I can't really say I know Helen Thomas. However, twice about ten years ago, I had dinner with her and enjoyed myself immensely. We talked about Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton, and if I were to transcribe and post her remarks I'd have to find a sheet of asbestos to type them on. She was not tepid.
Thomas's writing doesn't have the sparkle of a James Wolcott or the needling ability of Molly Ivins, but her firsthand grasp of the presidency makes up for any lack of style. Today, she's joined a still small but growing chorus calling on the Democrats to move in a direction that seems like poison at the moment. My guess is it will seem like divine wisdom nine months from now. It's not that she's the first to say what's in her column, just that she's the one saying it. Some excerpts:
Democrats still backing senseless war
By HELEN THOMAS
WASHINGTON -- It's time for the Democratic Party to take a courageous stand and call for the withdrawal of troops from the senseless war in Iraq.
Its human cost and the billion-dollars-a-week tab in Iraq should give all Americans pause.
Would the Republicans have hesitated to challenge the Democrats if the shoe were on the other foot? Did the opposition party give President Clinton any slack while he was in office?
What is the logic of Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Joseph Biden, D-Del., and other so-called moderate Democrats still backing the unprovoked war in Iraq when they know they were sold a bill of goods?
Furthermore, they are urging that more troops be sent to Iraq. And they are doing so at a time when the generals in Iraq are giving mixed signals. Some are talking about a draw-down of troops in a year, others in four years. ...
White House reporters have noted that in addressing military families, Bush is citing statistics on Americans killed in Iraq -- a figure now approaching the 2,000 mark. But the candid test will be when he notes the numbers of Iraqis who have been killed since the United States invaded their country.
Democrats have gone about their lives after giving the president a blank check to do anything he thought was necessary. They think they have absolved themselves of responsibility. It's somebody else's war.
But they might find that if they don't get some backbone and take a stand soon, the voters might not be that forgiving.