'Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are Owned by the Zionists'

Boy, those evil Zionists really have long tentacles.

Helen Thomas said Thursday that she stands by her comments about Israel she made earlier this year that led to her resignation as a national columnist.

And she went further, saying that Zionists control U.S. foreign policy and other institutions. The local Jewish community condemned her remarks.

In an interview, Thomas, 90, said that criticizing Israel led to her resignation and ostracism in Washington.

"I can call a president of the United States anything in the book, but I can't touch Israel, which has Jewish-only roads in the West Bank," Thomas said. "No American would tolerate that -- white-only roads."

Thomas, a longtime White House correspondent who grew up in Detroit as the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, was in Dearborn for a workshop on anti-Arab bias.

In a speech to about 300 people inside a center in Dearborn, she talked about "the whole question of money involved in politics."

"Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by the Zionists. No question, in my opinion," she said. "They put their money where their mouth is. ... We're being pushed into a wrong direction in every way."

Jewish groups have called Thomas' earlier remarks unfair and bigoted. They slammed Thursday's remarks as well.

"Ms. Thomas repeated the anti-Semitic stereotypes that have been used for more than a century to incite hatred of Jews. Her comments should be condemned by all people who oppose bigotry," said Robert Cohen, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit.

'You Cannot Criticize Israel in This Country and Survive'

This anti-Semitic creep is still apparently drawing oxygen, so that disproves her absurd statement.

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.

Thomas, 90, stepped down from her job as a columnist for Hearst News Service in June after a rabbi and independent filmmaker videotaped her outside the White House calling on Israelis to get "out of Palestine." She gave up her front row seat in the White House press room, where she had aimed often pointed questions at 10 presidents, going back to Eisenhower.

She has kept a low profile since then.

"(It was) very hard for the first two weeks. After that, I came out of my coma," Thomas said.

Can't tell from the looks of things.

Her latest statements are sure to win her some more awards from her anti-Semitic pals.

They Did It For the Children

Who's the genius who invited this anti-Semitic creep to speak to high schoolers in the first place? It's not as if too many of them would know who this relic from the Eisenhower administration is to begin with. On the upside, now the kiddies won't have to shield their eyes or run in horror.

Veteran journalist Helen Thomas, who recently made controversial comments about Israel and Palestine, agreed Sunday not to appear as commencement speaker at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda.

Alan Goodwin, principal of Whitman, where objections to the appearance had been raised, said he reached a niece of Thomas's earlier in the day. "We had a mutual understanding about her not coming," he said.

"Graduation celebrations are not the venue for divisiveness," Goodwin said in an e-mail to Whitman parents. "Graduation is the time for a cohesive and joyous celebration of our students' achievements," he wrote.

Not a place for divisiveness? Then why did they invite her to begin with? It's not as if she's been impartial any time the past five decades.

Thomas, 89, who has covered the White House for decades, provoked criticism by her response in an impromptu video interview that was posted online. In a brief comment, she said Israelis should "get the hell" out of Palestine and go to places including Poland, Germany and the United States.

In an interview, Whitman parent Raisa Slepoy said, "I don't know why anybody would ask a person like that to speak at a commencement ceremony . . . especially where there's a pretty large Jewish population."

If Thomas had appeared, Slepoy said, there would "be a lot of people booing her off the stage. . . . It would be an embarrassment."

Meanwhile, Thomas has been dumped by her PR agency. Former Clinton White House Counsel Lanny Davis unloaded on her.

“Helen Thomas, who I used to consider a close friend and who I used to respect, has showed herself to be an anti-Semitic bigot. This is not about her disagreement about her criticisms of Israel. She has a right to criticize Israel and that is not the same as being an anti-Semite,” Davis said in a statement.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

Update: Thomas has resigned. Martyrdom to follow.

Slobbering Media Relics Offer Advice to Dear Leader

With Barack Obama mired in an intractable quagmire with his disastrous War on Fox News, concerned media types are rushing to his aid, offering solace and worldly wisdom built up over decades of fawning over Democrats. First today we have Clarence Page in the Chicago Tribune lamenting Obama's foolish decision to unilaterally attack Fox without thinking it through. Page comes to a conclusion that will no doubt be met with much scorn and ridicule by the hard left: Fox indeed is a real news organization.

But love Fox or hate it, it is a major news channel. Fox's credibility got a boost from two recent scoops that eventually caused other media to play catch-up: They hounded "green jobs" czar Van Jones into resigning, mainly because years earlier he signed a loony 9/11 "truther" petition, and they crusaded against the poor people's activist group ACORN, famously assisted by two young conservative freelance undercover reporters.

So the White House is pushing back. The administration's real goal: raise questions with other reporters so they'll double-check anything they hear on Fox before they run with it. Try to isolate and marginalize Fox's voice. Cut off Fox's influence before it blossoms into the rest of the mainstream media.

It's the sort of strategy that pops up when you're in campaign mode, a mode to which Obama's team is intimately familiar. But there also comes a time to ignore the yammering from the press box and pick up the olive branches of negotiations, compromise and reconciliation.

That was the big take-away in Sen. Lamar Alexander's thoughtful speech last week. The Tennessee Republican, who worked for President Richard Nixon, cautioned Obama against creating a Nixon-like "enemies list" of media, industry or congressional adversaries. That's a wise warning, even if the "list" in Obama's case appears to have only one name on it.

Page's advice? Hire someone like David Gergen, a make-believe Republicans who always manages to fit right in with Democrats and low-rated cable networks.

Now while Page mildly scolds Obama, over at CNN we get the tagteam of Helen Thomas and Craig Crawford putting together their 187 years of Washington experience and flushing it down the toilet with an embarrassing Veteran reporter's 5 lessons for Obama, something that reads like a love note from a heartbroken bobby-soxer.

A few choice cuts.

Harry Truman famously said that if you want a friend in Washington, "Get a dog."

Uh, Helen, you might have been asleep that month, but Obama did get a dog. It took months and months, but indeed, he did get one.

He doesn't have a new church yet, but I'm sure he's working on it.

You are not perfect, Mr. President. So don't pretend that you are and hide the bad stuff. If you are still smoking, say so directly, and openly share your struggle with the public.

He's not perfect? Heresy!

Yes, I can see where Obama mans up and admits he's still sucking down the Kools. But what will that do to the entire cottage industry devoted to telling us he's some sort of fitness freak?

There are many avenues for a president to get the message out -- through the news media, addresses to the nation and going on the stump. You will regret using those methods to avoid tough questions, distort the truth or try to spin away your problems. It might take a while, but the public will one day catch on.

Uh, Helen, have you had a look at his approval ratings lately? Trust me, sweetie, we've caught on.

The theme of your campaign was summed up by the title of one of your books, "The Audacity of Hope." You've given us hope, Mr. President. Now show us the audacity.

Isn't that nice, he's given her hope, but we're lacking the audacity! But can't we just live on the Hope?

Thomas and Crawford wrap it up with the vision thing, whatever it really is supposed to mean.

The port you seek, Mr. President, is your vision. Those who take this lightly do so at their peril.

But even the most inspirational vision is just talk if not combined with action.

Now is the time to fill in the blanks, Mr. President. The excitement and newness of your presidency has worn off. Turn your vision into reality. Show us that you can deliver results.

Remember now, these are allegedly objective reporters. They may as well be the local chapter leaders of the Obama Fan Club.

You'd Be Depressed If You Also Looked Like This

This cranky old fart has declared we're now in a Depression.

Hey, she's quoting Paul Krugman, so it must be true.