RIP, Helen Thomas

10 Comments

1. 

   Oui on July 20, 2013 at 12:32 pm

   You beat me by 2-3 min. – A Rebel Dies at 92.

   May she find peace as the US at last attempts another initiative for I-P peace talks.
   Helen Thomas’ heart lies by her ancestors in Lebanon, may the destruction end at last.

2. 

   Phil Perspective on July 20, 2013 at 12:43 pm

   As I suspected, the main feature of Helen Thomas’s obituary is her late-in-life intemperate remarks about Israel.

   They just couldn’t help themselves, could they?  She exposed the Washington, D.C. press corps for what they are.  A bunch of suck-up-to-power clown shows uninterested in doing the job they’re supposed to be doing.

3. 

   Don Durito on July 20, 2013 at 12:49 pm

   I’ve had next to no respect for the DC press corps for – well – practically forever. Ms. Thomas was arguably the lone exception. She is certainly missed.

4. 

   TarheelDem on July 20, 2013 at 1:05 pm

   Lena ‏@lenaqp 1h

   It’s career-ending in this country to say “stop displacing other humans from their homes”.

   Lena ‏@lenaqp 1h

   And it’s not because you’re being anti-Jewish. It’s because you’re suggesting Palestians are equal human beings.

   Rania Khalek ‏@RaniaKhalek 2h

   Helen Thomas to John Brennan in terrorism: “what is the motivation? We never hear what you find out on why.”

   Peter Hart ‏@peterfhart 1h

   “Why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?”– Helen Thomas asked impolite questions of the White House.

   James Gordon Meek ‏@meekwire 47m

   I have heard Helen Thomas’s voice in my head on every big story I’ve ever chased. “Report the facts.” She broke every glass ceiling too.

   With Helen Thomas’s passing, we have the end of a kind of journalism that has passed out of favor of editors and governments.  You can see this clearly in the Obama administration’s zeal to go after James Risen to sacrifice (and thus burn) a source who reported the truth while innumberable sources report lies and spin with no consequences and continue to be sources.

   As a second-generation Lebanese-American, she was not uninformed on what Israel had done and continues to do to Lebanon.  Or the reasons presented to the United States public for Israel’s actions.

   But history will record how Reagan used her as a foil to push his on communications strategy.  And how other Presidents prickled at some of her follow-up questions, until follow-up question were mostly banned from White House press conferences, likely with the argument of fairness to the other journalists present.

5. 

   Oui on July 20, 2013 at 1:38 pm

   .

   White House journalist Helen Thomas remembered as a trailblazer

   (NBC News) – Female journalists took to Twitter to thank the woman who many said helped shatter the perception that political journalism was a profession only suited for bourbon-quaffing men.

   “Helen Thomas made it possible for all of us who followed: woman pioneer journalist broke barriers died today,” tweeted NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell.

   “Any woman who has had the privilege of sitting in the front row of the White House briefing room owes huge debt of gratitude to Helen Thomas,” tweeted Julie Pace, White House correspondent for the Associated Press.

   “RIP Helen Thomas – died this morning at 92. Amazing trail blazer, fearless journalist and friend & mentor to so many women reporter,” Judy Woodruff, host of PBS Newshour, tweeted.

    « click

   Thomas was also remembered fondly by those who faced her brash style of questioning in the White House briefing room.

   “Rest in peace, Helen Thomas. First day I ever took the podium she came to encourage me,” tweeted Dana Perino, who served as press secretary to President George W. Bush.

   Chicago Tribune – Helen Thomas dies at 92, reported on every president since Kennedy

   The Jewish Press: The Forward – Jerusalem Post – Haaretz
   WSU and the annual Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Award.

   Cross-posted from my diary – A Rebel Dies at 92.

6. 

   rikyrah on July 20, 2013 at 2:57 pm

   RIP, Ms. Thomas.

   She lived a long life…and did what she wanted.

7. 

   hz on July 20, 2013 at 4:26 pm

   If no one else has mentioned it yet, it should also be remembered that Helen Thomas gave us the phrase “Worst President Ever” in regard to W. Bush.  A quick look around the googles reveals that the phrase has long since been freeped by the racist contingent in America, but I at least will always remember who owns that title.

   Think I’ll see if I can dig up a copy of Dave and watch it again.  Thomas has a tiny cameo in it, along with a lot of other DC fixtures of about the mid 90s.  It’s not much, but it was kind of fun.  

   • 

     Oui on July 21, 2013 at 1:10 am

     .

     Helen Thomas, feisty scourge of presidents, dies at 92

     (WaPo) – In 2003, she told another reporter that she was covering “the worst president in American history.” The remark was quoted, and Bush, who was not amused, froze her out. She apologized in writing, and he accepted her regrets but did not call on her at his news conferences for the next three years.

     When he finally did, she immediately fired off a classic Thomas question:

     “I’d like to ask you, Mr. President. Your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is: Why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet — your Cabinet officers, intelligence people and so forth — what was your real reason? You have said it wasn’t oil — quest for oil — it hasn’t been Israel or anything else. What was it?”

     Cross-posted from my diary – A Rebel Dies at 92

8. 

   Alice on July 20, 2013 at 6:12 pm

   Sometimes we get old, sometimes we are demented – no matter our race or our sex.  
   You are much missed, Helen.

9. 

   neosortes on July 20, 2013 at 8:55 pm

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    As I suspected, the main feature of Helen Thomas’s obituary is her late-in-life intemperate remarks about Israel. While I would agree that just telling Israelis to pack up and get the hell out isn’t particularly practical or constructive advice, I think Helen Thomas is a historic figure whose contributions to journalism and the advancement of woman so far outweigh that incident that it ought to be a footnote rather than the concluding paragraph in her obituary. I hope others do better in documenting and honoring her life.