Manon McKinnon’s column today shows the embarrassingly if not entirely dimwitted mean side of reporter Helen Thomas.

So it may surprise some that Ms. Thomas doesn’t always play the ogre. In fact, she can be the life of the party. That’s what she was last December 15 at a late afternoon White House Christmas reception for Washington media types and their families. While the President and Mrs. Bush spent the entire time in the ground floor’s China Room, patiently having their photos taken with individual guests, Helen Thomas held court upstairs alongside the buffets in the East Room and State Dining Room, with stops in the Blue, Green, and Red Rooms, shucking and yucking with other revelers, and, most alarming off all, having her picture taken with a number of wide-eyed guests as if she were some kind of star or world leader.

Well, at least she didn’t boycott the White House while it remains the official home of the hated Bush.