Glenn Beck lashes out at liberals for daring to point out he promoted and is till promoting a book written by a Nazi. Refuses to apologize, of course. Beck: No apologies for promoting an anti-Semite Nazi sympathizer. The Right is still rife with antisemitism, even rewarding those that have tried to rid the government of Jews. Now along comes Helen Thomas who dared to utter these words to : You Got Played
Now that Helen Hitler Thomas has been forcibly retired, more video of the interview miraculously has become available for viewing:
Here’s the “appalling” transcript:
Q: Any advice for these young people over here for starting out in the press corps?
Thomas: Go for it. You’ll never be unhappy. You’ll always keep people informed, you’ll always keep learning. The greatest thing of the profession is you’ll never stop learning.
Q: Today they are covering the Jewish Heritage Month.
Thomas: … and meet the President.
A: Any comments on Israel? We’re asking everyone today, any comments on..
Thomas: Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.
Q: Oooh. Any better comments?
Thomas: Remember, these people are occupied, and it’s their land. It’s not German and it’s not Poland.
Q: So where should they go, what should they do?
Thomas: They can go home.
Q: Where is home?
Thomas: Poland. Germany.
Q: So you are saying Jews should go back to Poland?
Thomas: And America and everywhere else. Why push people out who have lived their for centuries? See?
Q: Now, are you familiar with the history of that region and what took place?
Thomas: Very much. I’m of Arab background.
{It goes on for a little while with friendly banter about languages they both speak with words I can not even begin to spell.}
Q: Thank you.
Thomas: All the best to you (directed at the Jewish students). Go for it- go for journalism, you’ll never regret it.
Compare that to Beck’s promotion of the Elizabeth Tillman pro-Nazi book. Thomas apologized and probably quit under pressure from Hearst. Beck will probably pull down another $32 million this year and keep his jobs in radio and TV. Pat Buchanan, also a Fox contributor will continue to make regular appearances on Fox,
In another memo from Buchanan to Nixon: “There is a legitimate grievance in my view of white working-class people that every time, on every issue, that the black militants loud-mouth it, we come up with more money…. If we can give 50 Phantoms [jet fighters] to the Jews, and a multi-billion dollar welfare program for the blacks…why not help the Catholics save their collapsing school system.” (Boston Globe, 1/4/92)
In a column sympathetic to ex-Klansman David Duke, Buchanan chided the Republican Party for overreacting to Duke and his Nazi “costume”: “Take a hard look at Duke’s portfolio of winning issues and expropriate those not in conflict with GOP principles, [such as] reverse discrimination against white folks.” (syndicated column, 2/25/89)
Writing of “group fantasies of martyrdom,” Buchanan challenged the historical record that thousands of Jews were gassed to death by diesel exhaust at Treblinka: “Diesel engines do not emit enough carbon monoxide to kill anybody.” (New Republic, 10/22/90) Buchanan’s columns have run in the Liberty Lobby’s Spotlight, the German-American National PAC newsletter and other publications that claim Nazi death camps are a Zionist concoction.
The Buchanan ’96 campaign’s World Wide Web site included an article blaming the death of White House aide Vincent Foster on the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad — and alleging that Foster and Hillary Clinton were Mossad spies. (The campaign removed the article after its existence was reported by a Jewish on-line news service; Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 2/21/96.)
Despite her Democratic leanings Helen Thomas went after both Democrats and Republicans.
None of these prestigious firsts or awards protected Thomas from the firestorm that followed her remarks. Time columnist Joe Klein wrote that Thomas should be stripped of her privileged seat in the White House briefing room. Her remarks were offensive, but considering her journalistic moxie and courage over many decades — in sharp contrast to the despicable deeds committed by so many littering the Washington political scene — isn’t there room for someone who made a mistake, apologized for it and wants to continue speaking truth to power and asking tough questions?
Unlike Beck, Buchanan, Limbaugh, Coulter and a virtual army of right-wing hyperbolists that seem to make more money by making even more abhorrent remarks about women, Jews, Liberals, college professors, union members, teachers, war heroes and anyone else that veers from their ideological prison camp. Thomas is hounded out by one in-artful remark for which she apologized. Except for that WaPo piece by Katrina vanden Heuvel, I have not read one of the Beltway villagers come to Thomas’s defense. Who can name one denizen of the Beltway in politics or journalism that has lived to be 86 with a record of professionalism free of goofball statements. The same journalists that played along with Bush’s selling of the Iraq invasion are still in D.C. The networks that let “military analysts” provide Bush administration spin as expert commentary have still not apologized. A. Serwer at Tapped gets to the crux of the moral issues that were at stake,
I’m not going to defend Helen Thomas’ comments. Any American who is going to argue that Israeli Jews should “get out” is going to have to be willing to advocate for the return of all the land west of the Mississippi River to Native Americans, since the provenance of the land on which America stands is far more legally dubious than that of the Jewish state. Thomas is now retiring, but Jon Chait makes a persuasive case for why she probably should have been gone long ago.
That said, it’s worth noting that in American political discourse, as Matt Duss and Gabriel Winant have written, statements of a similar nature are completely appropriate when made about the Palestinians — it’s not, apparently, that bigotry is unacceptable, just the “wrong kind” of bigotry. This is the sort of incident that exposes the more tribal advocates on either side — you cannot argue that there’s something morally wrong about leaving Palestinians stateless and then argue that Israeli Jews should be left that way, just as you cannot argue that it is morally wrong to suggest Jews should “leave Israel” while asserting that Israel has the right to permanently displace the Palestinians. Or at least, you can’t argue either of those points while claiming to adhere to any universal moral principle. Still, it’s clear that one form of inconsistency here is infinitely more acceptable in Washington than the other.
After criticizing Obama for lacking emotion, Conservative media now attacks Obama for seeking “ass to kick” over spill. Conservative journalists have never shown any genuine concern over the spill, they as happy as pigs at the trough that have another event they can blame Obama for.
They don’t mean to, unless you’re really into conspiracy theories and think liberals have infiltrated the Nevada Republican party, but occasionally the Right does moderates a big favor like nominate Sharon Angle as the GOP candidate for Senate, Sharon Angle And Party Suicide
* Inflammatory rhetoric: In an interview last month with the Reno Gazette-Journal, Angle had this to say about gun laws: “What is a little bit disconcerting and concerning is the inability for sporting goods stores to keep ammunition in stock,” she told the newspaper. “That tells me the nation is arming. What are they arming for if it isn’t that they are so distrustful of their government? They’re afraid they’ll have to fight for their liberty in more Second Amendment kinds of ways. That’s why I look at this as almost an imperative. If we don’t win at the ballot box, what will be the next step?”
The Angle campaign signs should be interesting – Vote for me or we’ll have to break out the semi-automatics on your ass. It is not the least bit of an exaggeration to say I could go to any number of stores and come back in an hour with enough guns and ammo for a small army. I already have two and feel that any civil unrest that requires more than that, well a few more guns is not going to make much of a difference. There is a difference between self defense and paranoia. That is the reason the dictionary has a different definition for each. The Angles of the world seem to lack the cognitive skills to differentiate between the two. Reid Opponent Embraces Patriot Group That Warns Of ‘Giant Concentration Camps’
The peculiar ideology of Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee challenging Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada, is perhaps no better illustrated than by her embrace of the patriot group Oath Keepers, whose membership of uniformed soldiers and police take an oath to refuse orders they see as unconstitutional — including enforcement of gun laws, violations of states’ sovereignty, and “any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.”
[ ]…According to the SPLC, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, a former staffer for Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) warns his followers against “a coming dictatorship” that will happen if “our brothers in arms go along and comply with unconstitutional, unlawful orders.” An extensive report on the group by Mother Jones in March suggests supporters of the movement believe they’re living through the first steps of the shift away from constitutional freedom. Members of the group — many of them in the armed forces — share the “belief that the government is already turning on its citizens, they are recruiting military buddies, stashing weapons, running drills, and outlining a plan of action [to stop it],” the magazine reported.
In the real world Senator Reid’s middle name is moderate. So much so that liberals regularly whine about him. I tend to think he has more pluses than minuses and he looks even better compared to Chuck Schumer who is the leading Democratic contender for Senate leader should Harry step aside. Though it would be a mistake to underestimate Angle.
Just for fun. Or dark humor anyway. The kool-kids at the konservative PJ Media have the answer to the oil spill, Miles of Oil Containment Boom Sit in Warehouse, Waiting for BP or U.S. to Use
He’s already had a representative from BP visit his factory and inspect his product. The governor of Maine, John Baldacci, visited the facility and made a video plea to no one in particular to close the deal. Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins wrote a letter on May 21 to the secretary of the Interior, the administrator of NOAA, and the commandant of the Coast Guard to alert them to the existence of Packgen, their supply of boom, and their demonstrated capacity to make more. I have no idea if those are the correct persons and agencies to notify about the manufacturing capacity and the availability of boom. One wonders if the senators know.
To sum up. 1. He does not know if two Republicans senators know the correct persons or agencies to contact. 2. He goes on to give a second grader’s idea of what an oil spill and how it is to be handled. Why is he writing a blog post when he should be on a jet insisting on his way to sharing his cool show-and-tell with BP and the Coast Guard. This “boom” meme has become the right’s Guld spill equivalent of those half-submerged buses in New Orleans during Katrina that could have saved everyone if only they had listened to right-wing bloggers. 3. Obama knows about the boom. Knows it is the secret to stopping any more environmental damage, but is keeping it all super secret to serve his super secret agenda. You know, the one that is helped by not letting anyone know about this miracle boom. 4. The same goes for BP. The less boom they lay out the …more money they make? 5. What day was it that konservatives gave a damn about about the environment and any business but the oil and coal industry. They’re Boom Believers, but Global Warming Deniers 6. Konservative komrades always claim they are very concerned about meritocracy. Anything they write about meritocracy only makes sense if you substitute the word mediocrity. Thus in the village of Wingnuttia that post about boom is very popular. 7. Much of their complaint is the gov’mint is not doing enough. They were against the nanny state before they were for it. Why isn’t every whining know-it-all-do-it yourself- self sustaining-don’t need no govmint-konservative down in the Gulf with a bucket and a mop.
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The Long Goodbye 