Bill O’Reilly and author Bernie Goldberg have no respect for veteran journalist Helen Thomas.

Discussing President Obama’s press conference last night, O’Reilly and Goldberg both took shots at 88-year-old Thomas, who has covered every presidential administration since JFK’s.

O’Reilly started in by calling Helen "The Wicked Witch of the East," saying "the old lady" basically asked: "Do you think the Taliban is hiding in Pakistan?" She actually asked if the Pakistani government was "maintaining the safe havens in Afghanistan for these so-called terrorists," but we wouldn’t expect O’Reilly to zero in on tiny things like details.

Goldberg, conservative author of A Slobbering Love Affair, also took a low blow at Thomas’s age. "Helen Thomas’s 15 minutes were up during the Lincoln administration." Poking fun at her age? That’s all you had to say?

Thomas also asked the president whether any countries in the Middle East have nuclear weapons: "Do you know of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?"

Perhaps she meant Israel (which reportedly has them … Let’s not forget about when Prime Minister Ehud Olmert publicly slipped about the country’s nuclear capabilities). Obama answered Thomas last night by saying that U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke is in the Middle East mending a "stalwart" ally with Pakistan. He continued:

With respect to nuclear weapons, you know, I don’t want to speculate. What I know is this: that if we see a nuclear arms race in a region as volatile as the Middle East, everybody will be in danger.

Helen Thomas’s question to President Barack Obama: