Ms. Thomas and Mr. Crawford, Welcome to the Lake.

Jeffrey, Thank you for Hosting today’s Book Salon.

Welcome to Firedoglake – a great honor to have you here today!

Helen and Craig: Thank you, we are happy to be here on this cyber Sunday

Thanks, Bev and FDL for inviting me to host, today. A hearty “Welcome!” to our authors Helen Thomas and Craig Crawford–congrats on a book that’s informative, fun to read, and brilliantly timed.

My first question to get the ball rolling is: Cleveland. I loved the section of the book on President Cleveland as best “Unknown President.” Is part of the book’s purpose to bring Cleveland back into public view so that we might compare him, say…to the current Presidency?

Helen: I’m a huge fan. Could you please share for the readers here some of the techniques used by the Bush Administration to hobble the media?

I became aware of these techniques in Eric Boehlert’s book, “Lapdogs, How the Press Rolled over for Bush” I often wondered why the press never got together to defeat these techniques. I’m also curious about the culture of the White House Press corps under Bush that lead to self imposed restrictions on types of questions. The techniques I’m talking about include the following:

1) At press conferences: One question, no follow ups. -

Specifically I remember this when a reporter asked Bush about his “conversation” with the 9/11 commission with Cheney. Bush gave a non-answer and the microphone was yanked away from the reporter because they wanted no follow ups. I believe this technique was implemented because Bush was very fragile and would lose his temper if people didn’t buy his first non-answer. His staff calculated that no other press would follow up because they didn’t want to ‘waste” their one question following up on someone else’s question.

2) Denying access following tough questions.

I’m thinking specifically of the way an ABC reporter was kicked off the Vice President’s plane, and you being moved to the back row. Why was there no solidarity among the rest of the media? Did the Bush admin count on their careerism?

3) Screaming calls to publishers or editor’s from people like Rove or Hughes demanding better behavior/stories from a journalist. Did your publisher/editor ever get such calls?

4) Types of questions that are off limits. We all heard stories of how certain President’s personal lives were not fair game for questions. What questions of Bush were off limits? I’m thinking specifically about rumors of his drinking. How were these limits imposed? Dirty looks? Shunning? Hall room “chats” with other reporters? Did every one just know it wasn’t done?

Hi Craig, Helen and the always wonderful Jeffrey:

Please give us you best guess about healthcare reform.

Will the president sign a bill and what will it look like?

What do you expect between now and Christmas in the Senate?

Will the whole thing collapse?

Will there be a public option? Will it be strong, without a trigger or opt out?

Will it get passed via reconciliation?

Thanks so much.

Why thank you for noticing. Yes, we were interested in looking at presidents who don’t get so much attention, and most historians agree that he was an unsung hero. So yes, we would very much like to see Cleveland get his due. By the way, the official White House Christmas ornament this year is dedicated to Cleveland.

Welcome indeed. Next time you see him, please will you tell Pres. O. that we’d like him to leave Afghanistan? Thanks.

No, I didn’t think it was that easy.

Welcome Helen and Craig, and thank you Jeffrey. We’re glad to have you with us today.

How much will do you see in this White House to tackle government corruption and business excesses?

It’s a great privilege to “chat” with you both. I am a lifelong fan of yours Ms Thomas all the way back to your JFK and LBJ days. And Mr Crawford I always enjoy your Countdown appearances and wish there were more of them!

You two have written a really fun book, packed full of wonderful anecdotes to illustrate your chapters’ points. (Too much *Lewinsky* not enough *lying America into war* but that’s my bias.) Anyway, here’s my first question for you both: has President Obama read your book, do you think? And if he has read it, has he said anything to you about it?

Thanks again for taking time from your holiday weekend for FireDogLake.

Helen: Censorship beyond anything I’ve seen in modern White House history, in terms of coverage of the Iraqi war, and denying photographs of returning caskets, and prison photos that were suppressed. Also, no real coverage of the war’s front without being embedded. Also, the falsehoods, such as referring everything back to 9/11. The list goes on.

Named after Cleveland, that seems like a hint that Pres. O. likes the association with some one who stood up to ‘special interests’. I suspect you will take an early opportunity to express hopes he will do the same.

The returns aren’t in, but my best hope is we will have a public option in some form even the Blue Dogs and Republicans are doing all they can to kill it. Social Security, medicare, child health insurance — all these are government plans, and they work.

It’s clear from the book that Lyndon Johnson’s presidency made a strong impression on you both. If Johnson were around to give Obama advice on the top issues right now (health, Afghanistan, unemployment, carbon levels), today…what do you think he would say?

We are planning a great presentation to the President soon, if we can get an invitation without crashing the White House.

Good afternoon Ms Thomas and Mr Crawford and welcome to FDL.

I have not had an opportunity to read your book but do have a question.

Specifically for Ms Thomas, if you could corner President Obama and force him to make ONE policy change or political act, what would you tell/force him to do?

Please forgive me if you answer this in the book.

Try the door to the Press Secretary’s office–that should be open, thanks to you, Helen!

LBJ would say “Get the hell out of Afghanistan and don’t make the mistakes I did in Vietnam. Give your all-out support for public health insurance option, and forget about collecting Republican votes. I did that with Medicare, and it worked.”

This is an incredible honor to have you and Mr. Crawford here today.

Speaking of heroes,unsung and otherwise,Ms. Thomas you have been a hero of mine for a long time-for many reasons.

But never moreso than when you left UPI the day after they were taken over by Moon’s organization.

Thank you for your principles as a journalist-and the courage to ACT upon them.

Helen: I’d tell him to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and pay more attention to people at home who are hungry and without jobs.

Question for Ms. Thomas: Just from watching press conferences and reading stories, it seemed that you and your tenacity for asking tough questions really irked President GW Bush and his spokespeople. When the cameras weren’t on, was your relationship with them pleasant, or were they just always rude?

Helen: Thank you for your kind words.

A question about the KSM and so-called 9/11 perpetrators trials scheduled to take place in the Southern District federal courts: What are your predictions for how these trials will impact Obama’s presidency? Is he making a mistake here, is this the only way forward, or is there another–a better path?

Helen and Craig, welcome, and thanks for such a readable book!

In many ways, this book is filled with a lot of what I consider political common sense, captured in the sub-heads to the chapter titles: “read the constitution . . . the people have a right to know . . .” Of course, if this is truly political common sense, then the book wouldn’t have had to have been written.

Which of the nine lessons do the two of you think presidents have the toughest time learning? Or is each president different enough that they have trouble with different lessons?

Welcome to both. I have a theory that Obama is a secret Republican — not the kind of Republican nihilist or nut case we call Republicans today — but the type of moderate Republican that we older types recall from decades ago. That type would recognizes the need for stimulus, but wouldn’t go too far and would want a fair share for tax cuts; he’d support our empirialist wars, but be skeptical of their value and stingy in providing troops; he’d recognize there’s a health problem but wouldn’t want to overturn the industry; and in an financial crisis, he’d pick up the banks, brush them off, put them back on their feet and never once think about dismantling the too big to fail.

Any thoughts on whether we’ve been hood winked?

Helen: I hope I do irritate them. Reporters — good ones, anyway — do not expect to be loved, or even liked. The Bush WH made it clear they weren’t pleased off or on air, and, as you probably know, often hesitated to call on me. But I kept reminding them, as I do all WH staffs, they are public servants. We the public pay their salaries.

I’m curious about this as well. Why do you think that so many of the press responded positively to being insulted by the President? Is it because of the male school boy code of “ranking” on the lesser members in the pack to show who has the highest status?

a rare pleasure to be in on the same conversation as Helen thomas, now my comment

Cleveland took on powerful interests in business and commerce, resulting in much needed reforms

I had high hopes for Obama, I thought of all candidates, since he could get re-elected from the grass roots up, I thought he would not be so easily corruptable or influenced by the corporate/banker/goldmans sachs juggernut

my how wrong I was

it is just bizarre, this president hired all the people who got the economy wrong, who are provably incorrect, their economic theory and their practical application

and he didn’t put a single progressive economist on his advisory panel, the progressive economists who have all gotten it right, who have always gotten us out of the economic disasters created by the hoovers and the reagans

Helen, earlier today I postulated that you might become as revered by corporate media as you are already by those of us “on the left” (the left is center but don’t tell corporate media that, they don’t want to hear it)

I think watching you hold Obama’s feet to the fire will prove endearing to the right faction of this country

It’s good to have in an open and civil trial. Shows the greatness of Democracy. I hope the public will appreciate this president’s handling of a tough situation. We do have due process.

welcome Helen, Craig and Jeffrey, So grateful to get here today. Thank you for this book, and thank you Ms. Thomas for taking on the good fight for so long and doing it so well.

I did a diary today wondering if bin Laden is dead and if that is information that has been known to the administration and military for a long time, but bin Laden as an demonic icon is a useful propaganda tool. Will the trackdown of specifically bin laden be brought up Tuesday by Obama on Afghan escalation?

It’s a great pleasure to ‘see’ you here, Helen.
I’m reading your book, not done yet, but wanted to ask about this part.
Do the right thing: You’ll never be wrong.
What do you think of the policy choices President Obama has made so far?

Reporters sometimes don’t understand their own legitimacy, and bow to power instead of speaking to power.

Exactly, letting go of the wars would make it possible for the U.S. to take care of its public obligations; do you think the administration is heading in this direction?

Ms. Thomas,
I enjoyed your last book “thank you Mr. President” and had the pleasure of hearing you speak about it at a lunch held at the New York Athletic club.

The thing that really stikes me about both books and about your in person comments is that somehow you seem to have avoided becoming jaded and cynical.

After all your years in DC and all the demoralizing things you must have seen go down, you still seem to be such an idealist.

How do you maintain that?

I want to elaborate as far as obama is concerned

it seems obama has fallen for “the market can regulate itself” propaganda, of course there is no market without regulations yet Obama seems to think self regulation is the key to success, in fact it’s the path to our demise

@26

Why Ms. Helen,are YOU the one who originally said,

“If a reporter isn’t p—-ng someone off, they’re NOT doing their job!” ?

Doubt that it will be brought up.

Did George W Bush give you a nickname, and did you ever get called it?

Are members of the White House press corps as lame and clueless in person as they are when asking questions or writing stories?

Is Gibbs as uninformed a marionette as he appears from transcripts of his daily press briefings?

How overall would you rate the Obama Administration’s transparency vs. control and secrecy?

Helen: We live from to hope to hope, as Samuel Johnson said. I am a cynic with hope.

nor do they understand their charge it seems, that they are not there to justify themselves, they are not there to support the president, they are there to provide oversight

this is something the current press just does not seem to get

Thank you for your answer. Irk on and keep that bug-poking stick sharp as your wit.

Helen: I’m sure he did, but I don’t want to hear it. Probably not for a familiy audience.

Also, the Repubs accusing Obama of “dithering”. That taunt has a whiff of what Mailer did to Daddy Bush by calling him a “wimp” before First Gulf War. How much macho hubris does Obama have re the military? Someone speculated that Patraes and Gates may be wanting to run in 2012.

Helen, I agree that good reporters ought not expect to be loved by those they cover. On the other hand, the reality strikes me as not quite measuring up to this ideal.

No disrespect intended toward the late Tim Russert, but his testimony at the Scooter Libby trial — where he stated under oath that his presumption was that every conversation he had with a person of prominence was considered off the record unless otherwise stated — was strong evidence to me that there is often far too cozy a relationship between the DC media and those they cover.

In your many years of covering the White House, what is the best way you’ve seen for ordinary folks to push the media to act in the interests of the general public when they seem to have cozied up a bit too much?

Firstly, there is no such thing as transparency in this White House. Too many secrets. It happens to all presidents, and Obama is not immune

Your book calls for the elimination of the Electoral College and a switch to direct election of the president–a topic that never seems to break into the media, despite Bush v. Gore and despite the fact that many passionate people are committed to this change. Why doesn’t the Electoral College anger more Americans? You’d think after a stolen election that we’d've reached the tipping point.

Do you think this President has learned the right lessons from his predecessors? It seems to me he needs to focus more on LBJ’s errors overseas and less on Clinton’s errors with Congress. The world outside our boundaries has become more complicated and the Congress more simple. I fear he’s taken the wrong lesson from each.

Prefer someone who thinks, instead of being a hip shooter

Can you talk about the administration and congressional terrible enmeshment with corporate lobbies? And also our terrible and destructive codependency with Israel and the Israeli Lobby. The House resolution re Goldstone report was chilling.

Thank you all for being here.
Are the current batch of “reporters” getting instructions from their organizations or are they independent.

You’d think. After all, in the 1920′s we did this with Senate elections, and gave the voters a direct role. With presidential elections, the small states might fight it to the hilt. Regarding Bush v. Gore, the saddest line ever written in a Supreme Court opinion was where the majority said there is no consitutional right to vote for president. On that day the Court lost its halo.

Is Obama’s “dithering” so to speak about sincerely “thinking” or more opportunistic cards close to chest game playing to see how others are playing it? We seem to have a reactive not proactive president, even though he has potential to be thoughtful.

Directly: Please offer your definition of Fox News.

Media? News? Journalism? Entertainment?

For starters, people should not get mad when reporters seem rude to politicians. Sometimes that’s the only way to get their attention, and get real answers. They have to be accountable, and they usually don’t to be.

Did you ever meet the “correspondent” from Talon News who frequented the White House press room during the Bush era, Jeff Gannon/Jimmy Guckert? Were you and your peers suspicious of his softballs? What do you think the real story was there, knowing Gannon/Guckert’s other line of work? Was the press corps embarrassed to have a male hooker in their midst? Is that why we never heard much about it in the So-Called Liberal Media?

what is the best way you’ve seen for ordinary folks to push the media to act in the interests of the general public when they seem to have cozied up a bit too much?

I really like this question peterr. I have the same question. I often want to help the press because I believe their work is important and I’ve spotted times where they have been buffaloed by the politicians, officials and front groups.

after a stolen election

two stolen ones, right?

Show business. Journalism ought to practiced with high standards of ethics and truth-seeking.

Thanks…what sad period. I had said the day of real loss was when the Supremes stopped the Fla. recount. Helen, I saw you at a lecture in Austin. Your description of the W Presidency was “one of the worst.” Did anything happen to cause you to revise any of your assessment? Did you feel “scorn” from Laura as well?

(Daily Kos readers may recommend this diary highlighting today’s Book Salon.)

Exactly–two stolen elections.

Helen, you did great on your Colbert correspondent’s dinner adventure! Was that a dramatic experience for you? Or did you take it in stride? I think it was very brave of both of you!

Liberal blogs have been on fire, today, with debating/arguing about unemployment as a threat to Obama’s political capital, beyond being a threat to the lives of millions of Americans. What’s your view on where unemployment is headed and: does Obama have the right set of skills as a President to tackle the rising threat of unemployment–both in terms of the economics and the politics?

The press was not responsibile for that incident. The embarrassment belongs with the Bush White House.

One of my recurrent complaints about the rollout of Obama’s Afghanistan surge is that reporters don’t point out that a strategy must have a policy underlying it, and we have no Afghanistan policy. Instead all we hear is process stories and all the guesses into how many troops will be part of the escalation.

I should also point out that as in Iraq this surge will take about a year to put in place. It will then run for something like 18-24 months which means we will not even begin a withdrawal, even in theory, until mid or late 2012, last I heard that was an election year. Anyway why aren’t reporters talking about the fact that we will have significant numbers of troops in Afghanistan 3 years from now?

And does Obama have the right set of economic and political advisers to take on unemployment in a meaningful way?

Helen: As we say in the book (Chapter 10), he’s still the worst. Two wars and a depression say it all.

What do you think about the efforts made by blogs like FDL to change or affect the minds and or votes of our representatives towards specific policy votes?

Helen do you have your first reporter’s notebook ?

Do you feel, as we do at FDL, that the morning talk shows on Sunday feature those who constantly were proved wrong, particularly during the worst administration ever, and ignore those solid thinkers that actually have been proved correct, like Krugman and Stiglitz, also Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow (and Jane Hamsher).

Firstly, there is no such thing as transparency in this White House. Too much incompetence many secrets. It happens to all presidents, and Obama is not immune

But he is worse than most. Also fixed that for you.

Helen: I took it in stride, and was very happy that it took root outside the White House.

Thank you both for being here today. Ms Thomas you are a personal hero of mine.

Is it realistic to expect other members of the press corps to ask hard and unwelcome questions?

Helen: We all know that John McCain was famous for his BBQs and relationships with the press “after hours”. Did you ever meet with President Bush after hours? And, was he drinking alcohol? Did you ever see him drunk in these situations? (I’m thinking of him at the Olympics and other shots of him drinking, my favorite one was him at a ball game drinking from a bottle IN A PAPER BAG.)

Craig: We see you on Olbermann quite a bit–many fans around here of that show.–so I’ll direct this question at you: Why does FOX get so many darned viewers? Why does media that actually applies critical tools to politics trail in the numbers behind the kind of conspiracy theory, tears and shouts nonsense approach we see on Beck et al?

One small nit: on page 67 you describe the President as “the only elected official who is on every ballot in the nation.” Surely Al Gore, Dick Cheney, and Joe Biden would disagree. On that note, does the WH press corps cover the Vice President too, or does he have his own posse? How would you describe the relationship between Obama and Biden?

He should have thought about jobs first, before bailing out Wall Street. Hunger, jobs, health care are catastrophic for the non-rich. He still has time but so far hasn’t prioritized the people first.

I read on Wikipedia that you are of Lebanese descent.

Do you feel your ancestry has provided you with greter insight into the evolution of the Middle East for all these years you have been covering the Hill?

Hope this doesn’t sound like an impertinent question.

If we eliminate the Electoral College, won’t future candidates spend their whole campaign in states like New York and California? Who will represent “flyover country”?

Why not. It’s our job. Otherwise, they should become press secretaries.

My problem with the reporters isn’t that they are too rude, but they aren’t persistent ENOUGH when confronted with stonewalling, for example. When a press spokesperson — or the President — responds to a difficult question by tossing out lots of bright shiny objects to distract folks from the fact that they didn’t actually answer the question, how can we encourage the media to say “Excuse me, but that didn’t address what you were asked. Would you like to try again?”

Is there any chance at all that a reporter at a presidential press conference would ever give up their own personal question by saying “Mr. President, I don’t think you answered what my colleague asked you a moment ago. Could you please answer *that* question?”?

I have to agree with that!

Of course. Like anyone, our ancestry informs us.

He should have thought about jobs first, before bailing out Wall Street. Hunger, jobs, health care are catastrophic for the non-rich. He still has time but so far hasn’t prioritized the people first.

I agree, and I worry about what the symbolism of him putting Wall St ahead of the kitchen table will do to the electoral landscape.

I wrote a long time ago that Obama seemed like both Clinton and Bush’s third term. Any comment?

Re unemployment, Obama will give a speech and announce a program that will be small and go nowhere. This is what he does on all issues, not involving corporate giveaways.

Excellent point. It should happen more often, especially when follow-ups are barred. We can always hope.

What are both of your recommendations for us to get the biggest bang for our dollars in terms of affecting the changes we want from our government?

He should have thought about jobs first

we’ve been saying that here at the lake long before the bialout, long before Bush’s bailout and we went balistic obama seemed right there he was in the banksters pocket

I am told fdr listened to the banksters at the beginning of his preisdency as well and only later learned he couldn’t use them as advisors cause they don’t even know THEY are the problem

let’s hope obama learns the same soon enough

Just a heads up to readers: we are 40 minutes into a great conversation, and I know Helen and Craig have a book signing that will drag you away from us at the top of the hour.

Please keep the questions coming…

I was too cautious at first to ask, but spocko, your question empowers me. Helen, were you aware of the “womanizing” of JFK or others with your close proximity to WH and Congressional leaders. When was the tipping point where those personal secrets were protected by press members to those secrets were sought out for sensational infotainment? I know there have always been the gossip rags, but schadenfreude and sensationalism or titillation has taken over the traditional media. And “politics” gets addressed far more than news, which is tragic because it keeps citizens detached watching what is happening as a game played by the elite “celebrities”. Even the reporters bask in their “celebrity”. Lost the ability to empathize. When is Charlie Rose going to interview about the recession someone who is directly impacted by it. Or about the war, those whose actual lives are on the line, whether citizen or non.

Helen,

As a female Wall St. pioneer, a quarter of a century younger than you, I wonder if you could describe your early experiences of how you dealt with the male power world you chose for your career. Perhaps a juicy anecdote to illustrate?

This was one of my fantasy’s during the Bush press conferences and I tried to get Sam Seder into one to do exactly what you suggest, especially because of the one question, no follow ups rule.

Helen: I hope I do irritate them. Reporters — good ones, anyway — do not expect to be loved, or even liked.

I was particularly impressed when you continued to press Robert Gibbs on whether the president had given up on the public option, established that the White House was showing little leadership in getting a public option, and finally told Gibbs a couple of months ago that you wanted his “conscience to bother” him.

Classic.

For starters, elect people who speak for the people and not the superich. And get Goldman Sachs out of the Treasury Dept!

Helen: One of the powerful images of you is your enjoying JFK. Would you mind telling us your opinion about his murder? Do you accept the Oswald conclusion or believe any of the conspiracy theories?

We are usually a pretty yacky crowd and I’m pretty sure there are some of us who are tongue-tied in the presence of the Great Thomas. You really are a Hero to us, Helen. We’ll be thinking of questions we should have asked all night, and into tomorrow.
(((Helen Thomas))) — that’s a big hug to you.

I agree, and I worry about what the symbolism of him putting Wall St ahead of the kitchen table will do to the electoral landscape.

This gets to something I wonder about. How big a bubble does Obama live in? I mean most of us here would probably agree he is a status quo corporatist but he seems completely oblivious to how much of his base and independents he has alienated and what the repercussions of that will be in the 2010 and 2012 elections.

What’s it like to write a book together? Did you sit in the same room, or pass manuscripts back and forth? Or did you contribute different parts of the book? Is it a collaboration you’ll undertake again?

You might suggest it to your colleagues.

For those who are worried that they might “lose their shot” at asking the question that will get them the most prominent slot in their news outlet’s coverage (above the fold of the paper, lead story on the evening news, etc.), I’m willing to bet that the first reporter that actually does that at a presidential press conference will get at least as much media attention as the one who asked the original question.

And when someone does this, one of the photographers in the room should have a camera aimed at the president’s chief of staff. That would be a priceless image.

Helen: Before the 60′s the reporters abided by a golden rule that personal life off limits unless his activities affected public dutes. Since then, there are no restraints. If a tabloid publishes a rumor, mainstream follows up or risk being accused of covering it up. The lives of politicians are an open book now, and there’s no turning back. Sadly there is too much public appetite for pruient gossip.

Oh, is that all? Ha ha. I meant fax, phone calls, email? Which do you think is more affective? Do you think the current WH or the Congress really gives a fig what I think? Or should I just go bowling?

We are usually a pretty yacky crowd and I’m pretty sure there are some of us who are tongue-tied in the presence of the Great Thomas. You really are a Hero to us, Helen. We’ll be thinking of questions we should have asked all night, and into tomorrow.
(((Helen Thomas))) — that’s a big hug to you.

I think it’s safe to say that we would need to form a very long line to dole out FDL hugs to Helen (with Craig’s permission, of course).

Were one of you actually on Bush’s secret Thanksgiving trip to Iraq? Was it a real turkey in those photos? I have read it was a fake turkey, that our troops got canned turkey and the fake was just for picture-taking.

Helen: That is very sweet, thank your. Presidents wish I could be tongue-tied.

All the above. We are such good friends, it evolved over time and was an easy collaboration. Thanks to all who are reading it.

This gets to something I wonder about. How big a bubble does Obama live in? I mean most of us here would probably agree he is a status quo corporatist but he seems completely oblivious to how much of his base and independents he has alienated and what the repercussions of that will be in the 2010 and 2012 elections.

It seems clear bait and switch! Stunningly amoral. Progressives are only 20% of the constituency but we are the awake (and saner compared to right) part of the constituency. He seems to have clicked off the campaign persona without even an acknowledgement he is walking the opposite walk from his original talk. Is it hubris? Authoritarian following?

But I blamed a lot on Bushco and now that Bushco is gone, the corruption of both parties in Congress is illuminated and Obama just joined up with the rotten status quo, no nod to reform or “change”.

There’s an incredible moment in the book when you quote Bush’s 9/14 speech in full and heap praise on his delivery of a masterful moment of national leadership. Realistically, though, you then slam him pretty hard at the conclusion of the book. Moment of truth, here: Was there a moment in those first days after 9/11 when you felt any sincere admiration for Bush?

Craig: No problem. I am most to bask in Helen’s reflected glory.

Helen, what do you think of obama’s opinion that “we need to look forward not backward” addressing the abuses of the previous administration

we know from Rumsfeld/Chaney’s previous escapades in the ford administration that if we allow the kind of deception they perpetrated back then to undermine Nixon’s détente then there is no reason they won’t do it time and again

do you think he really believes “looking forward” means not prosecuting the crimes that have passed?

also, do you think he’s scared of Cheney, it seems Cheney,a failure at everything else has played Obama every step of the way

is it possible Cheney is actually the intellectual superior of Obama?

since that rolling stone article I have never given cheney any credit what so ever but it really does look like he has obama all twisted and on a string

Craig Crawford has ALWAYS been one of my favorites.

That Ms. Thomas has him as a co-author is an imprimatur of a class act.

Want you to know you’re appreciated too,Craig.

No

We also write a lot around here about the death spiral of the mainstream media. Is there a future for mainstream news outlets? Or is it pretty much going to be us in the blogosphere who take up the slack?

Have you two ever seen a congress so completely obstructed as this present one, of course particularly the Senate?

It’s covering up the past. We must learn from our mistakes, no matter how painful.

Helen & Craig, you might notice that many of us on the left & central-left have kind of maxed out on Obama. Helen, you’ve seen presidents come and go; do you think Obama has a chance to clean up his image with us progressives?

If possible, our admiration for you both just increased.

The story about the multi-million dollar re-do of the briefing room, while adding exactly ONE more chair for press, was pretty funny. Can you talk about the brouhaha that originally had you slated for the back row?

Who’s the hero’s hero? Who or what would you consider the biggest influence on your particular voice?

I saw how Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney use two techniques AGAINST the press.
1) It’s a National Security question I can’t answer it, it might endanger lives

2) Semantics. Cheney talked about the “relationship” that Saddam had with Bin laden. In his mind Bin Laden calling up Saddam and asking for money was a relationship even if Saddam said, “NO!” The Bush admin loved to rename things and then get the press to refer to the renaming as if “The Clear Skies” bill wasn’t about a give way to polluters.

How do you bust though these techniques to muffle the press? I’m especially thinking about how the New York Times sat on a story about finances for a year at the request of the White House.

Do you have a sense of whether we’re making progress as a nation, or are we slipping back? Hurtling towards a cliff?

No

Well…that’s settled LOL

I sure hope so. We need some outlets for truth without partisanship. And journalism standards. Real reporters on the street doing the leg work. We can’t only have a world where everyone with a laptop thinks they are journalists, and everyone with a cell phone thinks they are photographers.

As we come to the end of this great Book Salon,

Ms. Thomas and Mr. Craig, Thank you for stopping by the Lake and spending the afternoon discussing your new book and the Presidency with us.

Jeffrey, Thank you very much for Hosting this great Book Salon.

Everyone, If you haven’t bought this great book yet, here is a link.

Thanks all.

How would you rate the Obama White House’s outreach to reporters? There has been a lot of criticism of them, that they won’t tell you the time except on background.

Helen: Yes, if he displays more courage. Craig: He’s nailed hope. It’s time for audacity.

One last question from me would be about governing vision. I think you really hit this one square on the head in the book, particularly in the sections where you sum up the weakness of George H. W. Bush as a president. My question: Obama had a great campaign focus in hope/change, what would you say is his governing vision?

So good to read, though. Those were tough times to see the emperor had no clothes, and there were mite few of us who said so.

Thank you Bev, as always for the work you do to set these up.
I’m think Holiday Gifts!

Helen Thomas, you’ve been one of my heroes since Watergate… as we say to our men and women in uniform and should all say to you: Thank You For Your Service… it seems you are one of the few with “access” who has not forgotten why the Founding Fathers granted us a Free Press.

Question: do you see Obama as a potentially failed leader? I see none of the marks of a true leader in him. He gives a great speech, but when the rubber hits the road, he seems to be nowhere in sight… example: Healthcare Reform.

Thanks again, and Craig Crawford, more Countdown appearances please… you’re a delight!

Thank you, Bev and Jeffrey. We really enjoyed it. Excellent questions. And thanks to everyone who bought the book. Please check our events calendar to get your book signed (www.craig.crawford.com). We’ll be at the University Club in DC on Wednesday night.

elect people who speak for the people and not the superich. And get Goldman Sachs out of the Treasury Dept!

[standing on chair cheering and clapping]

Ah, yes…the clock has run out on us.

Helen and Craig: I wish you great success with this book. When I told my in-laws about it at Thankgiving, you’ll be happy to know that one person replied,”I just bought that for my sister.” Enjoy the tour and, please: come back and see us as often as you can.

FDLers: Thanks for having me and for all your questions–great stuff as usual! I can stick around for 15 more minutes in case anyone wants to follow up.

Real journalism is not a spectator sport,is it?

[applause]

Thank you SO MUCH for spending time with us here today, and good luck with the book, which I heartily recommend. (It would make an especially good present for a young person becoming newly acquainted with politics, or someone newly arrived to our country and citizenship.) It’s a wonderful read.

Ms. Thomas,

It is an honour to speak with you.

My question is: How do you think the public can best ensure that there is an independent, open and thorough investigation into all those involved in the Bush torture regime, and an independent, open and thorough accounting of all those held in US custody since January 21, 2001, all those renditioned, and all those disappeared, and their treatment

With gratitude,
Standing for justice and accountability,
For Dan,
Heather

Do you have a sense of whether we’re making progress as a nation, or are we slipping back? Hurtling towards a cliff?

It’s the cliff, of course. Which brings up another subject: Have you ever seen our elites political, economic, academic, professional, business as bankrupt and non-functioning as the ones we have now. Our elites have failed us but won’t relinguish power. That’s how we get idiots like Summers and Bernanke who caused much of the current economic disasters still calling the shots.

Or anyone in college enrolled in a journalism program.

Thanks, Helen and Craig, for writing the book and coming by to chat. Stop back again, any time!

This government is not our friend, period.

Or, Political Science, or History, or Communications, or any Learn To Think For Yourself class. *g*

Thanks to all at FDL who enabled us to have this wonderful opportunity .

Christmas came early for me,today.

I have a lot of respect for Helen Thomas but, in fact, there are quite a few of us out here at our keyboards who create very solid analysis and when we can get the original source material news.

True that, however, some people have the advantage of a wider audience.

Gitch, you are a class act re Craig. Craig, just googled your pic! Great to hear you on Olbermann. Didn’t connect name and image. Sorry.

I hope this is in time for helen to see it, maybe a little justice on it’s way;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Osama bin Laden was “within the grasp” of US forces in late 2001 but escaped because then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld rejected calls for reinforcements, a hard-hitting US Senate report says.

has there ever been a more inept secretary of state then that man?

I wonder if this senate report is bi particent

And a front row seat!

Helen and Craig, I’m curious about your assessment of Grover Cleveland. The history texts from grade school pretty much confined themselves to noting that a) his two terms weren’t next to each other and b) he married a woman much younger than himself while in the White House. Then again, the grade-school texts glossed over Wilson’s antipathy to blacks in government (and made Grant look a lot worse than he was), so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the textbooks misrepresented Cleveland as well.

And enormous wealth of experience.

And, look how much tenacity and years of very diligent work that took.

cheney and rumsfeld mastered this technique under ford

they created false information and claimed the ussr had a “really scary submarine” so secret “even the cia didn’t know about it’

of course the cia called them the bull artists that they were but it didn’t stop them from perpetuating their false information

they used that technique again to get us into Iraq

worked brilliantly too

perris, this is all over the news today, about how bin laden slipped our grasp way back when. it feels like corporate media tilling the way for escalation putting the spotlight here. We MUST escalate, because we didn’t then. I feel played one more time by the seductive, corporate-controlled manipulative media drum beat. Conflating then and now, when there have been so many obscene things happening since then, let alone the obscenity of lying us into a war from the get go.

Cheers, everyone! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Jeffrey, Thank you again.

Unless, of course, you’re Joe Scarborough.

Gary Condit was hounded out of office because he was one of Chandra Levy’s many male friends, and was — without a smidgen of evidence — blamed for her disappearance and death; it took 9/11 for the press dogs to stop attacking him. As all this was going on, Lori Klausuitis, a 28-year-old woman who worked in one of Joe Scarborough’s congressional offices, was found dead at the office one morning with multiple incidents of head trauma, including a seven-and-a-quarter-inch-long skull fracture and a hematoma the size of a child’s fist. The coroner (who before coming to Florida had lost his medical examiner’s license for messing up autopsies) ruled that she’d died of a heart attack caused by previously-undiagnosed heart arrhytmia and hit her head on her desk while standing next to it — which is, erm, interesting as she ran 8k fun runs and you’d think that if her arrhytmia was going to kill her it would have done so during one of those.

But Joe Scarborough is a Republican, so he wasn’t hounded out of office over this mysteriously dead twentysomething, unlike Gary Condit. Instead, he was allowed to retire and now has the morning show on MSNBC.

wow…. talk about a double standard. trial by journalism re condit. where smoke then fire. i remember and was like the sheeple … assumed guilt. good to hear this.

never heard about scarborough story. wow. how tragic for the woman. and nothing came of it? Cronyism?

thanks!

Jeb Bush coverup, JoeScar’s been in the Bush pocket ever since.

some “friends” help you move, other “friends” help you move bodies????