Helen Thomas Updates

A Liberal heard from:
Helen Thomas Should Go, Says Lanny Davis

Her agent also decided that he could no longer represent her.  But there are lots of people who will continue to stand by her, citing her Liberal record.  Vehement anti-Semitism is forgivable in the Liberal community.  Read the comments. Most of them are along the lines of this one from someone who goes by Flatus:

For goodness sake, Craig, separate her remarks from all the rest of the substance of your relationship which is good and important for both of you. She is a wonderful human being who overshadows virtually all others in any of the serious professions.


So she disappoints by having a lapse of judgment. Who amongst us hasn't done the same well before our late 80s?

Those defending her basically are saying she's developed dementia without using that term.  So would that be a reason for removing her from the White House press pool?

Neo-neocon translated Thomas' non-apology apology.

And by the way, when did the words “I regret” come to constitute an apology? Here’s the full statement Helen Thomas released in an attempt to absolve herself after her initial offensive remarks—and remember, this woman is a writer, so we can assume she is choosing her phrases carefully here:

I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heartfelt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon.

Are these words of apology? Where is any indication that Thomas acknowledges her moral transgression? And to whom is she “apologizing?” There is no object of this so-called apology.

Translation of Thomas’s statement:

I wish I hadn’t said it, and I especially wish I hadn’t gotten caught on camera saying it.

But I don’t take it back, I won’t apologize to those evil Israelis/Jews. Instead, I’ll put out some cover words that indicate I want peace to come to the Middle East. Of course, my idea of “peace” in the Middle East is for the illegitimate Israelis to leave the area and make it Judenrein, as I made crystal clear in my previous, more spontaneous, statement.

And then I’ll speak in some general moral equivalency terms about respect and tolerance on both sides—a respect and tolerance I completely failed to show towards the Israelis. That sort of non-apology ought to do the trick and get me off the hook with the idiots who don’t think too deeply.

Jennifer Rubin points out that the press fails to police itself even as it demands other sectors of society do so.

We’ll see if the White House is willing to endure yet another controversy by continuing to host a bigot who uses her perch in the briefing room to spout her venom. It is pathetic that the press corps does not police itself. They’re very fond of calling on business and government to do that but atrocious at doing it themselves. Let’s hope neither Hearst nor the White House has the stomach for this and gives Thomas the boot.