LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
2010 Webby Award Winner for Best Political Blog
 
May 25, 2012
Log in / Register

 Choose a size
Text Size

Trending:     robert scheer     barack obama     chris hedges     gay marriage     ndaa
Most Read

Do the Bain Hustle

What We Learned About Wall Street and Big Business From Facebook's IPO

Armed Drones: Coming to an Airspace Near You

OSHA Struggles When Tower Climbers Die

Spending

Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports
 * NEW! * Why Bain Questions Matter
 * NEW! * OSHA Struggles When Tower Climbers Die
Do the Bain Hustle

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture
Better Than We Found It
The Good-Natured Dictator

Digs
Financial Meltdown 101

Truthdig Bazaar
Mural

Mural

By Mahmoud Darwish
$13.57

more items

 
A/V Booth

‘Daily Show’: Why, Helen Thomas, Why?

Email this item Email    Print this item Print   

Posted on Jun 8, 2010
Daily Show
thedailyshow.com

Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas, clearly not so good at being on the receiving end of an interview, landed herself in quite the professional pickle this week, and Jon Stewart has some zingers for her on her way out. In this clip from the Monday night episode, “The Daily Show” host is also brimming with congratulations for Rush Limbaugh on the joyous occasion of Limbaugh’s fourth wedding.  —KA

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Thank You, South Carolina - The Race to Replace Disgrace
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party

Advertisement


New and Improved Comments

We are launching a major overhaul of our comments section.

In addition to more robust spam filtering and moderation, new features include the ability to rate other comments, sort how they are displayed and respond directly via e-mail or in a thread.

Unfortunately, commenters will lose their existing Truthdig identities. It's a pain, we know, but on the plus side you will now be able to log in with a plethora of options, including Google, Twitter, Facebook and Disqus accounts.

Before launching this system we spent months in discussion with our top commenters. We listened to the feedback and we hope you like what we've come up with.

Please direct any problems or concerns to us via our contact page.

By omop, June 11, 2010 at 4:05 pm Link to this comment

Its been said many times in many countries that there is a huge difference
between a Jew and a non jew and the best quote about such difference has
been stated several times by American Rabbis. To wit:-

      “The difference between a Jewish soul and the souls of non-Jews—
all of them in all different levels—is greater and deeper than the difference
between a HUMAN SOUL and the SOULS OF CATTLE.”

      In plain language, ” The view is that Jews are a distinct people “.
      And the rest of humanity on this planet that are not Jewish are
      “cows, bison, buffalo, you know just plain animals.”

      That attitude is subtly hinted on a daily a basis about how likable and
almost a shoo in Ms. Kagan is since she is preferred by 6 out 10 by a poll of
1000 Americans.

Report this
Mayponce's avatar

By Mayponce, June 11, 2010 at 3:55 pm Link to this comment

What does one expect from a Zionist shill like
Steward? Tribalism will always trump common sense and
so-called progressivism. This is the most
disingenuous use of the racism card I’ve ever seen
pulled—oh, the poor Jews, who own the media, the
entertainment industry, Wall Street, and American
politics—how dare someone tell their Palestinian
carpetbagger brethren to go back to where they came
from.

I’m done with the fucking Daily Show, a Zionist propaganda machine which hasn’t been funny in years
anyway.

Report this

By nubeewon, June 9, 2010 at 10:42 pm Link to this comment

Well, it’s refreshing to hear so many people defending Helen Thomas and critisizing Israel. 

Do I hear something “Blowing in the wind.”?

Report this

By nobody@nowhere, June 9, 2010 at 8:28 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I just got off the phone with Poland, they don’t want the Jews back.

Report this

By ofersince72, June 9, 2010 at 2:28 pm Link to this comment

I agree OMOP, pretty good logic.

Report this
nahida's avatar

By nahida, June 9, 2010 at 12:34 pm Link to this comment

.

omop

To defeat the aggressors is not enough to make peace durable. The main thing is to discard the ideology that generates war

—Ludwig von Mises

————

The underlying ideology that MUST be discarded and defeated in order to liberate not only Palestine, but also the WORLD:

http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2010/04/worm-is-in-can_3716.html

.

Report this

By which hypocrisy?, June 9, 2010 at 12:28 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

The “breathtaking hypocrisy” is a bunch of Americans claiming the Israeli’s should give back the entire country because they “stole” it. Where do you think your country came from? Perhaps you should hand your homes over to Native Americans and move back to whatever country your ancestors came from.

I understand Helen is being unfairly maligned for a ‘senior moment’ after such a long illustrious career.  I would never defend Israel’s horrendous treatment of the Palestinian people. However…

I find all the comments about how “right” Helen was to be truly terrifying. From a historical standpoint, Israel is just as much “home” to jews as it is to arabs. To say anything else is just ignorant.

Why the double standard when it comes to jews? Do you all really despise the jewish people that much? Or is your bigotry so deeply rooted in your subconscious that you’re unaware it even exists?

Report this

By omop, June 9, 2010 at 11:53 am Link to this comment

NAHIDA.

Your questions and comments are logical and tempered with a sense of
fairness and equality.

The problem is that influential Jewish leaders, have continuously expressed the
view that there is a huge difference between a Jew and a non jew and that is
defined as:-

          “The difference between a Jewish soul and the souls of non-Jews—
all of them in all different levels—is greater and deeper than the difference
between a HUMAN SOUL and the SOULS OF CATTLE.”

          In plain language, ” The view is that Jews are a distinct people “.
          And the rest of humanity on this planet that are not Jewish are
          “cows, bison, buffalo, you know just plain animals.”

So all of us non-jews are either basically naive to think that we can discuss on
the same level as theirs or stupid to expect as animals to converse with “the
distinct and chosen few”.

    http://rabbidov.com/American Jews/wererightworldwrong.htm

Report this
nahida's avatar

By nahida, June 9, 2010 at 11:21 am Link to this comment

Here are my questions:

  * Why do our supporters, progressives who advocate a one state solution, keep asking us –Palestinians- to share our land with those who acquired it by theft, military force and murder?


  * Would you share your home with the armed robber who came to steal from you?


  * Should a thief get to enjoy the same rights of ownership to materials and assets that he acquired by armed robbery, as the person whom he robbed?


  * Should a colonialist imperialist occupier regime, who keeps hold of countries by terrorizing the indigenous population and perpetrating endless scores of bloodshed, not be severely sanctioned as legislated wisely by International Law


  * Should USA decided to move a few dozens of millions of its citizens to Iraq or Afghanistan, confiscate Iraqi lands, give it to those colonizers, then demands that those citizens have equal rights with Iraqis or Afghanis; should we support the equal rights of those colonizers


  * Should the Algerians have waited for the French occupiers to be magnanimous enough to give them “equal rights”?


  * Would Algeria be to the Algerians today, had they not fought for the liberation of their country against colonial France?


  * Under International Law; is an occupying entity entitled to ANY rights whatsoever?


  * Why defend the “right” of the barbaric occupier -who has been engaged in ethnic cleansing and genocide for over six decades, to stay in Palestine after its liberation , and this while keeping land and houses, villages, archaeological treasures, churches and mosques, libraries, they’ve forcibly stolen at gun point?


  * Why imagine that it is unrealistic to return the stolen land and property to its legitimate owners while ignoring its mode of acquisition by zionists?


  * Why instead of defending the right Palestinians to get ALL their country back; including: homes, orchards and land, supporters ask the victims to keep on giving, by the supposition that returning back stolen property creates “another injustice” to the OCCUPIER?


  * Why are we –Palestinians- continuously pressed to accept this scurrilous logic, by our supporters?


  * Are people so naïve that they don’t realize that doing so, invariably corresponds in fact to… a full support -quasi unconditional, of the zionist thieves and their ideological core which deems colonising Palestine as a “Divine and historical right” for the Jewish people ?


  * What does the notion of Justice, social responsibility, fair dealing mean if we are to equate criminals with victims in terms of rights to ownership of stolen property?


My logic is simple:

Supporting “equal rights” in which the occupier gets the privilege of staying in the land they’ve looted and destroyed, while keep holding of the estate of absentees, would mean grave violation of the fundamentals of ethical foundations of human social interaction

The message it gives: bullies, criminals, thieves are allowed to get away with MURDER…. literally !
It is a carte blanche for bullies to do what they like, steal, kill, colonize, rape, oppress, torture…

Advocating “equal rights” between the criminal and victim, in which the criminal escapes punishment for his crimes, gets to keep stolen lands, while being rewarded by enjoying the fruits of his aggression in terms of total participation in decision and law making in the land he abused, is an assassination of the concept of justice, on which peaceful Civilization is built and needs to prosper

Furthermore, I reiterate; any future decision on the status of ILLEGAL COLONIZERS in Palestine should be a PALESTINIAN DECISION; they, and ONLY they, can choose whether to allow their tormentors to stay or not

.

Report this
nahida's avatar

By nahida, June 9, 2010 at 11:20 am Link to this comment

Equal Rights for serial killers, and for their victims ?!

Can anyone see some ethical flaws with that?

I have no authority to speak in the name of all Palestinians, but I have previously stated that I personally DO NOT wish the zionist murderers, those of whom who were directly or indirectly involved in massacres, theft of land, subjugation and oppression, to remain in Palestine after its liberation from the occupier, except of course for the very few good people amongst them -as no soul should carry the liability of another-
I reiterate, I do not wish the invader, occupier and criminal racists to stay in Palestine, the land that they have incessantly raped, destroyed and disfigured, nor do I desire them to be my neighbours

They have shown no respect, no appreciation, and no love to this land or to her people

They do not deserve to live there

Many of our supporters freak out upon hearing this declaration of mine, they think that I am becoming an uncaring person, or turning into a radical hardliner; and some curiously and attentively listen, then, timidly and modestly, try to understand

I will try here to elucidate by asking some simple questions, as to why I think it is unreasonable to make the premises of a JUST SOLUTION dependent upon our acceptance –as Palestinians, of giving the right of permanent residency and equal rights of citizenship to ALL zionist Jewish occupiers in our stolen land of Palestine

.

Report this

By Mikey, June 9, 2010 at 11:06 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Thanks Jon for showing us just who and what YOU are.

If there is any good in all of this, its the exposing of the ones who
are the real racists. Especially the ones in the press and in the
entertainment industry.

Take note of them, and remember their words against Helen.

Helen, we will miss you. What you said may have brought on a
firestorm, but at least we know who’s throwing on the gas. This
may have brighter outcome in the end.

Report this

By carol swindell, June 9, 2010 at 10:22 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Quoting someone I heard today, Helel Thomas was fired for doing what she was hired for- giving her opinion.  There is NO FREE SPEECH in America.

Report this

By loai, June 9, 2010 at 10:11 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Helen Thomas shouldn’t have apologised , she should have stuck by her guns. At her age she had no reason to back down - clarify her exact position, but no apology.

Report this

By omop, June 9, 2010 at 7:56 am Link to this comment

P U L S E (Website )
“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.”
Jews for Helen Thomas
with one comment

I commend Medea Benjamin and Zool Zulkowitz for speaking up in defence of
Helen Thomas within such a hysterically hostile media whip-up about her recent
remarks. Also check out Robert Sheer and Katrina vanden Heuvel for evincing
some of the courage and integrity in going against the herd that Helen Thomas
has exemplified in the mainstream media’s all-too-low standards.

One can only add that commendations will be due all “jews for America Only”.
This dual citizenship automatically makes one unloyal>

Report this

By ofersince72, June 9, 2010 at 7:14 am Link to this comment

Helen Tomas forgot more than all those other
Journalists put together ever knew !!!!!

  and she is right , for ALL concerned, for a one state
solution!!!!!

Report this
Ed Harges's avatar

By Ed Harges, June 9, 2010 at 6:34 am Link to this comment

re:By ofersince72, June 9 at 9:39 am:

I’m glad you’re such a strong critic of Israel,
but you imagine that Israel is an economic asset to the US,
and that the US will “drop Israel like a hot potato”
the second this usefulness ends.

That is false. Israel has for a long time been a net liability to the US with respect
to every objective material interest, including oil interests.

Israel’s power over the US government is entirely due to the political power of
pro-Israel Americans, whose motivations are ideologically pro-Israel per se,
not a front for oil interests or for any other material US interests.

Report this

By sollipsist, June 9, 2010 at 6:31 am Link to this comment

If Helen Thomas hasn’t earned the right to say one or
two controversial things, nobody has.

When someone whom I respect and admire says something
contrary to my own opinions, I use it as an opportunity
to examine my opinions.

It doesn’t take much examination of this situation to
appreciate how many people do NOT find her remarks to
be all that objectionable.

Report this

By rhknott, June 9, 2010 at 5:48 am Link to this comment

I’m pretty sure Helen wishes she had chosen her words more carefully. The Jews
that escaped the Nazi death camps were not, I imagine, terribly anxious to
return to Germany, Soviet-occupied Poland, or any other country in Europe
from which they were forced to flee. Jewish refugees before, during, and after
WWII were not exactly greeted with open arms by their neighbors in Europe.
Neither were they particularly welcome by and large as immigrants to the U.S.
The solution arrived at—immigration to Palestine—was not, however, the
only option available.

This solution, and the behavior of these (severely traumatized) immigrants
towards the native inhabitants of Palestine, Jews need to understand, has
created region-wide anger about (and condemnation of) this solution. This is
what Helen’s poorly-chosen words actually express. Jews can condemn her
words—as Jon Stewart and many others have—but what they need to
understand, and what gets lost in the mix, is that the feelings behind them are
VALID.

Jews need to recognize that Helen’s words quite simply convey the feelings of a
great many, perhaps most, Arabs and Persians in the region, and more
importantly, many other non-Arabs and non-Persians around the world who
also sympathize with the Palestinians’ hurt and anger. For most of these
individuals, Jewish immigrants basically robbed Palestinians of their land with
the aid and support of Europeans, Americans, and highly questionable political
and legal instruments of legitimacy. Then they pursued a secretive (but
systematic) policy of ethnic cleansing.

The Israeli government’s policy of ethnically cleansing its newly expanded state
of Arabs after 1948 is an established historical fact that can no longer be
denied. This did not occur in 1838, the year of the “Trail of Tears” in
U.S./Native American history. More importantly, Native American “Removal” (or
any other benchmark you choose to use) took place not just approximately one
hundred years earlier, but in an entirely different historical context. In that
historical period it was perfectly acceptable for a prominent American like
General Philip Sheridan to say, “The only good Indians I ever saw were dead.”

No one can legitimately compare the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans from
U.S. lands in 19th century with that of the Palestinians from Israeli territory in
the 20th century. The two events are separated by a social, cultural, and
historical chasm that cannot be squeezed shut with rhetoric. As for the
comparison made between the Palestinians and African-Americans and/or
Hispanics in the posts above, these individuals’ (Kravitz’s and Larsen’s)
comments would be laughable if they were not so pathetic in their absence of
correlative logic or comparative grammar.

Report this

By ofersince72, June 9, 2010 at 4:47 am Link to this comment

And the rich banker Jews of Wall Street, they won’t
care either what happens to the Jews of Isreal after the
oil is gone.

Report this

By ofersince72, June 9, 2010 at 4:45 am Link to this comment

They are a proxy U.S. state to have a foothold in the
Middle East where all that easy to get oil was and is.

That is what Isreal was designed from the beginning to be.

As soon as the oil runs out in the Middle East, the
U.S. is going to drop Isreal like a hot potato.e
and won’t care or give a rat’s ass if every jew in the
Middle East is hung on a post.
So the citizens of Isreal for the most part are victims
of this policy also.

Report this

By ofersince72, June 9, 2010 at 4:39 am Link to this comment

OMOP,

What they are becoming, is what they have always been.
and the American public has NO say so in this , just as
we don’t have any say so in our government. We have been
run by crooks, thieves, and murderers for at least forty
years now,
The American public really does not want this, we have
proved this time and again only to have politicians
laugh and sneer at us.
Just look at the 2006 elections, they were a mandate on
stopping the bloodshed and pillageing in Iraq, Pelosi and
and Reid shoved it up our ass sideways.

Report this

By omop, June 9, 2010 at 4:23 am Link to this comment

Israel will be what israelis make it. The probllemo is that for Americans with just
one passport and one loyalty to the USA are getting fed up with being dragged
down to the level of what the Israelis are becoming.

Report this

By RdV, June 9, 2010 at 3:41 am Link to this comment

What it proves is Stewart isn’t as cutting edge hip as he takes himself to be.

Report this

By ofersince72, June 9, 2010 at 2:57 am Link to this comment

Don’t be disappointed with Jon Stewart and Daily Show…

They have been a sham for a long while,  just know that
show for what it is….an apologist show for the
Democrat Party,  that is all that show is.

He is the little cute and funny guy for the Democrats

Isreal is a little baby spoiled brat, always has been
since its creation.  A ninny baby, Isreal..that’s what it
is,  We are the enabling parents, that are also spoiled.
A ONE STATE SOLUTION….A ONE STATE SOLUTION.
HELEN TOMAS IS EXACTLY RIGHT.!!!!!!!!

Report this

By jjcazares, June 8, 2010 at 11:07 pm Link to this comment

I must admit I am very disappointed at Jon Stewart and ‘The Daily Show.’  I respect the fact the show has consistently pilloried such public displays as the one presented by Helen Thomas.  However, why the lopsidedness?  So far, Stewart and the Daily Show have gone after Thomas and Glenn Beck (wow, that one’s a
stretch!!) over some silliness or another concerning the tragic consequences of the peace flotilla that was attacked by Israeli forces on INTERNATIONAL waters.  And yet barely any response to the way in which the Israeli government, as well as many of their American supporters have openly LIED about what actually happened on board those ships last week, or the incredible human rights violations Israel has been responsible for in Gaza.  Indeed, the obvious outrageousness of Israel’s response to what that government has been doing to Palestinians, and the even more outrageous claims being may by the so called ‘pro-Israeli’ lobby BEGS irony, if not direct satire.  Why then the silence???

Report this

By wanked, June 8, 2010 at 6:07 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Say Jon…for once Im not laughing. Helen Thomas is the embodiment of courage and truth. The atrocities that israel continues to perpetrate are truely SICKENING to civilized human beings. I hope Ms. Thomas writes a tell all book. I will cherish it, as I do her inspiring and honorable work.

Report this

By FGWPF, June 8, 2010 at 3:43 pm Link to this comment

She was absolutely right. Anyone who even questions it is zionist shill who no longer has any credibility, if they ever had any to begin with.

Report this

By bravewarrior, June 8, 2010 at 2:09 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

The cowardly Obama doesn’t hesitate to condemn Helen
Thomas for a ‘senior moment’, but can’t bring himself
to condemn the execution of an American citizen with
four bullets to the head from close range, Serbian
style. Meanwhile Amnesty International is calling the
US cruise missile strikes in Yemen a crime, after
over 40 women and children were killed by this
strike(12/17) that used ‘clusterbombs’ to murder
civilians. Obama has proven himself to be a
dispassionate, cold blooded killer and war criminal.
Wonder where Israel gets the idea that they are
entitled to murder opponents anywhere in the world
from? Perhaps it is the example set by the US, who
murders everywhere on the planet with impunity. Obama
is just as evil as Bush was. He fits the profile of
an anti-Christ very well. Israel vets our government
appointments, now on to real journalists. Now expect
shock and outrage when the UNSC refuse to punish Iran
for daring to oppose the US demands-the country that
overthrew their elected president, all to permit BP
to control Iran’s most precious resource-oil. The
only hope for world peace will lie in the pending
economic collapse-and the unwillingness of Americans
to patriotically fight and die to protect the oil
companies, wall street, and of course Israel. Even if
it ultimately undermines and destroys NATO. The
relationship between Israel and the US challenges
credulity. There must be some dark secret that allows
Israel to wag the dog. Could it be the Samson option
or even political blackmail?

Report this

By Mike Nomad, June 8, 2010 at 12:38 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I’m amazed that Ms. Thomas hadn’t lost it sooner. The continued, unwavering US support for the genocidal monsters that are the government of Israel is sickening.

That Ms Thomas could go to as many White House press conferences as she had, before finally calling “B*llsh!t” should get her an award. Apologize for speaking truth to power? Sure. Right after BP cleans up their mess.

Report this

By davidwdeitch, June 8, 2010 at 12:33 pm Link to this comment

Helen Thomas had nothing to apologize for, and I am sorry that she did so. I would like to know exactly why an almost-90 year old woman, on the edge of retirement anyway, chose to abjectly apologize for defending Palestinian rights. Her crime: stating the truth that Palestinians were being forced to pay for holocaust atrocities perpetrated by Europeans.

Report this

By Leslie, June 8, 2010 at 12:03 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Why get rid of the only reporter stating the absolute truth.  If you want proof of who’s really running this country, look no further than Helen’s fate for speaking the truth.

Report this

By David W. Deitch, June 8, 2010 at 11:36 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Helen Thomas had nothing to apologize for and I’m sorry that she did. I’d like to
know exactly why an almost-90 year old woman chose to close out her career with
an abject apology for stating her long-held belief: the Zionists are occupiers and
usurpers of the land of a people that had nothing to do with the holocaust.
Indeed, it was the Europeans who perpetrated that atrocity and the Palestinians
are being made to pay for it. That is the simple truth.no53w

Report this

By squeaky jones, June 8, 2010 at 11:31 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Get off Helen Thomas! It is not hard to realize that Israel is the unleashed pit bull of the corporate global world in the middle of Palestine, and the Arab world.

Report this
Ed Harges's avatar

By Ed Harges, June 8, 2010 at 11:05 am Link to this comment

Many of us in America get real, real sick of having to be so very, very careful
about criticizing Israel.

It must be especially irritating and tiresome for high-profile journalists, who—
like politicians—are among the people most strictly policed by the pro-Israel
fanatics. This suppressed frustration must be even harder to contain when
Israel has just committed some particularly heinous act, such as the sickening
attack on the Gaza aid flotilla.

So I think what happened was that she was ambushed, with phony politeness,
by someone who was clearly trying to make her do the little dance one does
when put on the spot, the little song and dance where some Jewish Israel
supporter asks you how you feel about Israel, and you know that right now the
way you feel about Israel is “Go to hell!”, but you know this guy sees that in
your eyes, and is going to enjoy seeing you fall all over yourself trying to
squeeze out a little peep of complaint against the Jewish State, while
simultaneously giving a frantic display of your deep affection and admiration
for that feisty little Only Democracy in the Middle East, the one that “Shares
Our Values”—

And you’re 89, and the Gaza flotilla thing has just happened, and you’ve been
watching Israel’s explainers get away with lying and lying and lying to the
American public with the usual complete impunity, because everyone’s so
damned afraid of them, and you’re 89 and maybe tired and maybe you’ve had a
couple glasses of wine, so you say to this smart-alecky young pro-Israel
creep, who asks you how you feel about Israel just now, you say to him
the equivalent of Fuck You.

Report this

By P. T., June 8, 2010 at 10:58 am Link to this comment

The attacks on Helen Thomas are breathtaking hypocrisy.  The U.S. media is full of backers of the Israeli government, which ethnically cleanses the indigenous Palestinian people and opposes their right of return, guaranteed under international law.  No one has been fired for that position.

Report this
Newsletter

Get Truthdig in your inbox


 
 
 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
Copyright © 2012 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved.