Accidental Blogger

Conservative politicians and their media mouthpieces are pastmasters at bullying, threatening and spreading disinformation in order to stay in power. We have seen countless evidence of that in the last five years. Some of them have also perfected the art of obscene personal attacks against political opponents. These attacks often take the form of  ridiculing their targets’ physical attributes – especially when those targets are female. After Bill Clinton was elected president, mud slinging against the two adult Clintons did not satisfy the blood lust of the frustrated Republicans. Rush Limbaugh, a grown man, found it appropriate to call Chelsea Clinton who at that time was thirteen years old, "the White House dog". Recently, Ann Coulter labelled some of the 9/11 widows who had criticized Bush, witches and harpies. She also urged them …" Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they’d better hurry up and appear in Playboy…" This was of course in addition to implying that they were enjoying their husbands’ deaths. It came as no surprise to me therefore that another Republican recently took vicious aim at Helen Thomas, the matriarch of the White House correspondents’ pool.  And why would a man make fun of an eighty five year old woman?  Because Thomas has bravely and relentlessly questioned the Bush administration’s Iraq policy.

"DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa congressman apologized Wednesday for disparaging comments he made last week at the state Republican convention about a veteran White House correspondent.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, was discussing the June 7 death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on Saturday when he mentioned 85-year-old Helen Thomas, who has covered the White House for nearly 50 years and is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers.

"There probably are not 72 virgins in the hell he’s at," King said about al-Zarqawi, in a recording transcribed by Radio Iowa. "And if there are, they probably all look like Helen Thomas."

Spokeswoman Summer Johnson said in an e-mail Wednesday that King has apologized to Thomas.

The two-term congressman is running for re-election. Joyce Schulte, King’s Democratic opponent in November, said the remarks were uncivil.

Thomas did not immediately return calls seeking comment."