Helen Thomas

As interviewed by Chicago Dyke at Corrente: (Via Bryan at Why Now?)

Asked about her famous quote that Bush is the “worst president in history,” she reminded me that she said so in 2002. She says that while he could have improved, he didn’t and hasn’t yet, and I don’t think she’s holding her breath waiting for that to change. Clearly the issue that makes Ms. Thomas the most emotional and forceful in her assertion about the failures of this administration is the war. She called it “unconscionable” and a “quagmire.” She seemed particularly irked that the rationale for the war keeps changing, and that to this day it’s hard to get a consistent answer from members of the administration, “you ask five people and you get five different reasons,” she notes with no small feeling.
I can understand why this would be such an infuriating reality for someone who has such impeccable credentials as a journalist and who knows how to talk to politicians; it’s beyond insulting.

Ms. Thomas doesn’t think there is any good reason for the war. “People are killing, and dying, for what?” Asked why she thinks the American people have accepted this war for so long, she said that 9/11, and the fear and uncertainty it engendered, kept people behind the war effort far longer than would’ve been possible otherwise. “Fear is a powerful weapon,” she relates, and she notes how strong the urge is to support the president after an attack. She said that such fear caused people to accept not only the war, but also government intrusions on privacy, and the shifting rationale for the war.

[snip]

Ms. Thomas had two words to answer my question, ‘what is the biggest problem facing good government today?’ “Lousy leadership.” The follow up question about what is different today compared to when she first entered the business was hardly more reassuring. Back then, and unlike today, people understood the true meaning of public service, and followed in the tradition of Lincoln. People in previous governments have wanted to “make a contribution” and help “the sick, the poor, those without shelter” and had concern for issues like fairness and health care. She stressed that this isn’t found in the Beltway today, and she blames much of our current situation on Reagan, “when all this began.”