Helen Thomas' Other Sin

The real question about Helen Thomas' abrupt departure from her job as a syndicated columnist and from her speaker's bureau is: what took so long?

Thomas' (no relation) views about Jews, Israel and Arabs have been know for many years. She has spoken in private -- and in public -- against Israel and the Jewish people and for the Palestinians and Arabs for as long as I can remember. This time, though, her remarks were caught on video by a rabbi at a White House event observing Jewish Heritage. It was a perfect, bigoted storm.

The White House Correspondents Association, which surely knew of her views, allowed Thomas to have the first row, middle seat at White House press briefings and front row status at rare presidential news conferences. If she were a conservative who held racist or misogynist views, she surely would have been gone much sooner. Some prejudices are tolerated more than others.

Helen Thomas is not alone. Other journalists share similar views about Israel and Jews. Instead of being embarrassed by her, someone should demand a survey be taken of all other correspondents to see if they share her opinions.

Helen Thomas' real sin -- in addition to the obvious -- is that she exposed Washington journalists as having strong personal opinions about the subjects they cover. And so she had to be expelled from the fraternity/sorority of "objective" and "unbiased" journalists who only report and let us decide. Sure!

Cal Thomas is America's most widely syndicated newspaper columnist and a Fox News contributor.

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