Helen Thomas Supports Hillary

On Friday night, Helen Thomas gave a rousing keynote speech for the Women, Action and the Media conference at MIT. We were too far in the back to get good video or photos (we'll post those when we find some), but here are a few things she said that we jotted down:

On media bias:
"Hillary is getting a bad rap with the media. Obama is walking on water with the media . . . Being racist is more verboten than being anti-woman."

On the nine presidents she's covered as a member of the press corps:
JFK: "My favorite."
LBJ: "Bigger than life."
Nixon: "When he had two roads to go down, he always took the wrong one."
Ford: "Wanted to be Speaker of the House."Carter: "Made human rights the centerpiece of his foreign policy."
Reagan: "Turned the country to the right."
H.W. Bush: "Had the good sense not to go on to Baghdad."
Clinton: "A consummate politician. Never had the courage to take the great steps for peace."
G.W. Bush: "He's hurt his party and the country."

On the war:
"My solution? Get out of Iraq yesterday."

On Hillary's campaign:
When an audience member asked, "Is there merit in supporting a woman presidential candidate because she's a woman?" Thomas says: "Yes. I honestly think that our time has come, and I think our time should have come long ago . . . Hillary has worked hard. She has tried hard . . . She can't open her mouth - and neither can her husband - without being denounced."

On calls for Hillary to drop out:
"If I were Hillary, I'd stay in the race. I can't help but admire her grit. Maybe it's all over, and that's what they're trying to tell her, but I wouldn't listen."