DC Trawler

Another wrinkle to the Helen Thomas story

Font Size:

It’s been months since Helen Thomas had to quit her job yelling accusations-thinly-veiled-as-questions at a long line of presidential spokesmen going back to the Polk administration. And for what? All she said, on-camera, was that those Israelis need to go back where they came from. Y’know, like… Germany and Poland. How was she to know that anybody would take it the wrong way?

At the time she was all apologies, but now she’s speaking out about the controversy. Associated Press:

In a radio interview, former White House correspondent Helen Thomas acknowledges she touched a nerve with remarks about Israel that led to her retirement. But she says the comments were “exactly what I thought,” even though she realized soon afterward that it was the end of her job.

“I hit the third rail. You cannot criticize Israel in this country and survive,” Thomas told Ohio station WMRN-AM in a sometimes emotional 35-minute interview that aired Tuesday. It was recorded a week earlier by WMRN reporter Scott Spears at Thomas’ Washington, D.C., condominium…

“They distorted my remarks, which they obviously have to do for their own propaganda purposes, otherwise people might wonder why they continue to take Palestinian land,” said Thomas, a daughter of Lebanese immigrants who over the years did little to hide her pro-Arab views. There was no explanation of whom “they” referred to.

I’ll bet Rick Sanchez could tell you.

Here’s Helen’s reaction to being told Obama openly criticized her:

Who can blame her for being upset? It can’t be easy to hear that the President of the United States doesn’t share your views on Lebensraum.

Jim Treacher