Helen Thomas in New Book Calls Bush Press Secretaries 'Robots'

By: E&P Staff In a new book coming out on June 15, Helen Thomas, the legendary Washington correspondent, and now columnist, takes dead aim at President Bush's press secretaries (before Tony Snow).

The Web site, RawStory.com, published excerpts from the book, published by Scribner, today.

Writing about spokesmen Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan, Thomas observes that truth often "took a holiday. ... The Bush-2 spokesmen were predictable and Orwellian. They lived in fear that there would be a news leak, which made Bush apoplectic, not the first president with such a reaction. Fleischer and McClellan marched in lockstep in the most secretive administration in modern history."

Earlier, Thomas notes, according to the Raw Story excerpts, "I have always thought that the job of White House press secretary is the toughest position after the presidency itself. ... Unfortunately, too few who have served in that exalted office have risen to the occasion and been willing to defy the Oval Office in the interests of honesty. Integrity, credibility, perhaps a good conscience, and definitely a sense of humor are the qualities that make a great press secretary, in my opinion. That is why there have been so few.

"The press secretaries I have observed over the years take the White House podium with the best of intentions, assuming they do not have a built-in hostility to the media after the long, hard road to the White House. I have even heard them say, 'I will never lie to you.' I smile when I hear that. I do believe, however, that some kept that promise, knowing how fast a lie can catch up to them, even defying presidents who wanted to shade the truth.

"My criticism of the press secretaries in the Bush-2 administration is that they are robots parroting the party line, on message word for word. They are afraid to deviate even when they are spouting nonsense. They stay on one page, no matter what the question.

"Pleasing their president too often means more to them than their questionable responsibility to the American people; to democracy itself. They define it as loyalty to the boss, but they owe a higher loyalty to the country, in my opinion. Dissembling and avoiding the truth does not engender trust or respect. It harms the nation."