Saturday, July 20, 2013

R. I. P. HELEN THOMAS

Thomas was the first female officer of the National Press Club, the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents' Association, and the first female member of the Gridiron Club.
Helen was one of the best, a bulldog journalist, my hero. Once she had hold of a story, she wouldn't let go.  When presidents tried to veer away from the subject of her question, she persisted and called them out.

9 comments:

  1. Ah, well, methinks it's much more likely that she'll be scrounging around for some untold story, some secret of the celestial realm ... because heaven to her was a scoop, a truth to be revealed ... good luck God, 'cause this one won't let the unanswered question go ....

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  2. Like Martin Luther, for all the good she did, it's best to forget the anti-Semitic bits at the end. RIP, Helen.

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    1. JCF, Helen only partly wrong about Israel. She went too far, but the Israelis are not in the right with their land-grabbing and ill-treatment of the Palestinians.

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    2. Helen's remarks did go too far - but what little I know about the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians is utterly revolting and outrageous.

      Which only goes to show, as I've said many times on my own blog, that it takes but one tiny little baby step to go from being oppressed to being an oppressor: the long, tragic story of the human race.

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    3. What the Israelis are doing looks more and more like the creation of an apartheid state.

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    4. I'm sorry, I should have cited what I meant: (in 2010, IIRC) when asked if there was anything she wanted to say to Jews, she volunteered "they should get out of Palestine". When asked where they should go, she said "Back to Poland! Or Germany!"

      I'm very hard on Israel---and I actually believe political Zionism has been tragic. But what she said was little more than a Hamas-like "Drive the Jews into the sea!"

      I think she was probably suffering from the onset of dementia (w/ negligible impulse-control) by the time she said that. I certainly don't believe those remarks reflect her long and distinguished career.

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    5. JCF, I'm speaking of the same incident. In that case, Helen went too far in her commentary.

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