ABC's Compton: White House's Perino Cuts Helen Thomas 'No Slack'

Washington Times reporter Jon Ward's April 24 article about Tony Snow substitute Dana Perino (pictured at right) is getting a bit of buzz among conservative bloggers such as Kathryn Jean Lopez, Ed Driscoll, and Mary Katharine Ham. Here's what's got them buzzing:

When Mrs. Thomas, 86, kept firing questions at Mrs. Perino, 34, the presidential spokeswoman cut her off.

"Do you want me to answer the question, Helen, or do you want to ask questions? It's really hard to concentrate here. What's your question?" Mrs. Perino demanded.

Mrs. Thomas replied, "You repeat yourself so much that. "

"So do you," Mrs. Perino interrupted, then immediately called on another reporter.

Mrs. Perino is "the first press secretary to cut Helen Thomas no slack," said Ann Compton of ABC News, who has spent more than three decades as a White House correspondent.

Contributors to NewsBusters and MRC.org have frequently documented Thomas's biased tirades and tantrums from the daily press briefings.

Below are links to some Thomas-related items from NB and MRC archives:

• Helen Thomas, Legendary Liberal (Media Reality Check, May 17, 2000)
• Tony Snow to Thomas: 'Thank You For the Hezbollah View' (NewsBusters, July 18, 2006)
• CBS Showcases Thomas: 'Why Did You Really Want to Go to War?' (Cyber Alert, March 22, 2006)
• Helen Thomas on CNN: U.S. Has 'Killed So Many Innocent People' (Cyber Alert, March 22, 2006)
• Some timeless Helen Thomas quotes (Best of NQ 2002)
• Thomas Wants Massive Iraq Protests, Hails Carter 'Apartheid' Book As 'Good Trend' (NB, Feb. 7, 2007)
• Teddy Hails Helen Thomas: 'One of the Greatest Reporters' In American History (NB, Feb. 7, 2007)

For the full NewsBusters archive on Thomas, click here.