There are, perhaps, only a few jobs for which you truly cannot prepare, but just leap in and do.

One of those jobs has to be President of the United States. No matter how much you think you've learned--be it in the Senate like Barack Obama, or as the governor of a state, like George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, or even as Vice President, like George HW Bush and Lyndon Johnson--the American presidency is a whole other animal. Often insulated and isolated from those who put you in office, the American president must juggle political, economic, foreign, security and partisan interests to lead the Executive Branch--and the free world--to the best of their abilities.

Obviously, some presidencies are more successful than others.

As journalists assigned to cover the White House, Craig Crawford of CQ Politics and Helen Thomas of the Hearst News Syndicate, together share decades of observing from the White House Press Room. They have watched and noted each success and each blunder. Helen Thomas has covered more presidents than any other present journalist, starting with JFK in 1960, but her career really began in 1945 during Roosevelt's administration. Craig Crawford, who actually interned as a college student in Jimmy Carter's press office, began covering presidential campaigns in 1988 with Ronald Reagan. So there's no shortage of presidential triumphs and stumbles between them, and it is that experience they have collated to create Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do, where they share the attributes of successful presidencies by looking at the choices made by predecessors: from Clinton's prickly and sometimes overly hostile handling of the press to JFK's deft deflectons with humor, from Johnson's brave stance on civil rights, knowing the political costs to him and his party to Reagan's Cold War fight, which alienated him with his conservative base when he began negotiating nuclear disarmament with Gorbachev.

Every presidency is marked with mistakes as the president navigates this unbelievably difficult and occasionally thankless job, but Helen and Craig have listed some basic principles which, if followed, should make any future president successful, such as finding trustworthy advisers, remembering they are not above the law, be honest, have the courage to do the hard thing and keep a clear vision.

I'm happy to have Craig Crawford here with us today to discuss his book, Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do. Please join us to chat on what makes for a successful American presidency.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

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Fox News is airing a new commercial on their station that frankly had me almost throwing up in my mouth a little when I saw it. Fox has decided to roll out their full list of regular pundits to espouse the network's journalistic integrity and "core principles". No...I'm not joking.

Here are some of the "principles" they claim Fox News promotes: civility, mutual respect, strengthening our diverse society by striving for unity, tolerance, open debate and civil discourse.

Yeah, that's exactly what I think of when I see the likes of Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly screaming over one of their guests. Or Glenn Beck riding that crazy train off into the horizon. Or Laura Ingraham on one of her hate filled screeds that's akin to listening to finger nails on a chalk board.

And for a real hoot, check out the ticker that's running below the ad. Breaking News!!... Fox News realizes that Helen Thomas exists and actually cares about what she has to say now that it's criticism of the Obama administration.

I love Helen to death, but her whining about Nico Pitney getting a question from the White House sounds like sour grapes to me from a typical Villager. There's plenty to complain about besides a blogger getting to ask one lousy question that's wrong with that White House press corps if she wants to go on a rant about what's wrong with our media.

I think this Fox Nation ad could use a better description than the one I came up with for the video and the post. I'd love to hear suggestions from the readers here who by and large are always more creative than I am when it comes to these things. We've done some "write your own caption posts". I'll gladly have this be a "write your own video description" instead. Submissions welcomed if you'd care to give all of us a laugh.

How dumb are the right wing bloggers and pundits? I don't have enough time to tell you, but this latest crazed outburst of supposed "media bias" over the treatment of George W. Bush is proof enough that they are suffering a deep and dark depression.

Patrick Gavin posts a very short video clip, all of twenty two seconds that's supposedly a complete media critique of the way the White House press reporters loathe George Bush and just fawn over Barack Obama. Hot Air's Allahpundit writes:

This one’s making the rounds but I’m not sure why. Isn’t this standard chivalrous behavior when you’re in love? If The One were forced to trod upon a muddy path, wouldn’t you expect Chuck Todd or Helen Thomas to lay their coats over it for him? Actually, there’s a more mundane explanation. Sort of.

--

Doesn’t that … basically prove the point of the video? Okay, fine, they’re not anti-Bush. They’re just really, really pro-Obama. Whew!

I know, I should have some pity on their poor souls, but how can I pity idiocy?

Not that I need to link to something that explains away this lunacy, but I will anyway.

John Dickerson:

A video, put together by Politico's Patrick Gavin, is making the rounds showing two presidential visits to the White House briefing room. In one, George Bush arrives for a press conference in February 2008, and the press remains seated. In the second, from last Friday, Barack Obama surprises the press by appearing in the midst of the daily briefing. They stand to greet him. (Given that the press is supposedly in the tank for Obama, shouldn't critics be happy they didn't kneel?)

This may seem silly, but it's symbolic: The discrepancy in treatment is all the proof a Republican needs to show that the press shows special deference to the new Democratic president. It's a distorted picture, though. We stood all the time for President Bush. Reporters customarily do so to show respect for the office of the presidency. In the East Room of the White House, we stood not only when the president came in but to ask questions. Some reporters said thank you to the president even before asking their questions. This practice continues under President Obama....read on

I would tell Allahpundit to just hold his breath until he turns blue whenever he sees media bias when there isn't any, but he might forget to breathe altogether.

Tbogg finds some more.

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The absurdity that is known as Bill O'Reilly continues to get more absurd with each passing day if you can believe that. C&L wrote about BillO's mean spirited attack on Helen Thomas after she asked a question that he deemed ridiculous to President Obama during his first national press conference. He called the plus-eighty year old Thomas a witch and an old woman.

He took so much heat for it that he lied about what he actually said: O'Reilly flat-out lies to defend calling Helen Thomas the 'wicked witch'

On Monday's Factor, he used an online poll that came from his own website which was voted on for the most part by his followers that said he shouldn't have to apologize to her by a 93-7% margin as some sort of rationalization that the PC police are dead. And then linked a completely irrelevant protest to make his case. No, seriously. He's delusional.

Now last week, you may remember, I made fun of Helen Thomas for asking a dopey question at the first presidential press conference.

Well, soon after that, the far-left kooks cranked up, and a women's group demanded that I, your humble correspondent, apologize to Ms. Thomas.

So I asked you about that, and the results are in. About 75,000 folks voted. Big number in our BillOReilly.com poll. A whopping 93 percent say I should not apologize to Helen. Only 7 percent say I should.

Now, according to a Pew study, 47 percent of people watching "The Factor" are women. So that's not good news for the left-wing women's group. And about 50 percent of "Factor" viewers are either independents or Democrats. More bad news for the far-left loons.

So what I'm getting from this is that many Americans are fed up with out of control PC nonsense, and there is plenty of it around.

Mary Katherine Ham actually tells him that his poll is meaningless but his spin is that normally they are, like 75% usually would have voted in his favor, but the higher percentage proves that it's accurate and he turns that around into some nonsense that since half of his crowd are women, then it's OK that he made fun of her. If you look at his own site it says this about the Bill O'Reilly polls.

Please note that this poll is not scientific. Only one vote per poll per visitor is accepted.

His own poll refutes his own talking point. The jokes write themselves. I can understand why NPR asked FOX to pull their association off of Juan Williams when describing him on Bill O to their viewers.

NPR’s vice president of news, Ellen Weiss, "has asked Williams to ask that Fox remove his NPR identification whenever he is on O’Reilly." A Fox spokesperson reportedly said they would be thrilled to drop the mention of NPR. Fox responded: "We were actually doing NPR a favor by even plugging them but we have no problem dropping the mention on the chyron along with their exposure to millions of O’Reilly Factor viewers."

In fact Eric Boehlert writes: Isn't Juan Williams violating NPR's code of ethics?
In this clip Williams acts once again like O'Reilly's puppy and defends him almost with a religious fervor. He's an embarrassment. Juan, are they really paying you that much for you to sell your soul to Bill?

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Hmmm. Someone must have hit a nerve. Bill O'Reilly spent the bulk of The O'Reilly Factor last night puling loudly over being called out for having compared Helen Thomas -- a far more accomplished journalist who's forgotten more about politics than Bill O'Reilly has ever learned -- to "the wicked witch of the east."

He even entertained Courtney Martin of the Women's Media Center, whose blog earlier featured a post demanding O'Reilly apologize. O'Reilly is smug enough to assume he can bat aside liberal arguments with ease, but when he found he couldn't do so with Martin, he just looked her in the eye and lied:

Courtney Martin: I think we both know that Helen Thomas is fine with being criticized for her work, for her actual journalism. But to take a tack at her appearance is just disrespectful.

O'Reilly: Where was the appearance attack?

Martin: When was the last time you complimented someone by calling her a witch?

O'Reilly: I didn't call her a witch. I said her voice sounded like -- and I did the voice. That was clear.

Martin: Bill, come on. We all know the physical connotations of what a witch looks like.

O'Reilly: OK, so you think, sitting there, that I wanted to call Helen Thomas a witch.

Martin: You did call her -- I don't need to think anything, you did!

O'Reilly: No I didn't. I absolutely didn't. The transcript will show that it was a voice deal.

Better yet, Bill, we can roll the tape:

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Here's the transcript:

O'Reilly: The White House press corps looked intimidated to me... Except for that, what's her name? The old lady, Helen Thomas. [squawking sound]

Colmes: Is that your Helen Thomas impression?

O'Reilly: Yea! [squawking sound]

Colmes: I didn't know you did impersonations.

O'Reilly: It's like the wicked witch of the east! If I were Obama, I would've poured water on her, and she would dissolve!

I don't know about you, but that sure sounds to my ears like he's calling her a witch. Or is saying that she's just like a witch different than calling her a witch by something more than a degree of flimsy rationalization?

As usual, the rest of the segment devolves into more blustering until O'Reilly reaches one of his bullying-host apotheoses. You knew he couldn't resist trying to cow Martin, even in a segment devoted to demonstrating his supposed non-sexism.

For those who have sturdy gag reflexes, O'Reilly's mewling "Talking Points Memo" segment, which immediately preceded this segment and largely set it up -- is below the fold.

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BillO, the eternal class act, ridicules Helen Thomas by calling her the "wicked witch of the east" and imitating her voice in a very, um, unflattering way.

O'Reilly: The White House press corps looked intimidated to me... Except for that, what's her name? The old lady, Helen Thomas. [squawking sound]

Colmes: Is that your Helen Thomas impression?

O'Reilly: Yea! [squawking sound]

Colmes: I didn't know you did impersonations.

O'Reilly: It's like the wicked witch of the east! If I were Obama, I would've poured water on her, and she would dissolve!

Colmes: It's not nice to make fun of an old woman, Bill.

O'Reilly: It doesn't matter.

It must be tough for a hack like Bill O'Reilly to to appreciate -- let alone respect -- a journalistic legend like Helen Thomas. While BIllO was crapping his pants as a child, Thomas was holding JFK's feet to the fire. Perhaps he's just jealous that he will never get near a WH briefing room?

As Amato was quick to remind me, BillO can't even insult someone correctly. He meant to say wicked witch of the west, not east. What a tool.

Bonnie Erbe of US News & World Report unloads:

Bill O'Reilly mocks everyone—all right, I get it. He's a venom-spitting curmudgeon and works hard to build that image and protect his niche. But calling veteran journalist Helen Thomas a "wicked witch" after her question to President Obama at his news conference last night was not only ugly, it was petty.

O'Reilly is living proof there are a lot of hateful TV viewers out there because they must get a rise out of watching an angry homunculus who's outlived his useful life span. What else would prompt someone to watch his show? Quite frankly I'd have a better time parking on a freeway in rush hour and dealing with all the angry motorists, than watching Venom Boy spew. Can't somebody recommend to O'Reilly a competent psychotherapist? But then where would angry TV news viewers go to watch highly-paid cobras?

January 21, 2009 News Corp

January 18, 2009 CBC The National

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Amy Goodman talks to Helen Thomas about the Bush Presidency and also gets some of her thoughts on the incoming Obama administration. I truly hope after Bush snubbing her one last time during his last press conference that Barack Obama makes up for it and gives her the first question when he goes before the White House press corps after being sworn in.

While our sorry excuse for a "mainstream media" is making some changes with who will be representing them, Barack Obama will be the tenth President that Helen Thomas will have the opportunity to ask questions of. I'm sure the changes in personnel with the other media companies will be their excuse for them suddenly getting tough with the incoming administration after acting as Bush's lapdogs for the last eight years. After watching this interview we're sure to get a few fireworks from Helen with the incoming administration as well.

Sadly, Helen was really showing her age during this segment, but she apparently has no regrets and some advice for others who might want to follow in her shoes:

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, what advice do you have for young journalists?

HELEN THOMAS: Go for it. It’s the greatest profession in the world. You’re making a real contribution to democracy by keeping people informed. And have some courage to tell the truth. I think it’s difficult at times. There are many barriers, but go for it. It’s a great, great profession.

The full segment and transcript can be found on Democracy Now's site here and transcript of the above portion of that interview to follow.

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Since Bush snubbed Helen Thomas like a classless heel on his last presser, C&L's Prairie Sunshine writes:

May Helen Thomas get the first question on the first day that President Obama stands at that podium in the White House Press Room.

In a classless move, President Bush snubbed Helen Thomas, the longtime Press Pool reporter covering the White House, and refused to take a question from her as she sat in the front row, waving her hand to him as he asked his final question from his last presser.

She's covered more presidents than Bush has verbs in his vocabulary. The snub ran directly counter to the sentiments expressed in his opening remarks regarding the press:

Through it all, it's been -- I have respected you. Sometimes didn't like the stories that you wrote or reported on. Sometimes you misunderestimated me. But always the relationship I have felt has been professional. And I appreciate it.

I appreciate -- I do appreciate working with you. My friends say, what is it like to deal with the press corps? I said, these are just people trying to do the best they possibly can.

I guess he didn't appreciate working with her since she called him out for many of his policies. Maybe he just misunderestimated her too...

A legend in political reporting, Helen Thomas has covered every president since John F. Kennedy, earning the nickname “First Lady of the Press.” Now in her 80s, the venerable journalist sits down to review her life and career in depth for the first time, engaging in a one-on-one interview with award-winning director Rory Kennedy, THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT: HELEN THOMAS AT THE WHITE HOUSE

I'm amazed no one has thought of this before. Micah Fitch has created Helen Thomas Deserves Some Flowers to thank the only White House Press Corps member not afraid to ask the tough questions and confront the White House about torture.

In fact, along with all the plaudits that she deserves, I think that she also deserves a "Letter to the Editor" from all of us to our local papers asking WHY is she the ONLY journalist asking the question.  Please consider it, for there is no better way to show your support. 

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God bless Helen Thomas, the best thing about the White House Press Corps. More than a week after the revelation that President Bush knew and endorsed the Principals' specific plans of torturing detainees, the media has been largely silent over it other than cursory mentions at best. But Helen Thomas isn't about to go silently into that good night and becomes the first White House reporter to ask White House spokesliar Dana Perino about how the president could have lied multiple times that we do not torture only to turn around and admit that not only do we, but he approved of it.

Unfortunately, the designation of "spokesliar" fits Perino very well, as she denies and lies again that the U.S. does not torture.  Who you gonna believe, Perino or your lying eyes?

Think Progress:

During this afternoon’s White House press briefing, reporter Helen Thomas noted that Bush “has admitted that he did sign off on torture” saying it damages “the credibility of this country.” But press secretary Dana Perino denied that the United States has ever tortured detainees and referred to testimony from CIA Director Michael Hayden as evidence. [..]

In fact, during a February 5 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Hayden said outright that “waterboarding has been used” on three detainees in U.S. custody. But Hayden has refused to label waterboarding “torture,” calling it a “legal term” which seems to fit nicely with the Bush administration’s self-serving narrowed legal definition.

But waterboarding is torture and illegal under both U.S. and international law – with experts, government officials and those who have been subject to the harsh treatment all agreeing.

Seeming to acknowledge her colleagues’ absence on this story, an exasperated Thomas said out loud after her exchange with Perino: “Where is everybody? For God’s sakes.”

That's the $64,000 question, Helen. Where is everybody?

Kossack Elisinora finds that no one in the Principals group really wants to be confronted with the reality of their decisions. (h/t Heather)

Full Transcript below the fold:

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Monday night on his show, Billo called White House correspondent Helen Thomas a "pinhead" for saying something she didn't.

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This was a complete fabrication, aided in no small part by White House spokesperson Dana Perino's twisting of Helen's words at the podium. Notice how O'Reilly purposefully began his clip not with Helen's question, but with Perino's response to it:

O'Reilly: On the pinhead front far left Washington corespondent Helen Thomas put forth that the American military is targeting civilians in Iraq, and got scolded for it.

[video clip] Dana Perino: Helen, I find it really unfortunate that you use your front row position bestowed upon you by your colleagues to make such statements. This is. It is an honor and a privilege to be in the briefing room, and to suggest that we, at the United States, are killing innocent people is just absurd and very offensive. ...

Now check out C&L's complete video w/ transcript of the exchange (yet another reason why C&L is so much better than any Faux News channel) to see where both Billo and Perino had to put words into Helen Thomas' mouth in order to criticize her for saying something she did not. Helen never said nor implied that the military was "targeting civilians" nor "killing innocent people." What she asked was: "You mean how many more people we kill?" in response to Dana's implying that the "situation is moving" in Iraq. See for yourself.

Bill O'Reilly resorted to defaming an 87 yr old woman who was 10 times the journalist he has ever pretended to be 64 yrs ago when she started in the trade, all just so he could call her a "pinhead" in the name calling segment of his show. Even by Fox News standards this was low. At the very least Bill O'Reilly owes Helen Thomas an apology and an on air retraction to his viewers. You can email your complaints [be nice] to O'Reilly's so-called ombudman, Laurie Dhue, at DhuePoint@FOXNews.com .