Hell And Thomas.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)

Media: When the first lady of the White House press corps segued into syndication, we sighed in relief: no more embarrassing anti-Bush harangues from the front row of the briefing room.

But Helen Thomas hasn't gone away altogether -- and neither have the harangues. Now a columnist for Hearst Newspapers, she was asked last week if a column she wrote about Dick Cheney being "the most powerful vice president in recent times, perhaps in U.S. history," meant she was promoting a Cheney candidacy for president.

"The day I say Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself," she told The Hill, a weekly newspaper than covers goings-on in Congress. "All we need is one more liar. I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does."

We suppose that covering Washington for 55 years, including every president since JFK, gives Thomas station to talk that way. And we'll admit press conferences were more entertaining with Thomas asking that first impertinent question and closing with that trademark cackle: "Thank you, Mr. President."

But over-the-top opining like that in The Hill, much like Walter Cronkite's post-retirement ...