CLANG! The Sound of Helen's Cast Iron Fry Pan Hitting Tony's Head One More Time

You know I love Helen Thomas. She's one tough cookie.

Periodically, she wips out her cast iron fry pan and smacks the presdential spokesmodel over the head with interesting questions. Today was no different.

Helen's good at not letting Tony the Snow job off the hook. Have a look at this wonderful exchange where she holds Tony's feet to the fire and you see him piss all over his shoes:

Q Has the President factored in any of how many people will die?

MR. SNOW: Helen, you ask that question every day, and I don't know how I can --

Q It's a very valid question.

MR. SNOW: And it's a question he thinks about every day.

Q And does he care about it? Does it matter how many die?

MR. SNOW: Yes, it does. Absolutely.

Q Well, you have a benchmark now -- this fall has been so lethal.

MR. SNOW: And the people who have been killing will kill even more if we walk away. I would turn you to The New York Times op-ed page today, where a Marine Major talks about --

Q Written by a Marine.

MR. SNOW: I'm sorry, does that make it suspect that he's on the ground trying to save lives?

Q No, that doesn't. But, I mean, he has to take the military attitude.

MR. SNOW: Well, you might want to read it, because the military -- the military attitude is, warriors don't like to be engaged in war if you can have peace, and generals don't like to send people into battle unless they have to. The people who are instigating the violence in Iraq are ones who are determined to kill.

Q You don't think our occupation is a factor?

MR. SNOW: I think the biggest factor right now -- if you take a look at what's going on, who are they killing? They're killing Iraqis, aren't they? They are primarily killing Iraqis. And what they're trying to do is to destroy hope and peace and democracy.

Q How do you know all that? I mean, why do you think people would want to do that? In the first place, they don't like an occupation.

MR. SNOW: Could it be they're suffused with hatred? Could it be that people, in fact, who are in unoccupied lands, who have been slaughtering, also do so because they hate people? The question is --

Q Do we hate them? Are we killing any of them?

MR. SNOW: Yes, we are.

Just wondering: Is Tony lying again about whether or not the President thinks about people getting killed in his wonderful freedom spreading Petry dish he calls Iraq?