Helen Thomas calls new Bush aide 'contemptible,' tangles with Tony Snow

Drudge ^

[doesnt suffer fools gladly]

Helen Thomas calls new Bush aide 'contemptible,' tangles with Tony Snow

Tue May 30 2006 13:34:41 ET

Helen Thomas, doyenne of the White House press corps, tangles with Tony Snow at today's briefing over President Bush's appointment of Karl Zinmeister as domestic policy adviser:

QUESTION: Why did the president pick a man who is so contemptible of the public servants in Washington to be his domestic adviser, saying, People in Washington are morally repugnant, cheating, shifty human beings. Why did he...

SNOW: Apparently an opinion that's...

QUESTION: Why would he pick such a man to be a domestic adviser?

SNOW: You meant contemptuous as opposed to contemptible I think.

QUESTION: Pure contempt.

SNOW: I'm not sure it's pure contempt. I know Karl Zinsmeister pretty well and he is somebody who expresses himself with a certain amount of piquancy. You're perhaps familiar with that, aren't you, Helen?

(LAUGHTER)

And so, as a consequence from time to time, he's going to say -- he'll have some sharp elbows.

QUESTION: His attitude toward public servants...

SNOW: I don't think it is his attitude toward public servants. It may have been toward the press. Just kidding.

(LAUGHTER)

No, look if, you look at the bulk of what Karl Zinsmeister has done at the American Enterprise and elsewhere, I think you're going to find somebody who's done some pretty meaty and interesting research on a variety of topics.

The reason he's being brought in is that he's...

QUESTION: Do you agree with his assessment?

SNOW: I'm not going to -- it is one sentence the guy wrote. And perhaps you may recall -- yes?

QUESTION: Arrogant, morally repugnant, cheating, shifty.

SNOW: That's a lot in one sentence, isn't it? He just packed it right in.

Developing...

[Brilliant]

If Darwin was right about survival of the fittest, then you really wonder how Helen Thomas has lived so long. Mean and ugly aren't really very good selling points in the job market.

[Nonstatist]

Snow's pretty quick on his feet

[Redleg Duke]

She is so ugly and mean that everyone is afraid of what might crawl out of the shell if they killed her!

[MeanWestTexan]

He'd make a great Republican President.

[MeanWestTexan]

He'd make a great Republican President.

[jackieaxe]

I think there is something blatantly undemocratic for the same journalists to have a monopoly of the seats in the White House. Helens is about 25 years past being put out to pasture, but even if I agreed with every reporter in the Gaggle, no one should be there FOREVER!

[Palladin]

Helen needs a long nap.

[silverleaf]

Sorry Tony, Helen is still pining for Ari Fleischer.

[savedbygrace]

Helen Thomas, doyenne of the White House press corps,

Doyenne is the feminine of doyen, which means the oldest example of a category.

In case anyone was wondering . . .

[guitar4jesus]

[martin_fierro]

PING

[John Jorsett]

The word you were looking for was 'contemptuous', Helen. Hope you have someone familiar with English correcting your copy.

[sine_nomine]

The heavy makeup really helps...not.

[Vision]

If Darwin was right about survival of the fittest, then you really wonder how Helen Thomas has lived so long. Mean and ugly aren't really very good selling points in the job market

You forgot slow witted

[Cincinatus]

SNOW: You meant contemptuous as opposed to contemptible I think.

Contemptuous

Contemptible

[sono]

OK that's disturbing on so many levels LOL.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

[Apparatchik]

LMAO!!

[glorgau]

It's worth having Helen Thomas there as a butt for jokes. Snow just ate her up and chuckled nicely while doing it. My guess is that "ripping on Helen" is going to be a regular feature of press briefings. Soon enough, the rest of the press corps is going to be waiting for the punch lines - part of the daily entertainment if you will.