Helen Thomas unlikely to hold her plum press seat

[babylonsister]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/06/helen_thomas_wont_hold_her_sea.html

Helen Thomas unlikely to hold her plum press seat


The White House Correspondents Association is currently debating what to do about Helen Thomas in the wake of the explosion of outrage over her claim that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and go back to Europe.

The WHCA has not commented publicly on her remarks, but in an email circulated late last night, CNN's Ed Henry, who's also the secretary of the WHCA, described them as "shocking and indefensible."

That makes it unlikely that she'll be allowed to hold her plum seat in the White House press room. which, unsurprisingly, was empty today:



In the email, CNN"s Henry sharply criticized Thomas' remarks as "offensive," noting that there's "a lot of frustration" among members of the WHCA, and "rightly so."

But he also noted that many journalists he's spoken with "do not want this one awful episode to define her entire career."

And Henry also reminded colleagues that the White House would have say as to whether she keeps her seat. "That power comes at the discretion of the White House itself," Henry wrote.

But Robert Gibbs just weighed in at the press briefing, describing her comments as "reprehensible." And a conservative colleague just gave me another very good reason why it's unlikely that she'll be allowed to keep it: If she stays, right-wingers will use it to savage the press as anti-Israel.

"They can't let her sit up front because people like me will just use it to bludgeon them," the colleage told me.

Like I said above, the WHCA is currently debating what to do, but it's hard to believe she won't be a goner within hours.

[Ian David]

1. And yet Pat Buchannan still has a job. (edited to add...)

Pat Buchanan: In His Own Words
On American Jews and the Pro-Israel Lobby

1999: "After World War II, Jewish influence over foreign policy became almost an obsession with American leaders."
- A Republic, Not an Empire. P. 336.

1999: "I know the power of the Israeli lobby and the other lobbies, but we need a foreign policy that puts our own country first."
- Meet the Press Interview. September 12, 1999.

1991: "Even if his veto of the (loan) guarantees is overridden, he will have won high marks for his courage, and exposed congress for what it has become, a Parliament of Whores incapable of standing up for U.S. national interests, if AIPAC is on the other end of the line."
- Syndicated column, December 18, 1991

1990: In an August 25,1990, column, Buchanan criticized commentators urging military intervention in Iraq, naming Abe Rosenthal, Richard Perle, Charles Krauthamer and Henry Kissinger. On August 29th, he wrote the following:
"’The civilized world must win this fight,’ the editors thunder. But, if it comes to war, it will not be the ‘civilized world’ humping up that bloody road to Baghdad; it will be American kids with names like McAllister, Murphy, Gonzales, and Leroy Brown."
- Washington Times, August 29, 1990

1990: "There are only two groups that are beating the drums for war in The Middle East – the Israeli Defense Ministry and its amen corner in the United States."
- The McLaughlin Group, Aug 26, 1990

More:
http://www.adl.org/special_reports/buchanan_own_words/print.asp

[bigdarryl]

5. yeah thats what EVERY BODY has been saying this guy says racist shit all the time

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. Yes, but he doesn't get to sit in the front row of the WH press room

[BeyondGeography]

31. Minor detail

:sarcasm:

[spiritual_gunfighter]

32. No but he is featured on a cable channel nearly everyday

and is given a forum to spew racist bile and no one at MSNBC even bats an eye.

[Name removed]

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[phantom power]

2. Funny. I think Helen Thomas is fucking right.

Either way, though, Mission Accomplished. The last outspoken liberal WH reporter is now probably be neutralized.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[phantom power]

21. yeah, yeah, criticism of Israel's inexcusable behavior == "I'm a Nazi."

What-fucking-ever.

Israel has spent the last 40 years stealing Palestine from the Palestinians. And the United States helped make all that possible by (a) supporting the creation of Israel after WWII, and (b) continuing to support Israel regardless of its behaviour and regardless of whether it is in our own national interest.

What we should have done after WWII is take in European Jews as immigrants to the United States. Offer them a home here, if they did not want to remain in Europe. Not invent a country for them and enable decades of territorial and religious insanity that may yet end up undoing us.

I'm tired of Israel being a third-rail, and I can see that Helen Thomas is too.

[cali]

27. well, the U.S. didn't take in those remnants of the holocaust

and neither did any other country. That's history. Israel exists whether it was a good idea or not.

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. She is not a reporter, she is an opinion columnist

[Laughing Mirror]

3. So it's up to the White House

So if she goes, will that be perceived as giving into the right wingers?

[babylonsister]

7. Or will it be construed as interfering with freedom of speech/press?

There are a lot of issues they'll have to weigh.

[Laughing Mirror]

15. Yes all that too

And does Gibbs' "reprehensible" remark indicate which way the wind is blowing. And will it blow big enough to serve as a smoke screen distraction from the much bigger issue, or will it blow up in their faces?

[Tarheel_Dem]

14. "So it's up to the White House"

Where does it say that? Why does the WH have to be drawn into the personal implosion of a "journalist", with foot in mouth disease?

No matter where the WH comes down on this, they'll be creamed. If Helen loses her "plum seat", the left will claim that Obama caved to the right. If she keeps the seat, the right will claim that this confirms that Obama is an anti-Semite, by association.

I, personally, don't care what they do with Helen. She's just not a personal hero of mine.

[Laughing Mirror]

19. It's in the fourth paragraph of the story

The power whether she gets to keep the seat is at the discretion of the White House.

Whether you agree with her or not, she has broken through the taboo of even discussing this issue, and yes the White House will have to deal with it. That's their job.

[Tarheel_Dem]

24. It says the White House "will have say". It doesn't say that the WH

will make a unilateral decision. Like I said, I don't care if they toss her ass out of the whole of D.C. I expect her to display the same sort of perfection & diplomacy she demands from others.

And as far as the taboos of this issue, Helen has just made it a helluva lot harder to have a reasonable discussion about this now, because she is now being caricatured as a crusty old anti-semite. And her journalist "friends" are distancing themselves.

[bigdarryl]

4. DAMN what happened to giving people second chances I hate this media

frenzy of this she's almost 90 years old and she's frail this could I hate to say this end her life if she is fired

[elocs]

6. It's too bad, but she has only herself to blame. Engage brain before putting tongue into gear.

As a news reporter of her experience she should have known better. If they were looking for a reason to get rid of her, she handed them one.

[avaistheone1]

8. Obama welcomed the Bushs back to the White House

and look at all the Bushs have both said and done.


It makes no sense to penalize Helen. It is just an excuse to punish a woman who is a tough journalist.

[tridim]

9. She just "Retired" according to MSNBC nt

[babylonsister]

11. Yes, I just saw that. Sigh. nt

[Ian David]

18. I want the Helen Thomas back that I sent flowers to. I don't like this new Jew-hating monstrosity.nt

[avaistheone1]

22. I don't think that Helen is a Jew hating monstrosity.

Are you baiting?

[Ian David]

26. Okay, maybe that was a little much. n/t

[spiritual_gunfighter]

34. I guess you havent noticed his countless other posts

where he is doing the same thing.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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[totodeinhere]

20. Even though I disagree with her now famous comment about Israel,

overall she was a positive force in the press corp and she asked a lot of questions that the others didn't have the balls to ask. She will be missed.

[Metrix]

25. She is too good for the lackey press corps

How about the Jewish settlers get out of the Occupied Territories and return to where they came from. How about they go back to Brooklyn, for instance, instead of moving to a cheap house in an illegal settlement, depriving the native inhabitants (Palestinians) of their land, water, human rights, security -- not to mention compromising the security of the rest of the world. That is not racist or anti-Semitic statement, it is sanity.

[avaistheone1]

28. I think really that is what she was wanting to say.

I got the sense Helen was off-guard and being setup on that tape.

[here_is_to_hope]

29. +1 n/t

[damntexdem]

30. There's always media punishment for telling the truth.

[cornermouse]

33. Go ahead and start your party.

Un-rec.

[babylonsister]

35. She retired, and what's your beef? I've said nothing about

Helen Thomas either way, other than I wish she wasn't getting pounded this late in a long, successful career. Unrec yourself. :eyes: