There’s Only One Helen Thomas

…and that’s a damn shame. It seems Thomas is the only member of the White House press corps who cares about the truth and holding the administration’s feet to the fire.

Have a look at Thomas’ interaction with Dana Perino at yesterday’s press briefing:

Thomas: The President has said publicly several times, in two consecutive news conferences a few months ago, and you have said over and over again, we do not torture. Now he has admitted that he did sign off on torture, he did know about it. So how do you reconcile this credibility gap?

Perino: Helen, you’re taking liberties with the what the President said. The United States has not, is not torturing any detainees in the global war on terror. And General Hayden, amongst others, have spoken on Capitol Hill fully in this regard, and it is — I’ll leave it where it is. The President is accurate in saying what he said.

Thomas: That’s not my question. My question is, why did he state publicly, we do not torture –

Perino: Because we do not.

Thomas: when he really did know that we do?

Perino: No, that’s what I mean, Helen. We’ve talked about the legal authorities –

Thomas: Are you saying that we did not?

Perino: I am saying we did not, yes.

Thomas: How can you when you have photographs and everything else? I mean, how can you say that when he admits that he knew about it?

Perino: Helen, I think that you’re — again, I think you’re conflating some issues and you’re misconstruing what the President said.

Thomas: I’m asking for the credibility of this country, not just this administration.

Perino: And what I’m telling you is we have — torture has not occurred. And you can go back through all the public record. Just make sure — I would just respectfully ask you not to misconstrue what the President said.

Thomas: You’re denying, in this room, that we torture and we have tortured?

Perino: Yes, I am denying that.

Elaine, did you have one?

[other reporter]: I have one on Zimbabwe, actually.

Thomas: Where is everybody?

The best video I could find doesn’t include Thomas’ last line, but you can see how she feels about the situation:

It’s a sad situation when you not only have the administration simply lying about its crimes, and only a single journalist is willing to challenge them on it. I’m sure Thomas knows she’s right, but I wonder if she knows how much she’s appreciated.

Some of the folks at reddit have come up with the right idea: let’s all send her flowers.

Here’s her office address:
Helen Thomas
c/o Hearst Newspapers, Washington Bureau
700 12th St. NW Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20005

If enough people do this, I think that we’ll not only demonstrate our appreciation, but it might even become a story in and of itself, which will give Thomas the opportunity to tell the rest of the media the background of the story — that the administration continues to lie about torture in spite of the irrefutable evidence that it has happened.