Human Flower Project
Bouquets for a Firebrand
White House reporter Helen Thomas receives a truckload of roses for bulldogging President Bush on Iraq.
Floral thanks for White House correspondent Helen Thomas
Photo: Democratic Underground
The best known member of the White House press corps, 85-year-old Helen Thomas, never worried about people-pleasing, which is just what has made her a great reporter.
After being relegated to the back row, Thomas was at last called upon March 21 by George Bush. Right off, Thomas put him on notice: “You’re going to be sorry.”
“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, from your Cabinet—your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth—what was your real reason? You have said it wasn’t oil—quest for oil, it hasn’t been Israel, or anything else. What was it?”
The President proceeded to rollerblade away from the question.
Bush: ”...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—hold on for a second—”
Thomas: “They didn’t do anything to you, or to our country….”
And she continued to interrupt. How unladylike!
Thomas worked for United Press International from 1943 to 2000; after the wire service was bought by New World Communications, she resigned because, she said, of the company’s ties to Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church. She now works for Hearst and continues to report and write but “is rarely called upon in press conferences.”
...because she’s a has-been? No. Because she’s right on the money—with the kinds of barbed, confrontational questions that used to differentiate journalism from oral history and therapy.
Helen Thomas questioned President Jimmy Carter, 2/8/77
Photo: Courtesy of Jimmy Carter Library
At a speech she gave at MIT in 2002, Thomas asked, “Where’s the outrage? Where is Congress? They’re supine! Bush has held only six press conferences, the only forum in our society where a president can be questioned. I’m on the phone to [former press secretary] Ari Fleischer every day, asking will he ever hold another one? The international world is wondering what happened to America’s great heart and soul.”
For her decades of tenacity, and her most recent upstartism, Thomas was surprised with about 38 dozen roses last week, a gift from a group called Democratic Underground. “Thank you Ms. Thomas,” the organization wrote, “for asking the President the questions all Americans want answered about Iraq! Thank you for always siding on the side of truth and asking for others to do the same! We’ve got your back!”
Thomas replied: “Blessed are the peacemakers. The bounty of beautiful roses from such wonderful people has lifted my heart and will remain in my memory for the rest of my life. Thank you for caring that others may live.
Helen Thomas
Columnist, Hearst Newspapers
March 31, 2006”
Thirty-eight dozen roses are hardly an “underground” activity. On the contrary, giving flowers is a revelation of both recipient and giver. In our view, guys, your group needs a more accurate and in-the-sunlight name!
We enjoyed reading the reactions to the flower-shower, both pro and con. Flowers mark feeling, and with Helen Thomas involved, that of course translates into feelings on both sides: a.k.a. controversy.
Hey, when was the last time you sent flowers to a reporter?
(Note: Our apologies for under-reporting by a landslide the roses for Ms. Thomas. We’d just counted the vases shown in the photo. But read the comments here. Democratic Underground sent Thomas 100 dozen flowers!)
Comments
it was 100 dozen not 38 dozen. Yeah they thought about donating the money elsewhere but letting Helen know that we appreciate that the US still has one real reporter left seemed important. I’m sure the roses went to a nice place afterwards and made more people feel a little better too. It would have been a drop in the bucket for a campaign and until we have a real reporter break open the stolen election/diebold story, we won’t have a real election again anyway.
Helen Thomas did not ask a question. She issued a very long opinionated statement. Her credibility as an unbiased journalist is no better than if she were Michael Moore. Hopefully the roses are a retirement gift.
It was 100 dozen roses and they were later donated by Helen to wounded vets - a most noble thing to do. She is a treasure.
100 dozen roses, but Helen was only able to count 38 dozen. Either Helen can’t count or someone’s scamming the sheep again.
I was the one who ordered the roses. I wasn’t their to pick them up but the volunteers that worked on the ground assured me it was 1200 roses - and they had the blisters to prove it! 
It would have been much more useful to donate all that money to a candidate you supported than to give it to Helen Thomas! Bush slammed her anyway and will surely never call on her again.
Seems silly to me.