May 30, 2006

Thomas on Zinmeister

Helen Thomas continued to prove she's too old and crotchety to be at White House briefings. Here's Thomas questioning Tony Snow about new domestic policy advisor Karl Zinsmeister:

Q Why did the President pick a man who is so contemptible of the public servants in Washington to be his Domestic Advisor -- saying, "People in Washington are morally repugnant, cheating, shifty human beings"? Why would he pick such a man to be a Domestic Advisor?

MR. SNOW: You meant contemptuous, as opposed to contemptible, I think.

Q Pure contempt.

MR. SNOW: Well, I'm not sure it's pure contempt. I know Karl Zinsmeister pretty well, and he is somebody who expresses himself with a certain amount of piquancy -- you're perhaps familiar with that, aren't you, Helen? And so, as a consequence, from time to time he's going to say -- he'll have some sharp elbows.

Q If this is his attitude toward public servants --

MR. SNOW: No, I don't think it's his attitude toward public servants -- it may have been toward the press. Just kidding. No, I -- look, if you look at the bulk of what Karl Zinsmeister has done at The American Enterprise and elsewhere, I think you're going to find somebody who's done some pretty meaty and interesting research on a variety of topics. The reason he's being brought in is that he's --

Q Do you agree with his assessment of Washington?

MR. SNOW: I'm not -- there's one sentence the guy wrote, and perhaps you may recall -- yes?

Q Arrogant, morally repugnant, cheating, shifty -- come on.

MR. SNOW: That's a lot in one sentence, isn't it? He just packed it right in.

Jim.

Q So what is the attitude toward --

MR. SNOW: The attitude is we're glad to have a guy on board who has breadth of knowledge, who has breadth of interest and of experience, and is going to bring --

Q No tolerance for other human beings.

MR. SNOW: Helen, tell you what, why don't you get to know Karl, because I think you're going to find out that to judge somebody --

Q Bring him on. (Laughter.)

MR. SNOW: -- on the basis of one sentence is probably a little unfair.

Q How could it be unfair?

MR. SNOW: He'll charm you.

In Old Woman Helen's world only those with the "proper respect" for Washington should be advising the President. Calling people in D.C. "morally repugnant, cheating, shifty human beings" fits when talking about Jack Abramoff, Congressman William Jefferson, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and convicted Congressman Duke Cunningham.

Heaven forbid someone at a distance from the capital's insularity could offer ideas to improve the government and think Washington isn't the Emerald City full of pure hearts and good intentions.

Wait until Old Woman Helen reads this Editor & Publisher article that quotes Zinsmeister calling embedded reporters in Iraq "whiny and appallingly soft."

[Added to OTB's Beltway Traffic Jam.]

del.icio.us | Digg it | Furl | reddit | Spurl | Yahoo MyWeb