As a general rule I tend to show a bit of charity to people who are very old. They tend to speak their mind with less control and as age starts to overtake you one is very much susceptible to gaffes and embarrassment.
These days however It has become so chic to hate and condemn Israel (not to mention the brownie points you earn from the upset us and we behead you crowd) that people say things aloud that 20-30 years ago would have been impossible to have said in polite company.
And so we come to Helen Thomas.
In my opinion one of several things is going on:
1. She has reached the point in life that she will say something she thinks without pausing to think of the consequences for herself.
2. She has reached the point in life that she will say aloud what she thinks and doesn’t care what the consequences are.
3. She has reached the point in life where she is canny enough to know that the press will not call her out for things said so she doesn’t care what she says.
#4. Age has nothing to do with it, She thinks the worm as turned to the point where she can say the most extreme thing she actually believes without any worry.
5. She is senile and talking nonsense.
Thomas has never been a fan of Israel so we can safely assume that her antipathy is genuine. Her writings on this and other subjects is not materially different from many younger people who think the same so we must assume that #5 is not the case. If you look at the statement there seems no level of confusion so #1 is out. Thomas has been not only challenging Israel for decades but her position is consistent with many other people where she came from so #2 is out. That also suggest #3 is wrong however the person with her is clearly nervous.
My guess is #4 but she is aware of #3 and is quite willing to use that advantage to put her fellow journalists in a position where they feel they must be silent.
With the rise of open hatred and violence against Jews worldwide her time has come.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. For years the west has pushed the canard about saving the Jews as part of the reason for the war and why it was just. In my opinion the nations never gave a damn if the Jews were wiped out altogether. It was the average soldier who saw the evil that was done and was repulsed and outraged by what they found. It was their repulsion of an armed free people that caused things to happen and forced nations to acknowledge and memorialize this evil.
As their generation dies away the outrage that spurned it dies with them and the world is able to celebrate that oldest of hatreds and evils that has always kept them warm at night.
I'll wear the Fr O'Malley Badge proudly
Abdul: What is your name?
Father O’Malley: William O’Malley.
Abdul: I did not call you.
Father O’Malley: You called for all the Jews. I’m Jewish, just like Jesus Christ. You take one, you gotta take us all.
I choose to stand with Israel, because they are right! Not perfect, but right, how can I do anything else and live with myself?
Update: That was fast. I still think she was thinking #4 but switched on a dime to #1. I guess that is still a bridge too far..
Update 2: How much must it tear up Thomas to make that apology when Palin is hitting her on the statement.
Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog 
Thomas is merely saying what her lefty colleagues believe and say at their chichi parties. They are united with the Islamofascists in their hatred of Jews. Campuses hold “Israel Apartheid” weeks. How about “Mecca Apartheid year”? I dare a non-Moslem to try to visit Mecca. But the Far Left is unconcerned with that discrimination. In Israel, Arabs vote and have members in the Knesset. But the facts mean nothing to the Far Left and their Islamofascist allies. Hezbollah, and Hamas have a good friend in Helen! Her apology was and is pathetic.
Thank you, my friend :)
I am also Catholic and have felt the need to hesitate before I say what’s been on my mind for a long time but I’m done with that. Helen Thomas is the face and voice of most liberals and the Jewish American voting blocks insist on voting them into office year after year. I don’t get it, will never understand it, and I don’t want to. The only Democracy in the Middle East, the only place in that part of the world where women are more than dogs, where other religions are tolerated, and she gets betrayed time and time again by liberals in this country who are more willing to kiss the asses of women beaters and baby killers rather than stand up to the evil that surrounds the only oasis of sanity in an entire region of the world. They’re more than willing, and so are the Jewish voting block from what I have seen, to make Israel live up to standards that we ourselves do not, while we preach to civilians living in a small spot of land who worry whether or not their children will come home in a body bag from school. I hope many Jewish Americans are starting to see what many of us have seen for a long time because it won’t stop at the the ever diminishing borders of Israel. It’s right here in our own country and it will grow with every spineless liberal politician that gets voted into office who will not have the intestinal fortitude or political courage to stand up to an entire “movement” that has identified them as our Achille’s heel and in some cases their allies. They will use them to achieve what they need to achieve using our senses of decency as a weapon against us. It starts with the election of an anti-Semite in the highest office in the land, one who turns his back on his friends when he’s needed the most, one who makes a moral equivilency between slaughtering innocents and protecting your children. It escalates everywhere until it becomes easier to hate Jews than to tolerate them. It ends with the construction of a mosque on hallowed ground, in the very place where thousands of civilians died in the name of that religion while Palestinians rejoiced in the streets. Jews and other religions aren’t welcome. Moderate muslims who want to live and let live are considered unworthy and dangerous to everyone on all sides. If the plight of Israel isn’t a consideration to the Jewish American voting block when voting for politicians and “all politics is local” then maybe the realization that our freedoms are eroding at an exponential rate, our nation is being weakened daily by ridiculous spending and taxation, and we are traveling an all too familiar road that doesn’t end well might be.
[…] Arab state in the region took place. Hitting back is cathartic but the most important function Thomas’ remarks have achieved is the identification of those who dreams are beyond just a Judenrein Middle east. As […]
Excellent post. In some ways, it was almost relieving to finally see a figurehead for the “progressive” extreme left say what is clearly beneath the surface of so much anti-israel fervor.
I appreciate this thoughtful post. Helen Thomas merely said out loud what most in the unholy alliance of extreme-islam, anti-semitic neo nazis, and anti-israel “progressives” are constantly thinking.
Her timing was good too, it makes more obvious the true root cause of hysterical anti-israel sentiment. Especially in the arab world (where they say this kind of thing openly).
Thank you for posting clear thoughts on this subject.
It’s like a thunderstorm, clears the air.
That is not to say that one can’t critique Israel without wanting that goal, but the rise of violence against jews all over the world is not a coincidence, and those who are willing to make excuses for them should think long and hard on it.
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