The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    "...because I want your Conscience to bother you..."

    By letthesunshinein on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 6:15pm |
    In a singular moment, and with an honest, from the gut comment, Helen Thomas codified, that which I hope all politicians feel, when they so glibly say they are acting in the best interest of the American people.
    From todays Washington Post, Dana Milbank's "A White House That Acts With All Deliberate Deliberation"  (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/01/AR2009100104303.html?hpid=opinionsbox1)
    "...On Thursday afternoon, Thomas gave a clinic in fortitude to President Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, during the briefing. "Has the president given up on the public option?" she inquired from her front-row-middle seat.

    The press secretary laughed at this repetition of a common Thomas inquiry, but this questioner, who has covered every president since Kennedy, wasn't about to be silenced. "I ask it day after day because it has great meaning in this country, and you never answer it," she said.

    "Well, I -- I -- I apparently don't answer it to your satisfaction," Gibbs stammered.

    "That's right," Thomas snarled.

    "I -- I'll -- I'll give you the same answer that I gave you unsatisfactorily for many of those other days," Gibbs offered. "It's what the president believes in --"

    "Is he going to fight for it or not?" Thomas snapped.

    "We're going to work to get choice and competition into health-care reform" was Gibbs's vague response.

    Thomas took that as a no. "You're not going to get it," she advised.

    "Then why do you keep asking me?" Gibbs inquired.

    "Because I want your conscience to bother you," Thomas replied. The room erupted..."