Keeping Pressure Up Against Helen Thomas

These ugly remarks from Helen Thomas have gotten loads of play, but little official reaction that I could see. There has, however, been at least some fallout for her. Her booking agent dropped her, and she's been uninvited to a local high school commencement as well. (Given the Jewish neighborhood it's in, can't imagine why she was invited in the first place...this is hardly the first time Helen Thomas has said hateful things in public.)


And Lanny Davis has repudiated her, with a clear explanation of what precisely is anti-semitic about her remarks.

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 is not 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 the White House Correspondents Association position be as to whether she deserved White House press room credentials — much less a privileged honorary seat?

 So perhaps she will wind up losing her WH seat after all in the end.

Update: Her co-author quits.

Upper-date: related: ninme found a tv anchor upset with CBS' coverage of the flotilla incident.

With all due respect XXXX, I find our coverage of this an abomination. I feel like I want to wash the slime off me when I get off work. I’m embarrassed by our coverage. I take this job and my reputation seriously. But that’s nearly impossible with coverage like this. I hope you’ll respond.

Upperer-date: Helen Thomas retires. She turns 90 in August.