Post by Nicole on Mar 23, 2006 10:05:15 GMT -5
CHENEY INVITES HELEN THOMAS ON HUNTING TRIP
Effort to Reach Out to White House Press Corps, Observers Say
In what Washington insiders believe is an attempt to mend fences with an increasingly contentious White House press corps, Vice President Dick Cheney today invited veteran journalist Helen Thomas on a quail-hunting trip to Texas.
"I would like to extend an invitation to Helen to join me on a quail-hunting trip to the Armstrong Ranch," Mr. Cheney said in an official statement at the White House. "It will be a chance for the two of us to spend some quality time together."
The vice president's invitation took many Beltway observers by surprise, coming as it did only one day after a heated exchange at a White House press conference between Ms. Thomas and President George W. Bush.
But Ms. Thomas, never one to shrink from an opportunity, said today that she would be glad to join the vice president quail hunting in Texas so long as the Pentagon provided body armor for her first.
At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that he was taking Ms. Thomas' request for body armor "very seriously" but warned that the Pentagon has been plagued by production delays.
"The earliest we could fit Helen Thomas with body armor would be spring 2009." He said.
Ms. Thomas said she was considering other protective measures, such as wearing a quail outfit: "If I look like a quail, there's no way Cheney will hit me."
Elsewhere, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that his department would beef up security at the nation's chemical plants by compiling a complete list of plants that are vulnerable to attack and publishing them online.
www.Borowitzreport.com
Effort to Reach Out to White House Press Corps, Observers Say
In what Washington insiders believe is an attempt to mend fences with an increasingly contentious White House press corps, Vice President Dick Cheney today invited veteran journalist Helen Thomas on a quail-hunting trip to Texas.
"I would like to extend an invitation to Helen to join me on a quail-hunting trip to the Armstrong Ranch," Mr. Cheney said in an official statement at the White House. "It will be a chance for the two of us to spend some quality time together."
The vice president's invitation took many Beltway observers by surprise, coming as it did only one day after a heated exchange at a White House press conference between Ms. Thomas and President George W. Bush.
But Ms. Thomas, never one to shrink from an opportunity, said today that she would be glad to join the vice president quail hunting in Texas so long as the Pentagon provided body armor for her first.
At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that he was taking Ms. Thomas' request for body armor "very seriously" but warned that the Pentagon has been plagued by production delays.
"The earliest we could fit Helen Thomas with body armor would be spring 2009." He said.
Ms. Thomas said she was considering other protective measures, such as wearing a quail outfit: "If I look like a quail, there's no way Cheney will hit me."
Elsewhere, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that his department would beef up security at the nation's chemical plants by compiling a complete list of plants that are vulnerable to attack and publishing them online.
www.Borowitzreport.com