I'm so glad to hear that Helen Thomas got something more than the usual hate mail from the Right after she grilled Bushie last week.Roses are nice, but after all this legendary woman has put up with, the least we can do is get her a Dem in the White House - asap!From The Hill The roses kept coming - and coming - and coming - to the Hearst Newspapers office in downtown Washington on Thursday, until they filled a large conference room to overflowing.By the time the Federal Express delivery was complete, there were 108 dozen roses, nearly 1,300 in every color. They were the result of an e-mail campaign to show support for Hearst columnist Helen Thomas after she grilled President Bush about his Iraq policy at last week's White House news conference.The campaign was the brainchild of Clarity Sanderson, a 31-year-old Democratic activist from Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, who was motivated by the sharp exchange between Thomas and Bush, and by an op-ed article Thomas wrote about the exchange in the Salt Lake Tribune. "Those two things set me off," Sanderson said in a telephone interview Friday.Sanderson, a work-at-home web designer and mother of two who is co-chairwoman of the Utah Democratic Progressive Caucus, said she saw a note on the website democraticunderground.com suggesting that people e-mail Thomas to thank her for asking Bush "the questions all Americans want answered about Iraq." "I thought, 'Let's take it a step farther," she said, and sent an e-mail asking people to donate to her Pay Pal account to send roses to Thomas.That was last Friday. By Monday she'd received more than $2,200. She ordered the roses and 100 glass vases from an online floral service in San Francisco, Organic Bouquet, and they were delivered Thursday. Thomas, the 85-year-old veteran White House journalist whose outspoken criticism of the Bush administration has drawn much hate mail from Bush supporters in recent years, said Friday that she was overwhelmed by the avalanche of roses."It sure beats the brickbats," she said, referring to hundreds of vitriolic e-mails she's received since last week's encounter with Bush. "Some of them attack you ad hominem and call you a traitor and ask if you've ever been to Iraq," she said. "I think it's the frustration of those who are angry with me and take it out in e-mail. I think there should be a logical debate, but maybe that's not possible during an ongoing war." Thomas shared her roses with Hearst bureau chief Chuck Lewis and other colleagues and sent the bulk of them to wounded military personnel at Walter Reed Army Hospital.Asked about Bush's response to her pointed question about his Iraq policy, she said, "He could not answer my question. He kept referring to Afghanistan. He never articulated the reasons we're in Iraq. I don't think there's any justification for an unprovoked war against somebody who did nothing against us." Thomas had received hundreds of supportive e-mails by Friday afternoon, bearing such messages as, "O-M_G … I LOVE THAT LADY!" "We all owe her so much more than roses," "Her little finger has more class than George Bush does," and "Helen Thomas kick ass!"Hat tip to the Memphis bloggers over at Pesky Fly
President George W. Bush conveys birthday wishes in 2006 to reporter Helen Thomas in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. 
On Wednesday, long-time White House correspondent  questioned  Press Secretary  bluntly and repeatedly about United States President George W. Bush's recent confirmation that he had approved  interrogation policies that included .

"Where is everybody?" asked Thomas, apparently frustrated with lack of attention her colleagues had given the issue. The community at the social news site '''' answered "Here we are"; a message they plan to deliver along with several thousand dollars in flowers and other gifts.

Thomas's questions became front-page news on ''reddit'' this morning, via a ''Think Progress'' blog post that includes a  2 video clip of Thomas during yesterday's press briefing. Noting the president's repeated assertion that the U.S. does not torture, Thomas characterized the authorized interrogation techniques as torture. 

"Now he has admitted that he did sign off on torture, he did know about it," said Thomas, "so how do you reconcile this credibility gap?" 

Perino reiterated that the "United States has not, is not torturing any detainees in the global war on terror." 


Whether waterboarding, among other techniques, should be categorized as torture has been a subject of political contention in recent months. Thomas was unequivocal, responding to Perino: "That's not my question. My question is, why did he say publicly 'we do not torture', when he really did know that we do?" 

In appreciation of the reporter asking "A REAL QUESTION" (as the headline put it), reddit users (known as "redditors") have collected over $3,000 for the purchase of flowers, edible arrangements and other gifts. Several 'redditors' also claimed to have ordered flowers for Thomas independently.

The bulk of the money was collected through ''Chipin.com'', on a donation page created Micah Fitch, a musician and graphic designer in , Minnesota. As of publication, the site registered 400 contributors for a total of $3,125. Fitch also created a wiki, ''FlowersWiki'', for organizing the gift purchases and selecting messages to go with them. A large delivery to the  offices of Thomas's employer Hearst Newspapers is being scheduled for Friday morning.

One redditor claims that a friend who works for '''' is pitching the story to the show's staff.

This is not the first time Thomas has received a high-volume flower gift. In 2006, an e-mail campaign that began on the political website  collected over $2000 and resulted in delivery of 108 dozen roses.