The documentary was made by Rory Kennedy, one of Robert Kennedy's daughters, and filmed over a weekend at her mother's estate. It intercuts footage and photographs of Thomas's most famous moments — from the start of her catchphrase "Thank you, Mr. President" in the Kennedy Administration to her grilling Bush about his motivations for getting into Iraq — with footage of Thomas speaking about her work. However, most of the reviews agree that Rory Kennedy doesn't subject Thomas to the same kind of grilling for which Thomas is famous, seemingly content to be as much a fan as a rigorous documentary filmmaker.

The biggest flaw, by many reviewers' standards, is how little Kennedy touches on the difficulties of being too friendly with the people you cover. Thomas says it was difficult to ask Nixon a tough question about lying moments after he congratulated her for being the first woman to head UPI's Washington bureau but that she did it anyway. When looking at footage of herself palling around with the people she covered, she worries aloud, "Obviously I’m a fraud." Thomas is far from it, but as anyone in D.C. will tell you, everyone here is a "friend," even if you've only met twice and hate each other's guts. That D.C. subculture where everyone argues at work and goes and drinks afterwards would have been worth a more thorough exploration with someone who took advantage of it but tried hard never to get caught up in it.

In a more light-hearted moment, Kennedy asks her subject if she ever played up her sexuality to get more access, a thought at which Thomas laughs uproariously and says "I never had the potential … nobody made a pass at me, darn it!" I don't know how that's possible in a male-dominated environment, but it's not an unwelcome revelation, either, for someone trying to make a go of a quasi-journalistic career in Washington herself.

That said, I think an overly laudatory documentary about Helen Thomas doesn't do Thomas or Kennedy a great service. Helen Thomas was a great, dogged reporter whose more recent forays into opinion journalism have brought her no small measure of opprobrium from many Washington insiders who have called her earlier work into question. Seeing her come out forcefully in defense of her journalistic objectivity and to defend her opinions against the kind of stern questioning that she brought to the White House would've been more interesting to watch than a film that might appropriately air at a future memorial service. I don't need my heroes on pedestals, especially when they've spent their laudatory careers doing a much-needed raking of the mud.

Review: 'Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House' on HBO [LA Times]
'Thank You, Mr. President' [Newsweek]
Rory Kennedy Discusses Helen Thomas Film — Coming to HBO Tonight [Editor & Publisher]
Just a Few More Questions, Ms. Thomas [NY Times]

There was a time, like Rebecca and Starski6 over at Feministing, that I was completely obsessed with The X Files. That time was not the Mulder-less seasons, though I never thought of him quite like Rebecca does, as "a walking pheromone, all languid eyes and long-necked eroticism." But I did cut a date in college short to go home at watch the show, a good date, even, with a nice guy, but it was a new episode. Even when the plots had spaceship-sized holes, even when there was not enough Mitch Pileggi to satisfy my Elektra complex, even when she didn't get to kiss Luke Wilson because he was a frickin' vampire, I was still coming back the next week to watch Scully be Scully and be smarter and faster than Mulder.

I liked Dana Scully because she was the clear-eyed pragmatist, the nerdy girl done well for herself, strong, self-assured and still willing to learn and to question things even when she was pretty sure she knew the answer. So I am pretty damn excited to see the movie, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going with my dad because most of my SciFi-loving friends are still dudes. Unless Rebecca Traister wants to come with us? I'm pretty sure my dad can be conned into paying for the popcorn.

Scully Have I Loved [Salon]
Feminism And The X-Files (My Ode to Dana Scully) [Feministing]

As a nerd, I devoured books the way other people ate sweets. My aunt timed and quizzed me once because she was sure that I wasn't reading that fast, but I was. What that meant was that I needed a practically unlimited supply of appropriate young adult books or else my parents were going to come home from work and catch me reading my dad's SciFi tomes, and Robert Heinlein is not appropriate for young girls. I hit a point pretty early on where Babysitters Club was more dessert than intellectual dinner, not that it stopped me from reading and re-reading, but I wanted something more hardy.

This is where Nancy Drew came in handy — although, not the shitty remade versions from the late eighties where she was meaner and more popular and the series was more edgy. I liked that there was a mystery but the themes weren't too adult (unlike those slutty Sweet Valley High girls), I liked that she had a couple of close friends but was sort of more isolated from everyone else her own age, and I liked that she always won even when she was up against people who were older or richer because she was smart. I liked the idea that the smart girl would always win and that she could be happy even if she wasn't the coolest kid around, and I guess this is all saying that I totally identified with her even if I never wanted to be a detective or wear a tweed skirt (though I now own 3, so, apparently I did).

I never did see the movie. Like most of the books that sustained me through my incredibly awkward childhood and increasingly pathetic adolescence, the Nancy on the screen was never going to be able to be the Nancy in my head, and I am still not willing to give that Nancy up. She was the better version of me, the one Brian Keenan would've liked back. But by the 5th grade, I was on to having a crush on Doug DiBlasio, my braces were gone, I squinted instead of wore glasses and got totally obsessed with Little Women. That's what's in the bag I'm carrying, actually, and I swear I'm not grinning just because I'm standing next to Brian.

I didn't get rid of the bangs until the 9th grade.

Nancy Drew: Curious, Independent and Usually Right [NPR]

Meghan O'Rouke of Salon, despite not liking Hillary, notices that "the media's sexism forced twenty- and thirtysomethings to recognize that feminism is not just 'our mother's problem.'" Is there anyone, even an Obamabot, that hasn't noticed the way Hillary got treated by the media and shuddered, just a little?

In another article, Rosemary Camposano, from the WomenCount PAC formed by Clinton supporters about 2 weeks ago, says:

What it has done is energized a lot of women to get into the process, because women have taken it personally when she is called a bitch ... because that is not about her policies, that is an attack on her as a woman... She has sparked what will be the second generation of — I don't want to say the women's movement — but women have found a voice with this process that will not go away.

I mean, I think we can say women's movement, even if it still makes Rosemary uncomfortable.

It's also important to point out that a lot of Clinton's senior staff were women — from Maggie Williams to Patti Solis Doyle to a ton of other women I watched defend her every day on the news; she made a point of empowering and promoting women in her campaign (even if she did stick with Ickes, Wolfie and Penn until the end). While that might not seem like a big deal to a lot of people outside of Washington, campaigns are often dominated by men and in the last 20 years can you think of a top female staffer besides Donna Brazile and Mary Matalin? But Clinton had 2, and everyone knows their names.

But maybe the biggest benefit of Clinton's campaign is best voiced by Naomi Wolf, who said "She's already made the issue of 'Can a woman run?' much less important." In a CBS poll, fully 88 percent of voters — Republican and Democratic — agree with the statement "I am glad to see a woman as a serious contender for president." Sexism in the media and "Iron My Shirt" boy and all that crap aside, no one really bought the argument that she was too soft to be the next Commander in Chief. Too hawkish, too calculating, too whatever, but not too much of a "girl", and that's already inspiring women (and girls) which is a pretty solid fucking legacy in my book.

Death of a Saleswoman [Salon]
Women View Clinton Withdrawal With Sorrow, Pride [Reuters]
Poll: Clinton's Run Opens Doors For Women [CBS News]

Models at Chris Benz:

A model at John Varvatos:

Our "barf bag" girls, Dina & Levon: