This is who I want to be when I grow up...

[Orchidflower]

89 y.o. Helen Thomas, first class White House press person, is the only one to speak up about the war at Obama's White House press conference?
Her mind is still sharp as a tack! If you read this you can see she's still assertive as all get-out--but always tactful--and still doggedly persistent. Whatta woman!!!! (Good gosh...how many years has she been the primary reporter for the White House? Over 50 years now I assume? Wasn't she at Lincoln's Four Score speech?)

Wars? What wars? America has tuned out - USATODAY.com

I'm just trying to figure out how she's stayed so super-sharp? Wow...Helen, you go girl!!! Care to share your secret to the rest of us?

 

[Leonidas]

I sent Helen a fan email a few months ago when she got up in the grill of those people in the imperial white palace. Even got a reply: "thanks, Helen".

 

[Tesaje]

I'm impressed with her too. Wonder why people who are famous don't seem to retire?

 

[Orchidflower]

I'm guessing Helen loves what she does...and it keeps her going? Just a guess.

 

[Leonidas]

Helen has dropped a few notches in my esteem. Browsing her website just now I find this apology prominently displayed at the top:

Helen Thomas issued the following statement today: “I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. 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.”

It only take a minute to find the story behind the apology, and the video that spurred it. The interviewer was a rabbi who is also a journalist and filmmaker. He's with his teenage son and the son's friend, and all three are wearing yamulkas and tzitzit - plus they're wearing press passes and carrying a camera. It's not like they're hiding their purpose or their affiliations, but still Helen pops off with some crazy talk that makes her look dumb: YouTube - Helen Thomas tells Jews to go back to Germany

I admire Helen for her tenacity in asking sitting Presidents some tough questions - regardless of which party he belongs to. But where the hell did this come from?

 

[samclem]

I think Helen should have hung up her notebook about 20 years ago. She's the crazy aunt at Thanksgiving who generates nervous giggles when she blurts out a random observation. I always wonder what kind of non-question will come out of her mouth when she speaks. The only good thing about the President going 10 months between press conferences is the fact that she's thus been deprived a showcase for that long.

But, I have no strong opinions about Ms Thomas . . .

 

[Bestwifeever]

OrchidFlower, there's an opening for a White House correspondent if you want to apply:

Helen Thomas retires in flap over Israel remarks - Yahoo! News

 

[Nords]

OrchidFlower, there's an opening for a White House correspondent if you want to apply

Maybe Helen will be co-blogging with Dan Rather...

 

[Rustward]

Man, she went out with a bang!

She was booked to deliver a commencement speech at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda -- they told her "never mind".

Her booking agent dropped her.

I guess retiring was an open option.

 

[Leonidas]

There's something to be said for quitting while you're on top of your game, rather than being forced out when you become an embarrassment.

 

[samclem]

I sure couldn't see why so many people "loved" and respected her for so long. Everyone was just afraid to say what everyone already knew--it was long past time for her to scoot. When a president gives a press conference, time is of the essence, and there's no particular reason she, with her ill-prepared questions, should have been favored with a mandatory free question when a lot of hard-working, better prepared reporters in that room could have made better use of the scarce time.

I didn't consider her particularly courageous, as she risked nothing by making her thinly-veiled statements. President Bush "demoted" her briefly, but the present administration was in love with her. Until now.

Good riddance.

 

[Leonidas]

...but the present administration was in love with her. Until now.

I'm not sure about that, my email to her was in response to her very public accusations toward the Obama administration's efforts to control the press. During the Bush administration I thought some of her editorializing was way past being biased and was inappropriate for a reporter. But, when she called little Bobby Gibbs on some of the shenanigans being pulled, I adjusted my opinion to something like "maybe she's just a curmudgeonly old broad - but at least she's not being partisan."

“What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.”

I heartily agree with that statement, and told her that while I didn't always agree with her, I did fully agree that the job of the press is to be a guard dog, not a lap dog, and to keep up the tough questions.

So, maybe she was partisan, for sure she was curmudgeonly, and now, it looks like she tried to hang on just a little too long and skipped over into crazy-land.

It's better to leave and have people never remember you, than have them remember you as the person who pissed him/herself publicly.

 

[SarahW]

I think Helen should have hung up her notebook about 20 years ago. She's the crazy aunt at Thanksgiving who generates nervous giggles when she blurts out a random observation. I always wonder what kind of non-question will come out of her mouth when she speaks. The only good thing about the President going 10 months between press conferences is the fact that she's thus been deprived a showcase for that long.

But, I have no strong opinions about Ms Thomas . . .

:golfclap:

 

[samclem]

But, when she called little Bobby Gibbs on some of the shenanigans being pulled, I adjusted my opinion to something like "maybe she's just a curmudgeonly old broad - but at least she's not being partisan."

Let's talk about something we can all agree on--Is there anyone, of any political persuasion, that doesn't think Robert Gibbs needs to immediately follow Ms Thomas into retirement?

 

[clifp]

Let's talk about something we can all agree on--Is there anyone, of any political persuasion, that doesn't think Robert Gibbs needs to immediately follow Ms Thomas into retirement?

Several months ago I posted a similar complaint about Gibbs on forum with lots of liberals. Several Democrats agreed with my believe that Gibbs is one of the worse Press Secretary in reason memory and nobody defended the guy.

 

[Orchidflower]

This is a wild guess, but I'm guessing Helen loved her job and hated leaving. It seemed to be her life from what I could tell, but I just am guessing that at 89 Helen is losing it. Maybe dementia has set in, and she just blurts out what she really feels and has held in for years (or centuries in her case).
I know my mother--a Southern belle who was big on propriety--told off a restaurant manager a few years ago when she never would have done that before she got so old...not that she was wrong (the food was horrid), but it still was embarrassing somewhat. However, secretly I was cheering her on as there really was no excuse for serving slop and calling it dinner.
That still shouldn't negate all the years and years of brilliant insight and work Helen Thomas did all the years before...should it? I'm cutting her some slack like I hope someone will cut me if I make it to 89. But what a crappy way for her to go out. I just wish all this hadn't happened to her. Getting old is hell.....and, yeah, you guys are right that she should have left a long time ago and all this could have been avoided. I hate to see such a formerly bright woman become...well, a laughingstock. Sad.
Next time we hear about her it will be when she dies I'll bet.