By Rebecca Wickstrom
Helen Thomas, Former White House Bureau Chief, is used to asking the tough questions. But on Tuesday after the Forum, she found herself answering them.
Thomas was attacked from all angles about her views on everything from President George W. Bush to affirmative action to the qualities of a good leader.
Many of the questions focused on the war with Iraq.
'I don''t think we should ever go to war against a country that did nothing to us,' she said. 'I do believe in fighting when we are invaded or to go to the aid of an ally - we must. But a war of choice?'
She held her ground on the issue when she was asked whether the desire to put an end to human rights abuses is ever a good reason for invading a country that hasn''t attacked us.
'I could name you 50 countries with human rights abuses,' she said. 'What are you going to do - kill these people to save them?'
She also defended a statement she made off the record that was published on the Internet in which she said President George W. Bush is the worst President the United States has ever had.
'I don''t think he cares enough about the poor and the sick of the nation,' she said. 'Everybody in this country should be helped and he is so corporate-minded.'
Not all of the questions caused her to defend her views. When asked whether she thought affirmative action was fair, she replied with a resounding yes.
'We have to make up for our past,' she said. 'What was it like to be a black in this country before civil rights efforts?'
Thomas also showed remorse for the treatment of women in this country.
'It took 72 years to get the vote for women,' she said. 'We should have been born with that right. Women went to jail, they marched, they were humiliated - anything to get rights that we should have had.'
She recounted her own experience trying to gain respect as a woman reporter in Washington over the years.
'It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears,' she said.
Today, women are not necessarily more subject to personal attacks in politics, she said.
'When you go into politics, you go into public life,' she said. 'Your life is an open book. There used to be a golden rule that you never wrote about a public figure''s life unless it impacted their public duties. All that is gone now. Now, even if the mainstream press doesn''t deal with the story, the tabloids write it. Everyone''s wired, everyone''s on camera.'
Her reply was immediate to the question of what characteristic she possesses that has gotten her to where she is - nosiness.
'I have a curiosity and I have had the joy of learning,' she said. 'Life is an opportunity of learning. I took this profession because I knew I would always have to. I care about society and what''s going on.'
She explained that every day she has worked in the White House she has felt as if history is being written, she said.
She also expressed her surprise in being asked to speak to a traditionally conservative BYU audience.
'I thought it was very kind and democratic,' she said. 'Tolerance is one of the main qualifications of living in a democracy. We have to tolerate other people''s opinions.'