And it takes a female press secretary to finally slap down that demented moron, Helen Thomas. Men can't get away with it, because they can't be seen as beating up on an old lady. One silver lining of Tony Snow's cancer recurrence.

So I guess she's small or somethin'. The author felt the need to mention this fact numerous times for some reason.

It's unclear why the whitehouse bothers at all with these press conferences.

If you're going to childlishly attack journalists instead of taking questions, particularly a well respected one who has been with the press corps since the Carter adminstration, just send a weekly memo to a wire service and be done with it.

Well, if journalists, even those who've been around so long they ought to have a bit more self-discipline, are going to childishly launch "gotcha" attacks all day instead of ask serious questions, maybe it's understandable.

just send a weekly memo to a wire service and be done with it.

An excellent idea. But why bother with a wire service? Just post it on whitehouse.gov and open up the comments section. Plenty of responses more intelligent than anything Helen Thomas says will appear, even if only grade-school classes are allowed to post.

Tony Snow takes his pension and a round dozen fatheads from the press have to start practising And how long had you known the deceased? or Would you like fries with that? What's not to like?

Carl: "are going to childishly launch "gotcha" attacks all day instead of ask serious questions"

So if the White House lies through its teeth to the American people, and a journalist does their job, that's a "gotcha" attack?

So if a journalist lies through his/her teeth about the White House, that's Freedom of the Press?

So if the White House lies through its teeth to the American people, and a journalist does their job, that's a "gotcha" attack?

Hmmm...well, using what I'm guessing would be your definitions of "lies through its teeth" and "journalist does their job", yes.

Journalism is supposed to be about news, about digging out stuff the public doesn't already know, or at least asking the odd, unexpected question that reveals there's something we don't know.

When's the last time that ever happened in the White House press room? When's the last time a journalist asked an unexpected question? And the answer was news?

Adra is absolutely right. There's no point at all to the White House press room. It's nothing more than a game, with the press baying predictable partisan attacks, and the White House doing predictable bland stonewalling. I don't mind the journos wasting their time -- I don't pay their salaries -- but I pay for the White House's time, and I'd rather not.

DaveP: "So if a journalist lies through his/her teeth about the White House"

What did Helen Thomas "lie" about?

Carl: "Journalism is supposed to be about news, about digging out stuff the public doesn't already know, or at least asking the odd, unexpected question that reveals there's something we don't know."

Are you saying the American people already know the Bush regime is headed by liars and criminals, so the media should just stop reporting it?

"When's the last time a journalist asked an unexpected question?"

Helen Thomas frequently has. That's why she was moved to the back of the press room and ignored for years by the regime's mouthpieces.

"And the answer was news?"

As long as the outrageous lies and prevarications at the cost of American lives continue, they should be reported.