Helen Thomas explains to Robert Gibbs why she keeps asking if Obama will fight for a public option (h/t Melissa McEwan):

Of course, I'm sure Helen realizes that:

1) Obama isn't going to fight for a public option (even a puny, useless one and if you don't believe me, watch the video again); and
2) Robert Gibbs doesn't have a conscience.

How Johnson did it.

Via Helen Thomas

I covered the battle to create the Medicare system back in the 1960s. The cries of "socialized medicine" worked for years until President Lyndon B. Johnson rammed Medicare through Congress in 1965.

Johnson signed the Medicare legislation on former President Harry Truman’s desk in Independence, Mo. Truman had first proposed a health care program for the elderly back in the 1950s.

Truman, still feisty at age 81, was all smiles.

 Read more…

To be fair to the Obama administration, it's clear their top priority is saving corporate profits so it's not "technically" a FAIL from their point of view.

[Welcome, Crooks and Liars readers!]
[And dKos readers too!!]

Sometimes it's hard not to quail before your betters, and I just had that experience, in the best of ways. Helen Thomas agreed to speak with me about the war, the Bush administration, and life in the Beltway, and I am honored and flattered as a Little Blogger to have had this opportunity.

Helen's impressive bio can be found here. She's got long experience with Republican administrations, and earned her credentials as a feminist icon as the only woman member of the press corps to travel with Nixon to China. She written several books, which you can learn more about here.
Because this was a phone interview, this post will be a little shorter and different than my Q&A with another member of the White House press corps, Olivier Knox of the AFP.

I started out by thanking her for her bravery and willingness to ask the tough questions that few others are wont to do these days. I told her that she is well loved in the blogosphere, but I could tell that Ms. Thomas isn't the kind of person who enjoys a lot of flattery. She also didn't want to talk about herself, saying that enough has been written about her already. This strikes a sharp contrast with other members of the mainstream media, who seem to me to love being the center of attention, and always more interested in their own perspectives than the issues of the day (I'm looking at you, Bowtie).

We moved on to the topic of blogs.