Sits at the front of the White House press briefings. She was forty when John F. Kennedy won the presidency, and he was the first president she reported on. George W. Bush probably won’t be the last.
For an 86 year old she’s pretty active. Just the other day she spoke at a fundraiser for the Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa group. Here’s what she said:
“It seems the present conservative [U.S. Supreme] Court is targeting Roe v. Wade and there’s not much you can do about it unless Congress is willing to deal with these touchy subjects,” she said. “Without pressure, I doubt they will.”…
“People were saying during the Reagan administration that this was about the Supreme Court,” she said. “I wasn’t sure at that time what they meant. But the truth is that the court is their one last resort to push their agenda. It is their one last resort to prevail.”
“Let’s return to the true ideals of the Bill of Rights,” she said. “The issue is not the right to live. The issue is the kind of life. The issue is freedom without government or outside interference.”
Anti-abortion campaigner Jill Stanek picked up on this speech in her blog. Here’s what she said:
What goes around comes around, Helen. In that circle of life, you’re a little too close to a time when you’re going to be as helpless as those preborns you advocate killing…
The first question elderly people seeking medical treatment should be asked is if they are pro-life or pro-choice. If they answer the latter, they should be moved to the back of the line.
A touching tribute to one of journalism’s octogenarian workers. As a card-carrying atheist and former choirboy, here’s a few words from Corinthians, Jill – “and the greatest of these is love.”
Of course, like all texts it’s open to interpretation. In this case I think Jill’s interpreting the New Testament as meaning “spew hate-filled invective.” I don’t care which side of the line you want to come down on regarding abortion, but peddling threats dressed up as commentary seems to me to rub the line right out.
Still, God bless her. And if I can annoy people like Jill at Helen’s age, God bless me too.
3 responses to “Helen Thomas”
My elderly health care plan was not about love, Adrian. It was about pragmatism and fairness.
If there are only so many doctors skilled in geriatrics, the majority of the rest having been killed by abortion, shouldn’t the elderly responsible for their killing bear the consequences?
Why should pro-life elderly pay the penalty? Where’s your sense of social justice?
I think we’ll have to agree to differ…
Adrian, it appears as if you might be attempting to converse with someone who isn’t interested in actual discourse.
In any event, Helen’s sterling career has lifted her well above a place where such little rocks are thrown. I’ve no doubt she would simply read, smile and keep going forward.