Free Republic

Former White House Reporter Awarded for Being Friend to Palestinians Helen Thomas, who covered the White House for 50 years before being forced to resign over anti-Semitic comments, can add another distinction to her resume, reports Haartez. The Lebanese-American reporter was honored by the Palestinian Authority on Sunday for her, “long career in the field of journalism, during which she defended the Palestinian position every step of the way.” Perhaps the most famous member of the White House press corps, Thomas was forced to resign in 2010 after she said to a reporter on camera regarding the Jews in Israel,...

Journalist Helen Thomas put in a request in February that she have her own table at this year‘s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Unfortunately for her, she was denied by the White House Correspondents’ Association, which Thomas once presided over. “I would appreciate — particularly this year as we celebrate the 50 year anniversary of women being admitted to the WHCA dinner — to share this celebration with my family and close friends one last time,” she wrote in a letter to the WHCA board.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney finally released his tax returns last week, revealing that less than 14 percent in federal taxes was paid, of his more than $20 million income earned last year. Once again, the question Warren Buffett first asked this past summer is being raised: Why do the super wealthy in this country pay less in taxes than the working class? How do people making millions of dollars a year pay roughly 15 percent in taxes, while someone with a salary of $100,000 per year will pay as much as 28 percent in taxes? This is because of...

President Barack Obama painted the state of the union as strong and safe in his third address to the nation, but glossed over solutions to some of the nation's biggest problems. The President, running for reelection, touched base on all major issues including the economy, energy, regulation, immigration and education. He exuded confidence and laid out many points he is expected to hit on the campaign trail. Although Obama has failed in the past at every attempt to work with the Republicans in the Congress, he still attempted to reach out to the opposition. Most Republicans and Democrats could agree...

The leading Republican candidates made their last-minute blitz for supporters in Iowa. They each personalized their credentials. The election struggle was a classic, with the candidates trying to out-rival each other over their dedication to conservatism. A call for smaller government, lower taxes, and balancing the budget topped the agendas of nearly all the ultra-conservative candidates. One wonders why they seek to be at the helm of a powerless federal government. Candidate Ron Paul hopes to eliminate the Social Security system, which has been in effect since 1935 when former President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed the Social Security Act in...

Pioneering White House correspondent Helen Thomas told a National Press Club audience Dec. 7 that the country is endangered by what she called government leaders' greed, fear, and subservience to war-mongers. “I came here in 1943,” she told a dinner audience of 30, “and I don’t think I’ve ever seen our country so bereft of ideals and ideas. I don’t see anything on the horizon that can pull us out. I hope I’m wrong.” Shown at left in a 2009 photo courtesy of Wikipeda, she described current leaders as weak and selfish. The self-described liberal doled out criticism to all...

The U.S. is pulling its troops out of Iraq by the end of the year. Well, not quite.There will still be a large group of soldiers left behind to train Iraqis and to repair the war-damaged sites. Now, will someone from the White House hierarchy, past or present, please tell the American people why we invaded Iraq in March 2003? The truth and nothing but the truth - that will be the day. Why are we still speculating on the reasons we went to war in the first place, other than to hunt down and kill Saddam Hussein, the brutal...

U.S. leaders haven't spoken of disarmament lately. Why not? Iran is on the verge of creating a nuclear weapon. This is bad news for the U.S. and Israel, who have warned Tehran against holding nuclear power. The U.S. needs to step in and mollify at the crucial moment. Israel has been able to sabotage any Iranian progress in developing nuclear prowess, but no one has produced a key to a more peaceful route to reconciliation. So where are the peacemakers? Israel wants the U.S. to step in or even lead the way to block Iran's new nuclear ambitions. Iran, which...

President Barack Obama is finally setting goals to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's about time. Americans are coming around to the futility of all that killing and dying. The timetables are admittedly loose and flexible. Some interests would keep us in the hostile sites forever. We still have troops in Japan and Germany - thousands of soldiers are still there, so many years after World War II ended. We also have 700 military outposts around the world, some big and some small. Why? We have yet to hear the real reason we invaded Iraq. I have heard several...

Helen Thomas is troubled by the lack of leadership from the top in Washington. At an appearance at Busboys and Poets bookstore on Sunday, Thomas was asked her opinion on the state of the country. "I went through the Great Depression, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Vietnam and now Iraq and Afghanistan. What the hell is going on? Don’t we ever learn anything? I think that we are — there is no inspiration from the top. President Obama doesn’t have enough courage to do the right thing. And I think there is no real leadership in this country and there...

President Barack Obama took a giant and courageous step when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to call. He literally told the Israeli leader where to jump. Actually, he told Netanyahu that the 1967 borders should be the starting point for peace negotiations with Palestinian leaders. As expected, the Israeli leader rejected the proposal outright. Why? Because of the "facts on the ground" - facts incidentally created by the Israelis, who have illegally usurped land and water from the Palestinians, by sheer military aggression. Israel now has 78 percent of Palestinian land, taken in violation of the international law that...

The Republicans have tough solutions to meet the nation's financial crisis. The GOP leaders at first targeted their favorite nemesis - Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and Social Security. But then reality set in, and they retreated from major hopes of serving those programs at the altar of fiscal reform. Then, too, they may have been influenced by the national election in 2012. There is also the obvious input of the Tea Partiers who became incensed when the GOP appeared to be backing away from slashing social programs that help the poor and sick. Social Security, dating back to 1935, a...

President Obama has finally taken a stand in favor of the revolt of the masses in Libya. It's good and wise, but not, he said, a stand to depose of Muammar Gaddafi by military means. Obama hopes to force his ouster by other means. Obama's goals - using jet air strikes and missiles to help the out-gunned - is aimed at saving lives. "Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries," Obama said in a national televised address Monday night, "but, the United States is different." He also noted that he was not...

Helen Thomas is not sorry, nor were the comments that ended her career accidental. “I knew exactly what I was doing – I was going for broke,” she told Playboy in the magazine’s April interview. “I had reached the point of no return. You finally get fed up … I finally wanted to speak the truth.” Thomas, of course, left her perch as the dean of the White House press corps last year after telling a rabbi and blogger that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go home” to “Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else.” Her...

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas told a national conference of campus journalists that President Obama owes her an apology for his criticism last year of her comments about Israel. "I want an apology from the president," Thomas, 90, said Tuesday to the hundreds of student journalists and their advisers attending the keynote session of the annual spring convention of College Media Advisers (CMA) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Shin Inouye, director of specialty media in the presidential press office, said the White House would not comment on Thomas' demand for a presidential apology.

During an interview with Joy Behar last night, Helen Thomas made it clear that she was standing behind her statements that Israeli Jews should “go back” to Germany and Poland. However, she did make a couple of additions to the list of countries that Jews should “return” to, such as Russia and the United States. “They’ve been free ever since,” said Thomas, referring to the Jews after the Holocaust. “They didn’t have to go anywhere really, because they weren’t being persecuted anymore, but they were taking other people’s land.” A visibly uncomfortable Behar then asked Thomas whether she considered herself...

The fall of Helen Thomas has been a storied and sad tale and almost every day it seems like another chapter is added. An article by Michael Miner, which appeared in the March 3 Chicago Reader, detailed some of the fallout that occurred following the Society of Professional Journalists’ decision to retire its “Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement.” The story describes some of the internal friction within the SPJ over the decision to retire the award, but also pointed out Thomas’ reaction to that decision. It wasn’t pretty. (h/t Alana Goodman, Commentary magazine) According to Miner’s article, in a...

No stranger to controversy for speaking her mind, Rosie O'Donnell was one of the few to offer veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas comfort last summer, when Thomas retired under fire for speaking out against Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands in a manner that was falsely alleged to be anti-Semitic. O'Donnell sent Thomas, now age 90, flowers in sympathy for the highly upsetting incident and, along with President Jimmy Carter, was one of only a handful of her longtime colleagues and friends to reach out to her. So, it turned out to be quite the unexpected encounter at the studios...

News-Press columnist and legendary White House correspondent Helen Thomas has had the name plate affixed to her historic front row center seat in the White House press briefing room returned, albeit mysteriously, the news outlet Mediaite has reported. The item disappeared last August with apparently no one in the White House press office or with the White House Correspondents Association aware of it. Last week, following the report that Thomas had been hired by the News-Press and is seeking a renewal of her White House press pass, the name plate has suddenly reappeared, equally mysteriously.

Why, at age 90, and after a devastating departure from her last job, is Helen Thomas returning to the battlefield of punditry? [SNIP] We spoke to Thomas on Friday, a day after she emerged from seven months of unwilling retirement with a new column in the weekly Falls Church News-Press. While she initially agreed to speak only about her new gig, Thomas was the one to bring up the circumstances that led to her downfall - her videotaped comments that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine." She told us her words were "distorted": "I didn't tell the Zionists...