Helen Thomas Rules

I so want to be Helen Thomas when I grow up:

On Thursday afternoon, Thomas gave a clinic in fortitude to President Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, during the briefing. "Has the president given up on the public option?" she inquired from her front-row-middle seat.

The press secretary laughed at this repetition of a common Thomas inquiry, but this questioner, who has covered every president since Kennedy, wasn't about to be silenced. "I ask it day after day because it has great meaning in this country, and you never answer it," she said.

"Well, I -- I -- I apparently don't answer it to your satisfaction," Gibbs stammered.

"That's right," Thomas snarled.

"I -- I'll -- I'll give you the same answer that I gave you unsatisfactorily for many of those other days," Gibbs offered. "It's what the president believes in --"

"Is he going to fight for it or not?" Thomas snapped.

"We're going to work to get choice and competition into health-care reform" was Gibbs's vague response.

Thomas took that as a no. "You're not going to get it," she advised.

"Then why do you keep asking me?" Gibbs inquired.

"Because I want your conscience to bother you," Thomas replied. The room erupted; Gibbs reddened.

He also responded, "Wow!" Yeah, it's shocking to see a journalist actually care about something other than access, isn't it?! Like, whoa!

By the way, video of the exchange shows that Thomas asked her devastating questions in her usual matter-of-fact and nigh-cheerful demeanor; she neither "snarled" nor "snapped" at Gibbs. But that's what you get when a misogynist asshole covers the news. Perhaps we need to ask the WaPo's ombudsman why they are ignoring obvious evidence that Dana Milbank's sexism is spilling into and compromising the accuracy of his reporting.

[Previously in Helen rocking: Here and here.]