Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why the Helen Thomas Case Makes Me Nervous
Townhall.com ^ | June 9, 2010 | David Harsanyi

Posted on 06/09/2010 12:51:56 PM PDT by Kaslin

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-72 next last
To: Kaslin
Back in the Sixties, the radicals used to say, "It isn't wrong to break the law as long as I am willing to accept the punishment."

The author seems to have the same mindset.

41 posted on 06/09/2010 1:13:15 PM PDT by Redleg Duke (RAT Hunting Season started the evening of March 21st, 2010!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WOBBLY BOB
There's no evidence that Thomas is demented. The dementia excuse is being bantied about by leftist apologists. The obvious response is to ask: “how long has Thomas been affected by dementia?”. Followups include: “how many of her past columns were nothing but the ravings of dementia?; or “how much of her criticism of President Bush was due to her dementia?”.

Everything Thomas said, in her fateful interview, was in keeping with her oft-stated philosophy. The only difference was; this time she didn't equivocate or obfuscate.
42 posted on 06/09/2010 1:15:13 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

True, if anyone cares to listen.


43 posted on 06/09/2010 1:15:15 PM PDT by Dem Guard ("Throw the trash out November 2nd!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
True, I find some comfort in knowing that this unprofessional crackpot never will haunt a president, common sense or the public again. But I wince at the rapidity of her demise. And I feel a nagging anxiety about a journalist's losing her job over nothing more than a controversial statement.

Um, no, Dave. The Shehag didn't lose her job. She resigned her position. Believe me, the Shehag will continue blogging (and being paid for it) long past all our desires that she disappear from the face of the earth never to be heard from again.

This episode should be recognized for what it truly is. An example of someone on the left finally being held accountable for the words that leave their lips. Many a conservative has felt this sting over the past 30 years, while dimocRATS have usually been immune.

From Al Sharpton, to Jesse Jackson, to Al Gore, John Kerry, Howard Dean et al, these people have gotten away with the worse kind of sophistry and crassness for decades. The Shehag earned this reward. It's past time others be held to the same standard.

44 posted on 06/09/2010 1:15:30 PM PDT by SoldierDad (Proud Papa of two new Army Brats! Congrats to my Soldier son and his wife.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Free speech is violated by law. Consequences that take place in the "marketplace of ideas" are not violations of free speech.

The author's implied claim that the sacking of Helen Thomas is a violation of "free speech" is no different than liberals who claimed that the Dixie Chicks' free speech was being "violated."

45 posted on 06/09/2010 1:15:32 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Vatiftach ha'aretz 'et-piyha vativla` 'otam ve'et-bateyhem; ve'et kol-ha'adam 'asher leQorach . . .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

They should fire her back to Germany and Poland.


46 posted on 06/09/2010 1:16:41 PM PDT by Theophilus (Not merely prolife, but prolific!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: org.whodat
Wow!

A post that drips of sarcasm is totally lost on you.

Does the name Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder ring any bells for you?

47 posted on 06/09/2010 1:19:20 PM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys: Can't fly, can't ski, can't drive, can't skipper a boat, but they know what's best.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm
Free speech doesn’t mean there are no consequences for your actions.

That's the point that many, left and right, don't get. A guarantee of Free Speech doesn't guarantee freedom from repercussion................

48 posted on 06/09/2010 1:21:22 PM PDT by Red Badger (No, Obama's not the Antichrist. He's just some guy in the neighborhood.............)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

I was just hypothesizing about a probable lawsuit claim.
Or she’ll try the Rather excuse about ageism.


49 posted on 06/09/2010 1:31:55 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB ("The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants"-Albert Camus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: WOBBLY BOB

“I was just hypothesizing about a probable lawsuit claim.”

I never thought about that angle. This world has become more twisted than a pretzel.


50 posted on 06/09/2010 1:33:53 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Helen was free to say what she wanted, and others were free to say what they wanted about what she said. :::shrug:::


51 posted on 06/09/2010 1:35:05 PM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

I think your employer has the right to fire you if the things you are saying are damaging to their business, and it is not an impingement on free speech. If I work for Chrysler, and I publicly state that Chrysler vehicles are really crappy, and that everyone should buy Ford instead, then I think Chrysler has the right to fire me, regardless whether my statement was true regarding Chrysler vehicles being crappy.


52 posted on 06/09/2010 1:35:34 PM PDT by Texan Tory
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Helen is a big hero to our fellow Americans who want to see Israel disappear.


53 posted on 06/09/2010 1:38:57 PM PDT by popdonnelly (Forty years of electing leftist fools to Congress have culminated in Nancy Pelosi.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Though I don't hold an earthly stake in debates over God, Bill Maher's ludicrous anti-Catholic rants or a tome from a polemist like Christopher Hitchens (who condemns all religion as a dangerous farce) might be "appalling" to rather large swaths of the public. Are certain topics off the table?

No, it's the job she performed that did her in. If she were just another lame so-called comic or editorial writer whose job it is to opine, then appalling is allowed. She was called the dean of the White House Press Corps, objectivity, neutrality a must in that position. If she wants to hold whatever opinion she chooses, she keeps it to herself or discusses it privately amongst her fellows (as she apparently did, so many now claiming they knew her beliefs all along), she doesn't spew them in hateful tones the way she did.

Speech may be free, but it does have consequences.

54 posted on 06/09/2010 1:44:06 PM PDT by MozarkDawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

It shouldn’t make anyone nervous to see what happened to Helen. If a Government sanctioned her, then ok,,, nervous. But if a public figure starts up with a bunch of anti-semitic crap, don’t be surprised when her employers don’t want to associate with her, or when others won’t patronize her employer of she stays.

That’s the free market at it’s best. Only a lib wants to say anything they want AND expect the employer to have to continue to employ them.


55 posted on 06/09/2010 1:54:32 PM PDT by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

I don’t understand why she was fired at all. Her views are the same as the dim party from jimma carter on down. Obambi is acting on those views and she gets fired for expressing them?


56 posted on 06/09/2010 1:56:05 PM PDT by Texas resident (Outlaw fisherman)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

She did something that her employer didn’t like (or didn’t want anybody to see that they agreed with her). They fired her. It is their right.


57 posted on 06/09/2010 2:01:00 PM PDT by meyer (Big government is the enemy of freedom.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
But at the same time, I can't help but feel some trepidation about the ease in which some voices -- in this case, one voice that is probably more honest than others of similar ideological disposition -- can be expelled from the conversation simply for offending.

She's not being expelled from the conversation. She is free to speak as she sees fit, just as she did before losing her job. It's just that she is no longer going to be provided a soapbox by her employer.

58 posted on 06/09/2010 2:03:59 PM PDT by meyer (Big government is the enemy of freedom.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: donna

I hope that was quote from Walter E!!! Williams.
If you have ever listened to Dr. Williams, he very FIRMLY and CLEARLY voices that distinction when he gives his name.

He is very careful to distance himself from a Walter Williams, who apparently is a member of the looney left of one stripe or another. Let’s always be clear about which one we are speaking..........or writing.


59 posted on 06/09/2010 2:11:20 PM PDT by Tucker39
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
But at the same time, I can't help but feel some trepidation about the ease in which some voices -- in this case, one voice that is probably more honest than others of similar ideological disposition -- can be expelled from the conversation simply for offending.

_______

She had to go because she was ninety ugly years old.

60 posted on 06/09/2010 2:13:50 PM PDT by ICAB9USA (I lost part of my middle finger .......... it almost rendered me mute. -- Rahm Emanuel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-72 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson