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Subject: Helen Thomas, Long Dean Of White House Press, Dies At 92
Written By: Claybricks on 07/20/13 at 12:37 pm
Helen Thomas, Long Dean Of White House Press, Dies At 92
by Scott Neuman
July 20, 2013 9:58 AM
Long-time White House correspondent Helen Thomas, who covered every president from Eisenhower to Obama, has died at age 92, according to The Gridiron Club & Foundation.
Thomas, who spent much of her career at United Press International before switching in her last decade in journalism to Heart Newspapers as a columnist, died Saturday morning at her Washington apartment after a long illness, according to the Gridiron Club, where Thomas was the first female member and a former president.
Her longevity at the White House gave Thomas a coveted front-row seat at briefings and allowed her, as the senior wire-service reporter, the first question at presidential news conferences. That ended when she left UPI in 2000.
NPR's David Folkenflik reports that the sometimes controversial journalist "broke barriers that prevented women from rising in the Washington Press Corps."
Thomas was born to Lebanese immigrants of little means and grew up in Michigan, attending Wayne State University before heading to the nation's capital as a copygirl for now-defunct Washington Daily News.
She covered women's issues, but held onto the White House beat for UPI, staying for decades.
Folkenflik says that "over time, her largely left-of-center views became more pronounced."
But in appearance on NPR's Talk of the Nation in Aug. 1999, she defended the White House press against accusations that it had gone to far in pursuing the Monica Lewinksy scandal that led to President Bill Clinton's impeachment.
NPR's Talk of the Nation in 1999 following the Monica Lewinsky scandal and impeachment of President Clinton.
"Well, I know we're being accused of overkill, but I think that the aggression in the aftermath of being lied to for nine months," she said. "A certain disillusionment does set in, and we all realize that we were not aggressive enough. We didn't ask enough questions."
At age 89, after decades covering Washington presidential politics, Thomas' career finally unraveled when she was interviewed on the White House lawn by RabbiLive.com. Asked for her comments on Israel, she replied: "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine."
The remark touched off a firestorm and Hearst dropped her shortly thereafter.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/07/20/203921340/helen-thomas-long-dean-of-white-house-press-dies-at-92?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130720
Dan
Subject: Re: Helen Thomas, Long Dean Of White House Press, Dies At 92
Written By: LyricBoy on 07/20/13 at 4:53 pm
I was never a huge fan of hers, but she got a raw deal from the people in the media who are part of the Zionist conspiracy. She spoke her opinion and they ran her out of town. I give her credit, she gave them all a big "screw you" and issued no apologies. 8)
Subject: Re: Helen Thomas, Long Dean Of White House Press, Dies At 92
Written By: Foo Bar on 07/20/13 at 8:48 pm
I was never a huge fan of hers, but she got a raw deal from the people in the media who are part of the Zionist conspiracy. She spoke her opinion and they ran her out of town. I give her credit, she gave them all a big "screw you" and issued no apologies. 8)
Heh. Also "not a fan, but props to her anyways." I was disappointed that she went full tinfoil-hatted-derp and ended her career on a particularly foul note (the only Zionist conspiracy is the one in the minds of holocaust deniers), but I'm with you on the rest. For the other 99.99% of her career (90% of the time at which I would have still disagreed with her) she never pulled a punch, and I can give her mad props for that.
Looking back on things, press conferences have never been quite the same without her: today's press conference consists of a few talking points, and a few people lobbing softball questions in order to give the speaker a chance to reiterate the talking points, in the hopes that the speaker will give them better access to stories next week. It's boring as all hell, because whether you admired or despised her agenda, the one thing you could always count on Thomas for was to make it interesting. We need people to make press conferences interesting again.
Subject: Re: Helen Thomas, Long Dean Of White House Press, Dies At 92
Written By: LyricBoy on 07/21/13 at 11:54 am
(the only Zionist conspiracy is the one in the minds of holocaust deniers)
The Zionist conspiracy is alive and well. It makes itself evident every time somebody like Ms. Thomas criticizes Israel and is branded an antisemitic outcast almost universally by the media. It's evident every time the US Government provides military funding to a country that is of no military strategic interest and which spies on us. It is evident when our government, which is hell-bent to purge all traces of religion or religious conscientiousness from society, celebrates "The Jewish State".
Israel is America's Cuba. At least the Russians eventually cut off the Cubans from the dole.
Subject: Re: Helen Thomas, Long Dean Of White House Press, Dies At 92
Written By: Foo Bar on 07/21/13 at 10:28 pm
The Zionist conspiracy is alive and well. It makes itself evident every time somebody like Ms. Thomas criticizes Israel and is branded an antisemitic outcast almost universally by the media.
If seeing racism in "They can go home, Poland, Germany, and America and everywhere else..." makes me part of the Zionist conspiracy, all I can say is they're really cheap when it comes to funding my expense account, but what would you expect? :)
Last time I heard that sentiment expressed, it involved Hispanic-Americans and Mexico, and the time before that, blacks and Africa. Sorry, Ms. Thomas, you were over the line that time, and it cost you your career. That's a bummer, because she made press conferences fun.