serious consequences. And therefore, we worked with the world. We worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world.

And when he chose to deny the inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. And we did. And the world is safer for it.

[dead]

On DU, the consensus was that Bush bombed because he treated the press, and especially Helen, with anger and disrespect.

Those little serfs still think that journalists are some sort of non-secular deities who will dispense the wisdom of the ages if we approach them with the appropriate level of awe.

[Gay State Conservative]

President Bush made Helen giggle.

And to think it was so late in life that Helen had her first experience of this sort.

[jazusamo]

Pathetic Helen: Was she embarrassed? No way.

[in hoc signo vinces]

Did you expect anything different from the children that post over there?

Reality and Rationality, are words absent from their daily lives.

[jayef]

Did she tinkle?

[Rummyfan]

He should have made a stronger statement regarding ties between Saddam and terroism, with Al Queda and other groups. But all in all, a solid putdown to the doyenne of the White House press corps. Too bad he didn't get an opportunity to slap down David Gregory too!