Excellent Interview With Ari Fleischer

Here is a amall excerpt of the interview when Ari was asked about Gannon/Guckert etc. You gotta love his response concering the Wicked Witch of the East.

PM: This next one is the requisite Jeff Gannon question. You told Editor & Publisher last month that Jeff Gannon was "just as legitimate as some of the fringe organizations in the room..."

AF: Yeah, I have to say I believe that's true. Other than his personal life, which is not the business of government officials.

PM: I agree, but what other organizations in the room would you compare, in terms of partisanship, to Talon News?

AF: Well, there's a reporter in there who works for Corporate Crime Reporter who took a leave of absence to work against President Bush on Ralph Nader's presidential campaign. I just think we're increasingly entering this era where it's hard to define who's a reporter. I err on the side of a more broad definition. It would be easier on the press secretary if it were a more narrow definition, if some of those kind of wacky fringes weren't in the room. You'd get less wacky questions. But you know what, if you believe in the competition of ideas and believe in the marketplace of ideas, you shouldn't limit them. No government official should pick and choose on the basis of ideology as to who gets to ask a question. And I did that in that room. I called on the left, I called on the right, and just because he's a conservative doesn't mean he should be disqualified from being a reporter.

PM: Absolutely not. But were there any groups comparable to Talon News on the left that were represented in the room?

AF: Well, there's talk radio on the left, there's talk radio on the right. Helen Thomas certainly, despite her storied career, now almost always gives her opinion and doesn't ask questions. And her opinion is not what I would call conservative or moderate. So, it's the nature of the room. And the press secretary's job is to take the heat.

Smoooooth Ari, called it like it is, dinged her good without sounding mean spririted.