[Guest post by DRJ]
Greg Sargent at the Plum Line says Helen Thomas’ future is uncertain.
Hearts could be waiting for this story to blow over, much like some Democrats who have put Thomas on a pedestal. After years of inflammatory rhetoric, why should Hearst and the Democrats balk at this?
— DRJ
Pronounced "Patter-EE-koh"
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After years of inflammatory rhetoric, why should Hearst and the Democrats balk at this?
Because, in a special place in every progressives’ heart, they agree with her.
Ag80 (1b8eea) — 6/5/2010 @ 9:18 pmNo to decide is to decide.
Ed from SFV (f0e1cb) — 6/5/2010 @ 9:28 pmI have no doubt at all this ugly-assed hoochie’s sentiments are widely shared at Hearst and among her propagandist friends in the White House whore pool. She’s being honest. That’s why the Hearst monkeys are caught off guard. It feels wrong to them to fire a “journalist” for being honest… that’s what propaganda whores get fired for.
Confuzzling.
happyfeet (682797) — 6/5/2010 @ 9:28 pmhappy:
From a political standpoint, it is indeed a problem for progressives when some of their biggest supporters didn’t lay down and die when they were supposed to. Good for them.
Ag80 (1b8eea) — 6/5/2010 @ 9:37 pmthat will change – jewish support for the dirty socialists… it has to… or at this point is it like protection money you think?
happyfeet (682797) — 6/5/2010 @ 9:39 pmwhy not just throw her in a pool?:
if she floats, she’s a witch.
if she melts, she’s a witch, but we’re rid of her.
and, if she drowns, its no great loss, except the poor bastard who will be scared for life from trying to perform mouth to mouth CPR on her.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 6/5/2010 @ 9:39 pmThere is plenty of room for ex-CPUSA antisemites in the news media.
SPQR (26be8b) — 6/5/2010 @ 9:41 pmhappy:
All I know is a memory from 9-11. I was working with a young Jewish girl at the time. In the confusion of the day she asked me: “Why did this happen?”
And I answered. To tell the truth, I regret my answer, but I knew then what I know now.
I said: “They want to kill you.”
I’ll never forget the look on her face.
Sure, a lot of people can come along and say this never actually happened. I can’t prove that it did. But, it did happen and that is my 9-11 memory.
Ag80 (1b8eea) — 6/5/2010 @ 9:59 pmmy 9/11 memory was I was working at a movie studio and their first thought was “we’re next” … when we came back to work they had to check our trunks and mirror under the cars… so… those jews at least really a lot took your meaning
happyfeet (682797) — 6/5/2010 @ 10:25 pmWhat’s Next for Helen Thomas?
How about ObamaCare? Who’s up for a Death Panel? Show of hands.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 6/5/2010 @ 10:37 pmoh. Then we’d have to have another one of those nobody gets to say what they really think threads.
happyfeet (682797) — 6/5/2010 @ 10:41 pmThomas’s press colleagues and Dems on Capitol
Hill wont crack down on her because most of them privately agree 100% with what she said.
The WH will take its cue from the MSMDNC, but if Obama keeps her around, any Republican elected President in 2012 should hand Thomas her walking papers.
Bottom line: She will have to sit in the
Beltway-NYC Quiet Room for awhile and then
she’ll retire from active reporting.
We probably wont see Mad Helen in the front row of the Blue Room anymore (unless Obama is even more tone deaf than previously and amply demonstrated), but she wont be publicly scalped by her own people just for the for the bloodlust benefit of the evil right wing.
Now, if a Lou Dobbs or Stuart Varney ever said this???
mike d (ed1389) — 6/5/2010 @ 10:55 pmput the mad cow out to pasture
drone (7f500b) — 6/5/2010 @ 11:41 pmHow about a job scrubbing toilets at a welfare hotel.
Mike Myers (3c9845) — 6/5/2010 @ 11:58 pmHearst hasn’t canned her — they talk one way, but their actions speak louder than their words. They’re down with a little bit of Majdanek and Osweicim,
They let Thomas put out a non-apology. First rule of holes, people: put down the shovel.
Luthringer, the flack, is still defending this — I think if my job required me to run interference for ancient blood libels, I’d quit, but then, the sort of person who becomes a flack has no morals in the first place. He may not have his own personal Stormfront account but he has no problem taking a paycheck — and direction — from folks who do (or should).
And finally, Helen Thomas remains a person of interest in the disappearance of Hansel and Gretel.
Kevin R.C. O'Brien (c39b63) — 6/6/2010 @ 12:37 amredc1c4 9:39 PM
why not just throw her in a pool?
The EPA would have apoplexy. Deepwater Horizon is one thing, but that’d be some serious pollution.
Kevin R.C. O'Brien (c39b63) — 6/6/2010 @ 12:41 amA good reporter asks tough questions of any office holder,not soft balls for dems and hard balls for republicans and policy statements or personal opinions of the reporter should not intrude on the story.She is not senile but there must be hundreds who can do the job far better and why not have at least better if not the best.
clyde (ef6d61) — 6/6/2010 @ 1:27 amA few years ago, she didn’t have an employer and was allowed her spot in the Press Room out of tradition. Why would anyone hire her ?
Mike K (82f374) — 6/6/2010 @ 3:25 amThis is her link from Drudge and it seems to me that she is a court jester. Look at the titles of her stories.
Comment preview is not working.
Mike K (82f374) — 6/6/2010 @ 3:29 amI’ll bet if her WH press credentials were revoked, she would be gone.
Hearst may not fire her, but there is nothing to say that the WH (if it had any stones) could PNG her.
Dr. K (1c5e6a) — 6/6/2010 @ 3:40 amOh, and at least for me, comments are still FU.
Dr. K (1c5e6a) — 6/6/2010 @ 3:41 amBecause I cant see #21.
Dr. K (1c5e6a) — 6/6/2010 @ 3:41 amShe should be the captain of every ship trying to run the blockade.
Sooner or later the Israeli navy will sink one of them.
MU789 (0b69bd) — 6/6/2010 @ 4:20 amI say let her stay the doyen of the WH media if they are dumb enough to let her. She is the perfect comeback for everytime a media airhead asks if so-and-so Conservative should be fired for saying something they don’t like.
If Rush Limbaugh can be made the face of the Republican party, why can’t Helen be the face of the Donkey Party? Or the other end, if you prefer.
sherlock (62f2cf) — 6/6/2010 @ 8:52 amGreg Sargent made a very interesting admission in the first graf of his post:
Hearst Newspapers is refusing to say whether it will stand by White House veteran reporter Helen Thomas in the wake of conservative outrage over her remarks about Jews leaving Palestine and going back to Europe.
Sargent seems to be implying that only conservatives are outraged that Thomas told Israeli Jews to “get the hell out of Palestine.” That’s not a nice reflection on his fellow lefties.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (fb9e90) — 6/6/2010 @ 8:55 amI just went through and deleted all of my cookies for Patterico.com
For threads that showed no comments, or showed only 16 of 25 (like this thread)–deleting all of those cookies seemed to have fixed the problem for me.
Now, we will see if my post is allowed through with “clean cookies”? 😉
BfC (5209ec) — 6/6/2010 @ 9:00 amBradley – I had intended to note the same thing about his piece. I view it more as a sad admission rather than as a reflection.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 6/6/2010 @ 9:00 amBradley – On the same topic, Forbes had a recent article on the split between the parties on their attitudes toward Israel worth a peek.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 6/6/2010 @ 9:08 amthe face could stop clocks
ColonelHaiku (749d6d) — 6/6/2010 @ 9:09 amBig Ben cowers in London
Yasser in a wig
Thomas will be gently eased into retirement.I doubt that she will play a prominent role in any more White House press conferences.
Mike (2c1e02) — 6/6/2010 @ 9:09 amShe may not be senile, in the medical sense of the word, but she is clearly slipping when she expresses her rancid opinions on camera, where she cannot deny them, and exposes herself and her employer to embarassment.
Sargent seems to be implying that only conservatives are outraged that Thomas told Israeli Jews to “get the hell out of Palestine.” That’s not a nice reflection on his fellow lefties.
It’s funny but I can’t find the incident on any of the usual suspect blogs/newspapers… nothing on Thomas at Kos, TPM, Media Matters, etc., or even the LAT. HuffPo had the story but it it was written by Avi Fleischer, not one of their lefty writers. Perhaps there is a concerted effort to ignore it and it will go away.
Worst of all, there has been no condemnation of her statement by the White House. Not even a beer summit. Disgraceful.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 6/6/2010 @ 9:35 amAfter years of inflammatory rhetoric, why should Hearst and the Democrats balk at this?
Merely a variation of all the liberals throughout America and the Western World who have a tough time excoriating Fidel Castro, or North Korea, or weren’t all that indignant about the Soviet Union, or Stalin, or Mao. They indulge in the sloppy fantasy that liberal sentiment — in which a person supposedly (supposedly) has humanitarian, do-gooder instincts — somehow makes up for a person’s (or group’s) sins.
You can find some of that type of idiocy among rightists, but you get tons of it among leftists.
Mark (411533) — 6/6/2010 @ 9:44 amI think we are neglecting someone who shoulkd be honored. A heartfelt round of applause to the guy that stuick a video camera right in her face to capture this statement – unless he cheated and used a telephoto lens, that must have taken guts. Sure, maybe he kept his eyes shut, but the smell…
sherlock (62f2cf) — 6/6/2010 @ 9:51 amgold watch not taken
Colonelhaiku (749d6d) — 6/6/2010 @ 9:53 ammandatory retirement
O-Care death panel
Helen Thomas is one of the few Americans in public life who has the guts to stasnd up to Israel and its dirtbag U.S. cronies. She is not terrified of bing called an anti-Semite by a tax cheat porker like Haim Saban or Alan Dershowitz or other racist tribal members. You go girl. you go. Quote me
When the establishment has whole newspapers (see the WSJ)that are no moe than PR flacks for Tel Aviv and a Congress that is sock cloth puppet dummy for the Knisset…then it is time for an alternative.
AIPAC and the Anti-Defatmation League have a problem. Free speach. Guess what girls the debate is on and you don’t control mouths like ya used to. A little sun light will disinfect the racist tribal rot.
David Brown (69f4e8) — 6/6/2010 @ 9:59 amWhen the left whinges about supporting freedom and human rights, they don’t focus on obvious targets such as North Korea, Syria, Iran or Saudi Arabia. Instead they denigrate the only real democracy and our strongest ally in the Middle East. You speculate on the reasons, there are plenty to go around.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 6/6/2010 @ 10:01 am“When the establishment has whole newspapers (see the WSJ)that are no moe than PR flacks for Tel Aviv”
David – Rupert Murdock is a PR flack for Tel Aviv? Who knew? Do tell.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 6/6/2010 @ 10:04 amRe: post #35… another example that highlights the “typing through the tears” method so favored by the wild-eyed left.
GeneralMalaise (749d6d) — 6/6/2010 @ 10:06 amShe will get picked up by Reuters and given Mid East detail.
Mr. Pink (5b1f65) — 6/6/2010 @ 10:08 amDavid Brown – Can Nor Luap save America? Does he have a chance in the next election?
Do you have a newsletter to which I can subscribe?
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 6/6/2010 @ 10:08 amnook and crannies caught
ColonelHaiku (749d6d) — 6/6/2010 @ 10:11 amposterity well served
stink of sulphur floats
35
Mr. Pink (5b1f65) — 6/6/2010 @ 10:12 amYou know the Germans had a bunch of theories how the jews ran everything too.
David Braun sieg heil
ColonelHaiku (749d6d) — 6/6/2010 @ 10:20 amcries Deutschland über alles!
judenfrei liebchen
Re: post #35… another example that highlights the “typing through the tears” method so favored by the wild-eyed left.
He appears to be more of a stereotypical bigot on the right, perhaps one of those ultra-conservatives who do fit the profile of Nazi sympathizer. There are fewer of those around nowadays compared with all the liberals who think Israel is a big, totalitarian, heartless meanie. The “progressives” who end up as odd bedfellows with anti-Semitic ultra-rightwingers.
I guess the one good thing about the latter is they don’t live under the ridiculous illusion their ideology makes them decent, humane (and sane) people.
Mark (411533) — 6/6/2010 @ 10:20 amYeah, they don’t even know what the big deal is.
What does the KKK, American nazis, the White House Press Corp, the President and many adherents of modern American liberalism all have in common?
They don’t think Helen Thomas said anything repugnant or morally wrong.
Pons Asinorum (0ae484) — 6/6/2010 @ 11:04 amIf she were asking interesting questions, I wouldn’t have a huge problem with her amazingly antisemtic POV. Sadly, that POV is not at all extreme on the left. Jimmy Carter, Bill Ayers, Rev Wright.. these are not fringe democrats anymore. They are the heart and soul of that party.
If she wants to be part of that group, but ask interesting questions, I say: more speech in response to her speech, not hiding it all.
But if you listen to her questions, you realize there’s no value at all in her presence. She’s just a dumb boring partisan. ‘Don’t give me a Bushie response! What are we still occupying Afghanistan?’ Just stupid stuff like that.
There’s a corrosion to society in tolerating this hatred. It’s worth it if the hatred sheds light on mistaken ideas and helps people get some understanding about those ideas. With Helen Thomas, though, the mental horsepower has never come with the hateful passion. There’s no benefit.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 6/6/2010 @ 11:40 amGee, sure would be nice to know what was said in Comments #4-46 (inclusive) since they don’t display.
AD - RtR/OS! (95e666) — 6/6/2010 @ 1:28 pmIf I didn’t know better, now would be a good time to throw in an unwarranted insult, since it seems I’ll never see the response (if any).
Yes, David Brown, she’s not afraid to be called what she actually is.
That’s great news.
Now what’s your excuse?
SPQR (26be8b) — 6/6/2010 @ 1:32 pmDavid Brown, it is nice of you to provide a link to your website with your comments, but somehow I think I can guess exactly what you have to say without actually having to click through.
And low-rent antisemites like you and Helen Thomas are, unfortunately, a dime a dozen these days. Even though you think you are carrying on a noble tradition of “free speach” [sic].
JVW (36eb17) — 6/6/2010 @ 1:51 pmApparently she has been fired from a speaking org. read it all here. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/06/helen-thomas-dropped-by-agency_n_602225.html
A.W. (f97997) — 6/6/2010 @ 1:57 pmCan anyone explain what this woman has done in her career to merit some kind of respect?
As far as I can tell, she has done nothing but write columns nobody reads, and ask long-winded and tendentious questions of White House spokespeople.
Patterico (c218bd) — 6/6/2010 @ 2:04 pmFrom what I’ve read, the most noteworthy thing she’s done is having lived long enough to cover every president since Eisenhower. Apparently quality of reporting and character pales in comparison to age.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 6/6/2010 @ 2:19 pmPatterico:
These Ann Arbor, MI, residents like Helen Thomas because she blames Republicans for almost everything, dislikes blogs and internet reports, loves newspapers and old-school reporters, thinks JFK was the best President, and asks the best media questions. In other words, her values seem to be the polar opposite of what you read here.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 6/6/2010 @ 2:36 pmP, I think the fact that she was also one of the first woman White House Correspondents (if not the first) gives her a certain amount of cache among the liberal crowd. Trailblazer and all that.
JVW (36eb17) — 6/6/2010 @ 2:40 pmHelen Thomas is an anagram for Helen Shat Mo … and publicly, too …
Of course, Helen Thomas is also an anagram for Shame On The L …
Alasdair (205079) — 6/6/2010 @ 3:33 pm#35, Tel Aviv? What’s in Tel Aviv? Not the seat of the Israeli government, if that’s what you meant. That’s in Jerusalem. Can you say “Jerusalem”? It’s four syllables, so it can be a bit difficult, but at least I’m not expecting you to say it in Hebrew, in which it’s five syllables. Get used to it, that’s Israel’s capital, that’s where its government is to be found, so next time you accuse someone of being a pawn of that government you need to say “Jerusalem”. Because the only voice coming out of Tel Aviv is that of nightclubs and streetwalkers and pork and seafood restaurants.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 6/6/2010 @ 3:34 pmI believe there is the thinking that age is a built-in insulator from accountability. Not so much like the crazy old aunt everyone just winks and nods about her nuttiness, but rather Thomas’s longevity in the WH press corps has evolved into a sort of honorary member of an elite group that few will belong to. She was already witnessing history in the WH and participating in it while her current colleagues were still in grade school. Therefore when making such an egregious comment, she is cut an inordinate amount of slack that no one else would be allowed.
With that though, I’m happy to see Lanny Davis also demanding she be shown the door. Hopefully the media will show some integrity and follow suit.
Helen Thomas, who I used to consider a close friend and who I used to respect, has showed herself to be an anti-Semitic bigot. This not about her disagreement about her criticisms of Israel. She has a right to criticize Israel and that is not the same as being an anti-Semite.
However, her statement that Jews in Israel should leave Israel and go back to Poland or Germany is an ancient and well-known anti-Semitic stereotype of the Alien Jew not belonging in the “land of Israel” — one that began 2,600 years with the first tragic and violent diaspora of the Jews at the hands of the Romans.
If she had asked all Blacks to go back to Africa, what would White House Correspondents Association position be as to whether she deserved White House press room credentials — much less a privileged honorary seat?
Dana (1e5ad4) — 6/6/2010 @ 4:18 pmWell, when you lose Joe Klein, I guess the corpulent madame has finished her aria.
http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/06/06/helen-thomas-go-to-the-back-of-the-room/
Helen is toast, and good riddance to bad rubbish. My father always warned me about writing a check with my mouth I wasn’t prepared to cash.
“Go back to Poland”? Really? That’s like the “Peace Flotilla” person telling the IDF guy on the radio to “…go back to Auschwitz.”
Classy, and oh so very self-revealing.
Good thing these weren’t intolerant conservatives, huh? And for anyone who intones “Pat Buchanan,” well, he is a weirded out Nazi apologist, too. I don’t notice Pat in the front row at White House press briefings.
One final note. Tony Snow (RIP) put it best, not so long ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICq2AuxYTTE
35 seconds in.
Eric Blair (e2121c) — 6/6/2010 @ 4:21 pmIronically the LAT reported about the pro-Israel rally taking place today in L.A. I made a comment in support of Israel – in spite of Helen Thomas’s hateful statement – and my comment was not approved. I posted it this morning when there were no comments. I just noticed there are now two approved comments showing: one regarding the location of said event and the other, “Foreign terrorist events like this are a veritable goldmine for Homeland Security list-keepers.”
Hmm.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 6/6/2010 @ 4:54 pm