After Controversial Comments, Veteran White House Reporter, Helen Thomas, 89, Retires

[Gaybutton]

Helen Thomas Retires

 

By Anne E. Kornblut

 

Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas announced Monday that she is retiring, effective immediately, in the wake of a controversy over her comments on Israel, according to a report from her employer, Hearst News Service.

 

Thomas told a rabbi at a White House event last week that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and go back to Germany and Poland.

 

"I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians," Thomas said in a statement on her Web site. "They do not reflect my heart-felt 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."

 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/06/gibbs-helen-thomas-remarks-off.html

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aeqb8h0I-Bg

[Bob]

Had she simply said that the Israelis ought to get the hell out of the West Bank and Gaza (as those boundaries were before), I would have agreed with her. But the rest of her comments where simply......senile/stupid.

 

Helen reminds me a bit of Larry King in the sense that, when they die, a lot of people are going to immediately think "didn't they die years ago?"

[Gaybutton]

But the rest of her comments where simply......senile/stupid.

I agree. I think her comments were a BIG mistake on her part. But I also think that too much is being made of it. After all, who hasn't put his foot in his mouth every so often and said something they would give anything not to have said? I think she should be embarrassed, criticized, and have to apologize for it, but to have to end the career she's had because of it? I think that's overreacting.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

At 89 she needs to retire before her senility really sets in.

[KhorTose]

At 89 she needs to retire before her senility really sets in.

 

It is sad, but you are correct. The poor lady has gone over the edge. She was such a great institution for so many years, and I will miss her.

[Gaybutton]

I disagree. I don't think she's gone over edge, getting senile, or anything else. She made an extremely stupid comment publicly. Again, everybody says something they regret sometimes. I certainly do, almost daily - sometimes more than once daily.

 

I have not lost my respect for her because of her statement. You know who I've lost respect for? The news agencies she worked for so many years, that's who. Every one of them instantly threw her right to the wolves. When Andy Rooney made a stupid controversial comment one time, CBS suspended him, but they didn't just throw him away like a piece of garbage. But that's what these news agencies did to Helen Thomas and I think that stinks, no matter how inappropriate her comments were. I think she deserves better than that. After all these years she makes one terrible comment, and they respond like this.

 

I also think the real reason the news agencies instantly got rid of her was only for the sake of appearances. I don't believe for one second that any of them really, truly gave a damn about what she said.

 

I think the correct response would have been to suspend her, but not to flat out dissociate themselves from her and force her to retire.

[Guest fountainhall]

Helen reminds me a bit of Larry King in the sense that, when they die, a lot of people are going to immediately think "didn't they die years ago?"

Sad, but true.

 

Again, everybody says something they regret sometimes. I certainly do, almost daily - sometimes more than once daily.

As do I. But then we do not do it on the White House grounds in filmed interviews broadcast worldwide on the internet

 

Frankly, her job required objectivity and more than a degree of sensitivity. I have looked at the video-clip and the second part of that remark oversteps both boundaries. To be fair on her, she is goaded - politely - by the interviewer into adding to her original comment and it is at that point I suspect age took over and suppressed her professional objectivity. On the other hand, she does admit she is of Arab background and may simply have decided finally to speak her mind. Whatever, I will also miss her presence at the White House Conferences.

[Bob]

Like Khor Tose, I've admired her work in the past (mainly 20-40 years ago!) but, frankly, it's time Helen went out to pasture. And this is not the first thing she's said that's been a bit wacky, she's been losing it for years. She voluntarily retired (at least that's how it's being reported) and she likely made a wise decision.

[Gaybutton]

She voluntarily retired

I have a feeling it was a lot less voluntary than meets the eye. I think it was probably made clear to her to either retire immediately or get fired. Either way, I still can't help but think she was over-punished for what she said. The most stupid aspect of it, in my opinion, is not only coming out with these comments, but making them at a Jewish heritage event at the White House.

 

Still, I think a suspension would have been sufficient. She was a reporter for close to 60 years and arguably the most famous and important White House correspondent in history. She comes out with one grossly outrageous statement after all that time and she ends up treated as if she were a criminal.

 

I think she deserved punishment for what she did, but not to this extent. I don't think the punishment fits the crime and I don't think she is being treated fairly. But, apparently few people, if any, agree with me.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

I have a strong suspicion that Jewish people would have a very different view of this. I also think age has a lot to do with this breach of judgment. It is time to retire, voluntarily or otherwise.

[Guest GaySacGuy]

I am sorry to say, but this was long overdue. Helen has been fading for several years. In the 60s through the 80s she was on the very top of her game. But, if you listen to some of the questions she has asked in the last few years...especially ths last couple of years...in the White House press briefing, I think you would have to agree that she has been sliding downward.

 

Besides, she has had a long and decorated career...she should have gotten out several years ago when she was on the top and gotten into writing books and such, and out of the daily news grind.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

It's best to know when to call it quits.

[Gaybutton]

As an aside, one thing about the way White House press conferences are done has always bothered me. That's the preferential treatment the more prominent and well known reporters get when it comes to who gets picked to ask questions. I would rather see something such as a prominent reporter gets the first question, then the next question comes from a reporter whose name was earlier drawn out of a hat or something, then a prominent reporter, followed by another name drawn out of a hat, and so on. That might be kind of a dumb way to do it, but I'd like to see the reporter questions done in a more "everybody's equal" manner.

[Bob]

I am sorry to say, but this was long overdue. Helen has been fading for several years. In the 60s through the 80s she was on the very top of her game. But, if you listen to some of the questions she has asked in the last few years...especially ths last couple of years...in the White House press briefing, I think you would have to agree that she has been sliding downward.

 

 

Exactly, in fact she had become on occasion an actual embarrassment to the press corp. But, given her long and distinguished career in prior decades, I wish her a pleasant retirement.