Helen Thomas

Interview Edited By Jesse Pearson

This interview with Helen Thomas was conducted in March. We were holding it for an upcoming issue of

magazine, but in light of what’s going on with her now, we’ve decided to run it online today.

”Uh, wait, what’s going on with her now,?” you say. Oh, you live in a cave. OK then. Helen Thomas just made some comments about Israel that Israelis, President Obama, and a lot of other people vehemently didn’t like. Not to put too fine a point on it, she pretty much said that Jews need to “get the hell out of Palestine” and go home to “Poland, Germany and America.” A tad indelicate, yes. But not surprising given her reputation for being headstrong and outspoken. And has Helen Thomas ever made her position on Israel and its actions a secret? Nope. Besides, if we were 89 years old and had spent the last five decades watching a steady flow of spin and doubletalk issuing forth from the mouths of countless men (and a select few women) standing behind a podium with the White House seal on it, we might be getting a little grumpy by now too.

“ But hold on a minute,” you say. “Who’s Helen Thomas again?” Really, kid? Lebanese-American member of the White House Press Corps since 1960. Pioneering female journalist. The little old lady who sits in the front row at Presidential press conferences and asks the questions that the other reporters are too scared to ask. A journalist who truly challenges politicians, who wants them to be able to explain and justify their decisions and positions, whose most valued question is “why.” Now she has been hounded into quitting the job that was her life. Her agent for speaking engagements has summarily dropped her. She is being vilified by many and lauded by others but no matter what, we believe that she is owed a huge debt of respect and gratitude for the work she’s done in the name of true democracy. We fear that the White House Press Corps has lost its conscience in losing Helen Thomas. Whether anyone has the balls to carry on what she has started remains to be seen.

PS: Yes, she does discuss Israel in this interview, if you’re curious about whether there’s a timely money shot to sink your teeth into. But there’s a lot more going on here. Don’t let Helen Thomas’s views on Israel alone define her for you.

Vice: When I watched you at press conferences during the George W. Bush years, you seemed pretty disgusted with your fellow journalists.

Helen Thomas:

Is it just me or did the mainstream press seem particularly flabby after 9-11?

In your decades at the White House have you witnessed this kind of complacency before?

You were surprised by this?

I notice that you’re the only White House reporter that questions why an event has occurred. You did it several times regarding 9-11.

When you were sitting just a few feet in front of him at news conferences, could you tell that Bush was lying?

Would you go so far as to say that your colleagues are in some ways responsible for the Iraq War?

Why do you think this is happening now more than ever before?

The usual argument here is that the FCC, under Bush, allowed the consolidation of media into megacorps which are generally owned by conservatives, nay, right wingers.

What’ s the remedy?

It should come from on high?

Otherwise?

Are you talking about the Tea Partiers?

I guess that what I want to know is whether you’ve seen this before.

I can’t tell if the blogosphere is provoking or placating all of this.

As a professional muckraker, do you ever feel unsafe yourself?

But as a ranking member of the liberal press?

Washington Post

New York Times

Yes, I’ve noticed that Obama and the Democrats don’t even bring up the wars anymore.

During the campaign, Obama talked about issues from what seemed like an authentically progressive viewpoint. Whatever happened to that guy?

Did bi-partisanship ever exist?

Have you seen this kind of unanimity in the Republicans before?

Is there somewhat more honesty with the Obama White House than there was with Bush?

You’re getting the same amount of dissembling from Robert Gibbs that you got from Tony Snow?

laughs

I’m wondering if you’re ever accused of being pro-Arab because you’re Lebanese-American?

Well, do you think there’s been any real change with the Obama administration regarding American policy toward Israel?

You don’t think Obama’s going to keep any pressure on Netanyahu?

Is there a chance that the wishy-washiness of Obama and the Democrats might change?

Was the health care bill the right thing?

You were around to see those enacted.

But Obama’s bill doesn’t contain the things you just listed. The political wisdom is that it’s not going to be easy to add them in later.

When you came to Washington from Detroit in the 1930s, Roosevelt was president. Even as progressive as he was, Washington was still segregated.

There was discrimination against female news reporters as well. Couldn’t Roosevelt do anything about it?

Wow. The White House press room is considerably more even now. Is it, what, maybe 40 percent female?

So were these women hired back?

You joined the White House press pool when Kennedy got there in 1960. What had you been covering in the intervening years?

That’s all you do.

Amazing.

1959, is that when Khrushchev made his speech about…

Kennedy was early to use television to his advantage.

Were you there?

I hope that’s been okay by you. (laughs)

Kennedy’s administration is also credited as being the first to practice news management.

Lyndon B. Johnson is starting to come into focus, with several biographies in the last decade. You’ve written about his obsession with knowing every detail about everyone in Washington. Didn’t he run a background check on you once?

You traveled with Nixon to China. They say it changed him.

Is there a universal truth about all the presidents that you’ve watched up close?

Which presidents best integrated their beliefs and their actions?