We made the Salt Lake Tribune!

[helderheid]

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3682741

[JuniperLea]

1. The gift that keeps on giving

Good to see this is getting more and more bang for the buck!

[immoderate]

2. Yay!

Nice article.

--IMM

[boobooday]

3. And Helen passed the roses on to the soldiers at Walter Reed

Brilliant!

[MADem]

4. Ya gotta give folks a TASTE!!! Quite delicious, too!

Flower shower thanks reporter
By Thomas Burr
The Salt Lake Tribune



WASHINGTON - Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas was "thrilled and very honored" recently when she found some 1,200 roses of every shade filling her Washington, D.C., office.
She has Clarity Sanderson of Sandy to thank.
The Democratic activist from the heart of Republican country - the state that gave Bush the largest margins of victory in both his elections - wanted to reward Thomas for her hard-hitting questions of President Bush on why America went to war in Iraq.....Thomas, who gave the roses to soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital, said the gift was a "total surprise" and was "flattering."
Bush had not called on Thomas in the last three years, but allowed her to ask a question during a news conference in March. Thomas, who had received an avalanche of criticism for her harsh writings about the Bush administration, warned him he "would be sorry." ....

[helderheid]

15. It was one the front page of the Utah section and leaked into

the next page - pretty big article! My husband didn't know about the interview and was shocked! :)

[shenmue]

5. Wonderful

:loveya:

[CoffeeCat]

6. This is great...

...DU and Clarity both deserve this great press coverage.

You guys are amazing!

Kudos to Clarity and everyone who made that happen!

:) :) :) :)

[liberalnurse]

7. I didn't see the credits

for Democratic Underground...... :hi:

[Breeze54]

12. Just wondering... I know this was a thank you to Helen but

was this supposed to be a message to the 'other' reporters to do their jobs too?
or was this supposed to be an advertisement for DU??

I think it rocks but I was just wondering what the true motivation was....

:shrug:

[helderheid]

14. that was the motivation. It's just extra nice to see DU involved but this

is about Helen and her integrity.

[helderheid]

13. I mentioned DU but he didn't include it.

:shrug:

[Alamom]

8. A very good thing for many people to enjoy, Helderheid.

It's obvious from the pictures, Helen was thrilled and did not expect anything of this nature to happen.

I'm sure the staff and patients at Walter Reed appreciated the beauty of the Roses.

More than one member here posted, "This created a sense of community".
(the delivery day was exciting)
Thanks to all who worked "hands on" to make it happen.

And now, people are reading news about an Act of Kindness by people who simply showed their appreciation to someone.

Some don't get it, some don't like it and some hated it (on the other side)



This kind gesture will be treasured and remembered by many for a very long time.

[populistdriven]

9. K&R!!!!!!!

[Generic Other]

10. That's wonderful

Maybe it will inspire other reporters to do their jobs!

[Synnical]

11. Cool. Thanks. n/t

[DemReadingDU]

16. Thank you!

[NoAmericanTaliban]

17. Good Job you democratic activist ..you organic buyer K&R

[helderheid]

18. Heheheh! My dad called after reading it - I hadn't told him about the

interview - HEE!

[GOPFighter]

19. Great!

I like the fact that the reporter repeated Helen's questions in case some readers missed the original exchange.

No real need to mention DU in the article because we did it to thank Helen, not as a publicity stunt for DU.

[helderheid]

20. explanation on why DU wasn't mentioned

I told him to use the photos the volunteers took (which I hadn't taken the time to properly give credit to) and told him to give the credit to DU. Here is his response:

I thought they used the photos. Sorry. I understood they would work and
even wrote a cutline for them. Oh well, guess they didn't make print.

Keep me in the loop.

Cheers, Tommy

[Pryderi]

23. Write a followup LTTE and mention DU.

[helderheid]

24. brilliant. How do I do that without offending Tommy? Just to express my

experience?

[Pryderi]

25. I guess. Or, just have someone else here write a letter explaining the

genesis and the source of the funds...?

[helderheid]

26. a-HA.... very good.

www.sltrib.com

[otohara]

21. You Should Be In Public Relations

helderheid. Do you know how many press releases a paper like the SLT get everyday? The fax machine never stops.

Great idea and great press!

[helderheid]

22. Well damn - thank you! :)

[jillan]

27. Helderheid - did you catch Helen on Franken yesterday?

I wasn't near a computer, but I was hoping you were listening.
She didn't mention the flowers - BUT Franken gave her a ton of praise.
As did his audience...he was doing a live show.

[helderheid]

29. she is way too modest to mention our praise - it was up to Franken - too

bad he missed it - shall we email him?

[jillan]

30. you bet!

You or me?

Did you catch it? She was great. A certain 'confident air about her' :)

[helderheid]

31. you du it - and everyone here who donated :)

[jillan]

33. link?

Went to your website and couldn't find the Helen Thomas section.

[helderheid]

34. here

www.starcampaign.com/helen.htm :)

[smoochpooch]

28. Wow Bush "allowed" her to ask a question

They make it sound like Bush was being super generous to her. It's shameful the way he treats her.

[helderheid]

32. He's a poo poo head.