So Long, Helen

Well, I guess it is time for me to prove once again that I have not forgotten how to piss off some of my best friends. Before I do that let me get something off my chest. I do not, and have never liked Helen Thomas. I have always been irritated by her very presence in the White House Press Corps. She is, or was, after all, a columnist, not a reporter and as such her exalted position in that body has always perplexed and irritated me. In addition to that, she seemed absolutely intent on asking abrasive questions that sounded as if she was reading headlines a year or two out of date. So, just let me just say: “Good bye, Helen, and good riddance!”

Now, here is where my twisted logic is going to take what will appear to be a 90 degree turn and will probably earn me some “hostile” reactions. I think Helen Thomas got a bad deal. She should have never been chased off the stage for simply stating her opinions (vile and repulsive as they may have been). This is America. We have a constitutional right to express our opinions, however nauseating or hideous, and regardless if anyone in the world agrees with us. The only real restriction is when what we say will result in placing other people in harms way -the old “You can not yell fire in a crowded theater” exception, and Helen’s comments fell short of doing that.

In my opinion she should have been removed from public view long ago, but because her rhetoric has always been full of poison and people therefore should have had the good sense to stop reading her columns and giving her credibility by commenting on her various out of place utterances. In this case, she had made a lot of what can best be called 'fair weather' friends (very common in Washington) and enemies that literally fell over each other trying to distance themselves from her politically incorrect comments. She saw the writing on the wall and did the noble thing by falling on her own sword before she was embarrassed by being fired outright.

I will not miss Helen but I will always regret the way in which she made her departure. Right is right and fair is fair. Although I would have liked to have seen her suffer the slings and arrows she earned as a consequence of her stupid comments, I am truly sorry that so many people ignored her right to say dumb stuff.

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Note: I posted this little tirade at the last minute as a response to a conversation I had with some friends. My regular post for today about a "Nuclear Venezuela" will get posted around noon.......