helen thomas takes control of a white house briefing. >> of controlling the press-- >> u.s. troops moving out and iraqis celebrate the departure, is the press cheering as well? michael jackson's death sends the news media off the wall. is it time to beat it? ♪ just beat it >> want to talk to aliens? >> we come in peace. >> and has south carolina's governor given too much to the press? >> on the panel this week, marissa guthrey, syndicated columnist cal thomas, jim pinkerton, fellow new american foundation and fox forum contributor and judy miller, writer and forum contributor as well. i'm jon scott, fox news watch is on right now. on wednesday, president obama held a town hall meeting in virginia on health care taking questions from the audience. and several online sources as well. well, it turns out the audience was invited, the questions pre-screened. the scenario which even riled veteran white house reporter helen thomas. >> (inaudible). >> a tough question, it's a question coming from somebody who is invited or screened, or the question was screened. >> tim, tim. >> . >>

if you criticize a woman, say, helen thomas, you might be labeled a sexist. but if you hammer white men, you could wind up with a great media job. enter "new york times" columnist maureen dowd, a pew itser prize winner for her columns excoriating president clinton. miss dowd is one of the few columnists who writes interesting stuff whether you agree with her or not. her view emembraces the politically correct left-wing point of view. it doesn't make her a bad person. it's just what she believes. ed to mace dowd did america a big favor by writing a column entitled "white man's last stand" in defense of sonia sotomayor. she stated basically what the new york times believes. white men have screwed up america. they need to get out of power replaced by minorities and women. a few years ago i wrote "culture warrior ." i predicted what's happening now, that the left-wing media would promote minority candidates and causes because they despise the white men power structure. one aside, americans should always support the best, most honest candidates, no matter what col

if you criticize a woman, say, helen thomas, you might be labeled a sexist. but if you hammer white men, you could wind up with a great media job. enter "new york times" columnist maureen dowd, a pew itser prize winner for her columns excoriating president clinton. miss dowd is one of the few columnists who writes interesting stuff whether you agree with her or not. her view emembraces the politically correct left-wing point of view. it doesn't make her a bad person. it's just what she believes. ed to mace dowd did america a big favor by writing a column entitled "white man's last stand" in defense of sonia sotomayor. she stated basically what the new york times believes. white men have screwed up america. they need to get out of power replaced by minorities and women. a few years ago i wrote "culture warrior ." i predicted what's happening now, that the left-wing media would promote minority candidates and causes because they despise the white men power structure. one aside, americans should always support the best, most honest candidates, no matter what col

>> helen thomas made a big deal about it. >> reporter: no, helen thomas got mad with the huffington posthave to put your questions in advance? >> reporter: no. >> i think chuck takes issue with that. >> they have a seven-second delay over at the white house, too, in case they ask a tough question they can cut the feed, right, chuck? >> reporter: it's the leaf blower that they use. >> chuck, thank you so much for being with us and supporting the troops. i'm going to get us a black ribbon. >> reporter: cigarettes, pringles and a flask. >> chuck, great talking to you as always. mika, i feel like susan, my wife, gets very upset when i am too tough on mika. so i feel like -- i'm going to preempt the susan e-mail and apologize. i'm sure your husband probably didn't appreciate me going after you and saying you must be too tough on your kids. i'm sure he's on your side, too. >> actually my husband just e-mailed me. >> did he? >> you've got to stop the anti-smoking campaign for soldiers. you sound like an idiot. getting it from home as well. unbelievable. >> i get it from home as well. >> don't c

then he calls on helen thomas. question. did she pay her taxes? [laughter] mr.gibbs says, pardon me? question. did she pay her taxes? mr. gibbs, well, i have not seen anything on that. now, in fairness, i should note it does appear that judge sotomayor has paid her taxes. so i think there is some truth to the claim that judge sotomayor has had life experiences that other obama nominees have not. [laughter] now, there were some more serious issues of course that emerged during the rollout process. two of the issues that arose concerned comments judge sotomayor made not in the context after written judicial opinion but comments she made in law review articles, law school forum and the like. the first was her statement she made at berkeley's law school where she said quote, i would hope a wise latino woman with richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion more than a white man who hasn't lived that life. the second was her statement she made at duke law school, she said the court of appeals is where policy is made and then she quic

the feeling, helene, that he's thinking about representation on this court, not just jurists, but being proportional about our society. there's no african-american male, except clarence thomason that court and he's a conservative. will he go that way? >> i think he easily could. i think the beauty of this for president obama right now is he can do anything he wants right now with his next seat. he's punched the hispanic ticket and he pretty much has the freedom to go anywhere he wants. i think it's totally likely that he will go with a woman or with an african-american. i'd be kinds of surprised to see if he ends up with a white male, but he can do that, too. chris: not a completely easy shot. the conservatives are still angry about bourque, 30 years ago. >> his second pick will be much, much tougher, assume egg has a second pick. they've taken their shots at this nominee. but they knew from the start she was going to get through. the next time around, depending on how the economy goes, depending on the obama presidency, could be much tougher and they could get a turndown. >> and the conservatives have been pretty frank about saying that their opposition to her is pro forma