Helen Thomas gets front row seat — Fox News does not
posted at 4:17 pm on March 17, 2007 by Ian
It looks like the so-called White House mouth-piece will not have first row privileges in the new press room, according to the WHCA:
TO: White House Correspondents’ Association
RE: White House Briefing Room
DATE: March 16, 2007The White House Correspondents’ Association met today to review plans for the renovated West Wing Briefing Room and the seating assignments. The new briefing room will consist of 49 seats: 7 rows and 7 seats per row. In the old briefing room, we had 8 rows and 6 seats per row. This new configuration required us to make several adjustments to the seating arrangement, which is a White House Correspondents’ Association responsibility.
As a board, we decided to move CNN to the first row. This decision was based on CNN’s 27 years of covering The White House, as well as the resources it brings to the in-town and travel pool, and its daily presence at the briefings. In addition, the board agreed to honor a previous commitment by our association to maintain Helen Thomas’ seat in the first row. As the dean of the White House press corps, Helen is an institution. First with United Press International and now as a White House columnist for Hearst newspapers, Helen has covered every president since John Kennedy.
Every news organization that had a seat in the old briefing room will have a seat in the new briefing room, and these seating assignments only affect the Brady Briefing Room. The White House, however, will continue to determine seating assignments for all presidential news conferences. We expect to move back to the West Wing this June. Look for additional updates on the briefing room project in the weeks ahead.
2007 White House Correspondents Association Board
Steve Scully – C-SPAN (President)
Ann Compton – ABC News (Vice President)
Jennifer Loven – Associated Press (Treasurer)
Peter Maer – CBS News (Secretary)
Steve Holland – Reuters
Doug Mills – The New York Times
Kenneth Walsh – US News & World Report
Ken Herman – Cox Newspapers
Mike Allen – The Politico
Blowback
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Helen Thomas is an institution?!?!? No, Helen Thoman is a lunatic member of a left wing biased, partisan, anti-military, anti-Christian “mainstream media.”
Phil Byler on March 17, 2007 at 4:23 PM
Bush continues his pattern of giving kindness to those who openly despise him. I guess he doesn’t care if it’s ever reciprocated. It could be said that he’s truly living his Christian faith, but his presidency is in shambles partly because he rarely fights back against his critics.
liberty on March 17, 2007 at 4:24 PM
wow im sure angry about who sits where
oh wait i could care less
triple on March 17, 2007 at 4:26 PM
Of course. What did you think was really going to happen?
The WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS determines who sits where, not Tony Snow. And the White House Correspondents Association Board is a who’s who of LIBERAL MSMers.
Look at who made the determination:
Steve Scully – C-SPAN (President)
Ann Compton – ABC News (Vice President)
Jennifer Loven – Associated Press (Treasurer)
Peter Maer – CBS News (Secretary)
Steve Holland – Reuters
Doug Mills – The New York Times
Kenneth Walsh – US News & World Report
Ken Herman – Cox Newspapers
Mike Allen – The Politico
Do you see a member of Fox News on the board? Given that, did anybody really think that the Fox News-haters would bump Thomas in favor of Fox News?
georgej on March 17, 2007 at 4:27 PM
HELEN, my love, once more you will fill my screen with your angelic apperance…….. My thoughts are filled with erotic images, please speak “sweet nothings” to me with that signing voice….. Ohhhhhhhhhhh, the passion!
PinkyBigglesworth on March 17, 2007 at 4:31 PM
Helen Thomas needs to be institutionalized.
Buck Turgidson on March 17, 2007 at 4:33 PM
Re: georgej
You should check out some articles by Jennifer Loven (treasurer of the WHCA).
Look at the results a Google search for her name yielded.
Ian on March 17, 2007 at 4:34 PM
She should be in an institution.
I see AP hack Jennifer Loven listed there.
JammieWearingFool on March 17, 2007 at 4:39 PM
Duel at dawn for the fair maiden…prepare to give your life for the one you so love.
right2bright on March 17, 2007 at 4:46 PM
Ian,
My point exactly.
georgej on March 17, 2007 at 4:50 PM
Errr … don’t be too worried about a front row seat. Just wait and see how bad it gets if a Democrat should manage to win the Presidency. Fox News won’t even be allowed in the room. And I really hope there’s nobody here that doubts that. The debate fiasco should be all the evidence one needs.
Liberty is exactly correct …
Conservatives as a whole are losing a war because we refuse to fight back. We’re getting slaughtered. Keep saying how much better than them we need to be and soon we’ll find ourselves the victim of Michael D. Rectenwald’s ten-point plan:
Gregor on March 17, 2007 at 4:51 PM
To add more to my own comment …
I think it’s odd that liberals have always been known to be the pacifists and conservatives the realists. While that seems to still be true when it comes to our leaders, the over-all population seems to have reversed that trend when dealing with each other. Liberals will use any weapon available to take us down, including violence, the courts, and the race card. While we sit on our couches saying how violence, name calling, the race card, and pretty much any act of fighting back will never solve anything, they’re busy trying to figure out how to exterminate all conservatives.
Somehow, being good Christians is supposed to show them the evil of their ways and suddenly they’ll just stop.
Gregor on March 17, 2007 at 5:00 PM
Fox doesn’t need a front row seat. Our VRWC works just fine from Row 2. Thank ya very much!
lorien1973 on March 17, 2007 at 5:34 PM
Besides, you can throw spitwads from the back rows.
TexasDan on March 17, 2007 at 6:02 PM
the cool kids sit in the back.
triple on March 17, 2007 at 6:05 PM
I guess the free food and Hummer-limos worked! CNN: We buy the seats so you don’t have to.
RedinBlueCounty on March 17, 2007 at 6:32 PM
Helen apparently hates bloggers.
The only realistic reason that could possibly be is that the blogisphere has essentially raised the bar for journalists and Helen couldn’t reach the bar before.
A lack of bias and some sense of competence evade her.
Speakup on March 17, 2007 at 6:39 PM
No, Gregor. We are not refusing to fight back but THEY are! And, probably more importantly, they don’t listen!
What would Fred Thompson do?
Anyway to “fire” the 2007 White House Correspondents Association Board?
Heh…won’t that raise the hackles of those liberals.
Oh, wait.
Who really cares?
Kokonut on March 17, 2007 at 6:40 PM
Ahh. So that’s how it works. So, the White House Correspondant’s Association handles the delicate assignments. They are aping the Diplomatic Corps by calling the most hanging around journo, “The dean of the Corps,” just as diplomats in each foreign post acknowledge the longest serving member at that particular locale. Curiously, the “dean” title captured by Helen Thomas, who has Middle Eastern ancestry obscured by the Thomas name, a number of “deans” of foreign diplomatic corps in various capitals around the world happen to be the “Palestinian Ambassador.” And that with no actual nation, either.
Meanwhile, see if front row helps. Tony Snow isn’t obliged to take any questions from her, “institution” or not.
naliaka on March 17, 2007 at 6:49 PM
Loven’s husband worked for the Clinton WH, didn’t he?
Connie on March 17, 2007 at 6:52 PM
Boy, they really stuck it to FoxNews! Take that!…Oh wait, FNC will still have better ratings than all of them. If I were Fox, I’d request a seat at the other end of the room from Helen Thomas. Of course, that means they probably have to sit behind David Gregory. Oh well, at the end of the day, it’s just a seat and they’re gonna get called on, so it’s probably no big deal.
CP on March 17, 2007 at 7:06 PM
How in the heck did someone from Politico already get a seat on the WHCA board? Didn’t they just arrive on the scene like yesterday? Wow. Someone has a lot of pull.
jaleach on March 17, 2007 at 7:11 PM
I’m not really concerned about where Helen Thomas sits. I remain convinced that her continued presence in the WH press room is just part of some bizarre paleontology exhibit. Behold, bloviasaurus prunea.
SailorDave on March 17, 2007 at 7:31 PM
This is such a non-story. Who cares, really?
csdeven on March 17, 2007 at 7:40 PM
Bush wishes he could have a whole press room full of Helen Thomases and he’s pretty much got his wish. It is people like her that are the only reason Republicans haven’t demanded that Bush resign. They create a support base for the president.
Perchant on March 17, 2007 at 8:09 PM
Fox News doesn’t get a front row seat? No problem.
Tony Snow has a pretty good vantage point.
fogw on March 17, 2007 at 8:44 PM
Oh, great idea to start asking Bush to fight back now. Now is the time that we need to understand that he’s working on 2008. Although he personally isn’t up for reelection, he wants just as much as we do for a Republican to be elected. Over the next 18 months, he’s going to be giving away a lot of stuff. You guys should have been fighting harder for him over the last six years, and especially last year, but no…
Bitching about Bush now won’t help get Rudy, Mitt or whoever elected next year. Any kind of negativity, even Bush negativity, will affect 2008, so toughen up. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
JohnJ on March 17, 2007 at 8:44 PM
Dawn it is, kind sir………….. Hellen! HELLEN!
The face that launched a thousand ships……….
PinkyBigglesworth on March 17, 2007 at 8:55 PM
There is a huge difference between turning the other cheek to a personal enemy and turning the other cheek to a political enemy.
Tim Burton on March 17, 2007 at 9:13 PM
Institutionalized, maybe.
seejanemom on March 17, 2007 at 9:27 PM
Well if you squint, Fox News may not have the front row, they have the podium.
- The Cat
MirCat on March 17, 2007 at 10:17 PM
She likely hates bloggers because she’s too emabarrassed to admit she has no clue about how to run a ‘puter.
Course, your reason works just as well…
…sitting in her front row seat, harrassing Tony in full view of the cameras, scribbling with her coal and slate.
If Snow has any media sense at all, he will call on this old hag every chance he gets, within the first 5 minutes of starting.
It will be a chance to show every American what a raving nag she is.
91Veteran on March 17, 2007 at 11:20 PM
Its up to Tony Snow now – never ever call on CNN and Helen Thomas
EricPWJohnson on March 17, 2007 at 11:45 PM
Helen Thomas is an institution? So is a mental hospital.
Jeff on March 18, 2007 at 2:45 AM
Helen Thomas has been an “institution” ever since she had sex with the entire Pierce administration.
JG2K6 on March 18, 2007 at 4:54 AM
He’s not living any Christian faith. Jesus wasn’t Mister Rogers, he slammed his critics with everything he had. Something Bush should definitely make a note of.
Darth Executor on March 18, 2007 at 8:37 AM
He’s not living any Christian faith. Jesus wasn’t Mister Rogers, he slammed his critics with everything he had. Something Bush should definitely make a note of.
Darth Executor on March 18, 2007 at 8:37 AM
The battleship reference seems appropriate, just not in this context.
Coyote D. on March 18, 2007 at 10:16 AM
I love this quote, and it gives me an excuse to post one of my favorite poems:
Arma Virumque
By Ambrose Bierce
“Ours is a Christian army”; so he said
A regiment of bangomen who led.
“And ours a Christian navy,” added he
Who sailed a thunder-junk upon the sea.
Better they know than men unwarlike do
What is an army, and a navy too.
Pray God there may be sent them by-and-by
The knowledge what a Christian is, and why.
For somewhat lamely the conception runs
Of a brass-buttoned Jesus firing guns.
Nonfactor on March 18, 2007 at 2:32 PM
liberty
I agree with every word you wrote. I wish Bush would stop being such as gentle wuss.
Hilts on March 18, 2007 at 9:39 PM
I thought that it was supposed to read “Helen Thomas belongs in an institution.
David Block on March 18, 2007 at 11:19 PM
Than all of whom? FNC has the highest cable news ratings. Which is rather like having the nicest home in a trailer park.
honora on March 19, 2007 at 10:57 AM
I think you mean Battleaxe.
wearyman on March 19, 2007 at 11:23 AM
This crap all started with his (Bush’s) “embrace” of the Chappaquidick Swimmer early in his first term. And we saw the good- will that act bought him
Hilts on March 19, 2007 at 11:27 AM
Your side will need all those votes in ’08 – with this kind of elitism, you won’t get them.
Entelechy on March 19, 2007 at 12:38 PM
Touche. Now what kind of “ism” refers to an 80 something woman as “old hag”, “battleax”, “prunea”, “raving nag” and that perennial favorite “Middle East origin”?
Tell you what, you keep the trailer folk and we’ll take all the old people….
honora on March 19, 2007 at 1:18 PM
It’s never that ‘black and white’, in the sense of simple. There are many in the trailer dwellings and from the AARP who’ll vote either way.
I generally don’t call old people anything bad and do respect them and their experiences a lot. Was brought up with 3 generations to most every hous.
In this case, however, she’s asked for much of the bashing by her own diatribes and really strange allegiances.
Entelechy on March 19, 2007 at 2:51 PM