I hate them, but I can still be an objective observer.

Far be it from me to call anyone an "old bat," but...well, there's no good way to end that sentence; I will therefore start another.

"Veteran" reporter Helen Thomas, once a front-row participant in Presidential press conferences, is back in the news-making business. Having previously called George W. Bush the "worst President in American history" and taken to directing lectures to (instead of asking questions of) White House press secretaries, she's now decided that death is preferable to seeing Dick Cheney run for office.

Really. Here's the relevant quote: "The day I say Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself. All we need is one more liar."

There was some outrage when the Bush administration stripped Thomas of her front-row seat and stuck her in the back of the room, and some journalists' eyebrows rose when the President decided to thank reporters for their questions, rather than letting Thomas do it. But really, can you blame them? Terry Moran is bad enough, but to have someone so violently opposed to the administration still claim to be an objective journalist...well that just takes the cake.

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Update 8/3/05: The original reporter from The Hill responds to the Helen Thomas frenzy in this item. His conclusion? It's Matt Drudge's fault.

Little did I know, being a creature of the typewriter/telegraph era of journalism, that cybergossip Matt Drudge would pounce on the item and transmit it to the farthest regions of the Internet universe, along with an unflattering photograph of Ms. Thomas. That was all Drudge acolytes needed to unleash a flood of e-mails condemning her — and me, as her unwitting accomplice.

I see now! It's not that you reported something unflattering about a colleague, it's that a lot of people read it! Shame on me for reading an item you reported.

Eisele's theory seems to be that Thomas is reviled by the right because she asks the tough questions, and that "Drudgoids" are lying in wait to "pounce" upon any misstep on her part. It's interesting that the man is so caught up in his own world that he cannot see what's right in front of him: when a person can't set aside her own biases, her impartiality can be--and should be--legitimately called into question.