Helen Thomas' Watergate Scoop

[n2doc]

By FRED GARDNER

The alacrity —the relief— with which her fellow journalists allowed Helen Thomas to be offed is shameful but understandable. She showed them all up. She was the only one whose questions weren't mealy-mouthed, the only anti-war voice in a roomful of enablers.

Polite reviews of her career credit Thomas with gender-related firsts and longevity. None acknowledge the role she played in exposing the Watergate cover-up. It was Helen Thomas who lent a sympathetic, respectful ear when Martha Mitchell claimed that the burglary of Democratic Party files had been planned at the highest levels in the White House. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear…

John Mitchell, Martha's second husband, was a successful Wall St. lawyer whose firm hired Nixon after Tricky Dick lost his bid to become Governor of California in 1962. Six years later, with the U.S. military mired in Vietnam, Lyndon Johnson resigned, the Democrats split into pro- and anti-war camps, and Nixon was elected president. John Mitchell moved to Washington to be attorney general.

At first, Martha Mitchell, a belle from Arkansas, actually believed Nixon's lip-service about the wives of his cabinet members playing an active role in his administration. She soon became disenchanted. She hated the way, at parties, "the men went off by themselves for cordials and cigars on the sun porch and the women went to another room." She would look at the women in the living room "in their beautiful gowns, lined up like dolls in a museum and think 'We're nothing but window dressing!'" She hated Chief Justice Warren Burger because he gave her a lecture about smoking.

Martha Mitchell overheard a lot of things that dismayed her. Occasionally she would place a nocturnal phone call to a reporter —Helen Thomas of United Press International was her favorite— to share observations. Nixon viewed her as a vague threat. He feared and hated women in general, according to Martha. "I didn't even exist," she told Winzola McClendon, a reporter who became her biographer; "nor in my opinion, did any woman, as far as Richard Nixon was concerned. He wanted men around him."

more

http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner06152010.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Why would anyone unrec this?

[Bobbieo]

3. Because there are people who have joined DU to create problems and they are succeeding .

Called "trolls" aren't they?

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Octafish]

31. Disagree. Unrecs are a way of getting a thread to be missed.

It's a way for a few people to keep information from being seen by a lot of people.

I'm a Democrat. I like to know stuff so I can make up my own mind.

[xultar]

6. I know some don't see counterpunch as a great source. But seriously

you need to quit worrying over unrec. it doesn't mean a darn thing, and the more you bitch about it the more power you give people over you.

just let it go already.

[sabrina 1]

12. Well, I'm glad someone bitched about it because it

gave me an opportunity to provide a rec to counter it.

[demwing]

53. Why do you need a complaint to have that opportunity?

The opportunity is the same--rec or unrec--for everyone, even if no one complains at all.

[sabrina 1]

70. Sometimes I forget to rec an OP but when someone

points out it has been unrec'd it reminds me to rec if I think it deserves it.

[Octafish]

32. CounterPunch is an excellent source. Ever hear of Magnequench?

I don't agree with some of the stuff they publish, but I'm big enough to disagree.

A great deal of what they print is first-rate.

US Workers Charge Treason: Outsourcing US Missile Technology to China

That's a pretty important story I have yet to see published anyplace else.

[CoffeeCat]

46. Unrec is exceedingly important...

I never worry about one person. In fact, I rarely even read the names
of posts. However, it is undeniable that what makes it to the DU
Greatest Page is widely read.

Unrec is a tactic, used by many, to bury things that others don't want
seen.

It's as simple as that. So, it does mean something.

[whistler162]

56. Well your unrec and then complaint suceeded!

it diverted the thread!

Happy now?

[Freddie Stubbs]

59. Perhaps because the author of the article is horribly ignorant of American history

John Mitchell, Martha's second husband, was a successful Wall St. lawyer whose firm hired Nixon after Tricky Dick lost his bid to become Governor of California in 1962. Six years later, with the U.S. military mired in Vietnam, Lyndon Johnson resigned, the Democrats split into pro- and anti-war camps, and Nixon was elected president. John Mitchell moved to Washington to be attorney general.

Johnson did not resign. He finished his term which ended in 1969. How can anyone take seriously an outfit which would allow such a glaring error to get through the editorial process?

[Kingofalldems]

65. Lyndon Johnson effectively resigned--from the presidential race

You don't know what you are talking about. It was not an error. :shrug:

[Freddie Stubbs]

73. You RESIGN from office, you WITHDRAW from a Preisdential race

It is curious why you defend Counter Punch, a website which devotes so much energy to attacking President Obama.

[Moochy]

75. Tiger Beat is more your type of magazine

[Freddie Stubbs]

88. Sorry, I am not a Justin Bieber fan

[bigwillq]

60. who cares?

I rec'ed it, but if others, for whatever reason, want to unrec it, does it really matter? Who cares if a thread gets un'reced on a freaking message board? I would think there are more important things to worry about.

[Myrina]

64. ... for the win ...

:applause:

[hughee99]

72. I did just now...

Any time the very first post is someone complaining about unrecs with no other comment, I unrec it.

If you want to kick it, kick it. If you want to discuss the issue, discuss it, but to only post to complain about unrecs usually turns the discussion from what it should be about (the OP) into "What kind of people would unrec this".

Sure clicking unrec for this reason is petty, but so is complaining about unrecs.

[onehandle]

74. DU = Trollsylvania. nt

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Martha was right! More below . . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1450746

[loudsue]

69. Thank you for that link! I had forgotten about that thread.

Researchers rock. :yourock:

[GentryDixon]

4. And the back room deals and dirty tricks

are still going on.

[nashville_brook]

5. "Woodward and Bernstein didn't break the story, they confirmed it."

[leveymg]

20. They transcribed the story as told to them through Ben Bradlee. But, the source was

the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), for which Bradlee and Woodward had both worked before they went to The Post, the CIA's newsletter. Next to the CIA, with which it worked closely, ONI was the most elite of the elite in American intelligence.

NSA was just a bunch of Army signals technicians and code breaking geeks at that time. But, ONI listened in on everyone in the days of radio tubes and microphones the size of your nose, particularly the White House, in the basement of which Woodward had worked just before the Yeoman Radford affair. GOOGLE Yeoman Radford, and you'll get a glimpse of this.

Exactly why ONI and the Joint Chiefs did in Nixon is an enduring mystery. But, Deep Throat was military intelligence and the White House bugs were theirs.

[defendandprotect]

22. Don't have a lot of trouble thinking Bradlee had CIA/ONI links . . ..

But I haven't really studied the link I pulled up or your comments --

Our Pentagon is insane -- and Nixon was insane -- toss up!!

[leveymg]

58. self-deleted

Decided that the source behind something I posted here might be unreliable.

[malaise]

7. Great post

Thanks

[femrap]

9. Those were exciting days.....

Subpoenas still worked....people actually had to show up and answer them. A bit of Justice still prevailed.

I love Helen Thomas...her leaving the WH is the end of an era....one where Journalists were Journalists.

Her co-workers are cowards.

My poor memory....what happened to Martha? Didn't someone murder her? Off to google.

[sabrina 1]

14. Speaking of subpoenas, has Karl Rove

ever responded to the Congressional subpoenas he received or we moved on from all those crimes now? What happened to Leahy's committee and the restoration of Habeas Corpus?

And who in the press now that Helen is gone, will even raise the questions?

[femrap]

16. Yep....all of those crimes

are just to be overlooked now. I take some solace that rove ended up in Sam's Clubs trying to sell some books.

I don't know of any journalist who will ask the tough questions that she did....especially about the wars. Talk about a waste of money, talent, and lives. A damn racket....and she knew that.

[iamjoy]

36. No One In The Press

I mean, they wouldn't want to be left off of the invite list to future pool parties

http://mediamatters.org/strupp/201006080044

[stray cat]

10. You can laud someones good points without cheering bad conduct as well

[sabrina 1]

13. So long as the same standard applies across the board, which

it doesn't and which is why people are disgusted by the witch hunt by the right, led by Ari Fleischer, of Helen Thomas.

[Chulanowa]

28. At least the right has semi-lucid reasons for their witch hunt

I mean she's pretty much always been hammering nails into their feet, so they've gotta have a grudge. it's shit, but it makes some level of sense.

The left meanwhile, is hammering her because in a note of irony, people on the left are terrified of being called racists, yet they fucking hate Arabs.

[liberation]

29. LOL

It is always very enlightening when the right projects on the "left"

So now the left are the racist ones, and the right was just "being consistent." Well, ain't that a bitch?

[Chulanowa]

43. Absolutely

I'm under no imperative to pretend folks who share my general political alignment are angels, am I? What I see from the left is a vibrant, foaming hatred of Mexicans and Arabs, equal to that of any right-winger. The folks on the right have a lucid reason for going after Helen Thomas; She's a political opponent. The left is going after her for the same reason you see people on DU ejaculating with pure glee over Chuck Schumer saying that Palestinians need to be strangled economically because they don't believe in the Torah..

[DeadEyeDyck]

50. Damn, just damn...

[liberation]

77. You seem to be very confused as to who and what the "left" is

I think you are confusing a lot of the center-right posters in this board, who go full blown zionist, as being part of the "left."

[Kingofalldems]

11. K and R to counter the freeper un-reccers

[arthritisR_US]

17. ditto! :-) n/t

[kgnu_fan]

15. I honor Helen Thomas

[ooglymoogly]

18. The only light in the briefing room has been snuffed out

Thugs don't like any light shining on their treason.

[ooglymoogly]

19. KR for a grand old gal.

and to hell with all the shysters posing as journalists.

[defendandprotect]

21. Helen Thomas is a liberal, but I don't see the Democratic Party defending her ...

and have I missed any Dem elected officials who tried to stop this swiftboating?

Only Ralph Nader has had the wisdom and courage to defend Helen Thomas --

and fortunately now we also have a better understanding of what she meant when

she said "Israelis" should go home -- she was talking of those occupying the new

settlements on Palestinian land. New settlements which are illegal.


Meanwhile, thanks for this article -- Martha Mitchell is a very interesting figure

in the Watergate scandal --

Good to see all of this resurrected but too often people really don't understand the

whole thing and how dangerous it was -- and is ... because Watergate never really ended!



PS: Forgot to mention this . . .

Lyndon Johnson resigned, the Democrats split into pro- and anti-war camps, and Nixon was elected president.

There's a lot missing there. When Johnson resigned he stopped the bombing of VN and set the stage

for peace meetings in Vietnam. Nixon worked something like the Reagan "October Surprise" in that

he made a back channel deal to get a message thru that if they didn't come to the peace table

and waited until he was president, they'd get a better deal. Essentially same as what Reagan/Bush/

Gates, etal did -- but in that case 400+ hostages were held a longer period of time than necessary --

and what both Reagan and Nixon did was illegal, at the least.



Also, Nixon ran against Humphrey and it was a squeaker -- 100,000 or 130,000 votes separated them!

Keep in mind that both the large and individual computers began coming in during the mid-late-1960's,

just about the time America was passing The Voting Rights Act. The large computers were used by

MSM -- they came first. But the individual voting machines were in place in some areas by the

time of the Nixon/Humprey race. Who knows? But, I'd certainly say that was another questionable

GOP "win."

[earcandle]

26. Helen Thomas will always make a difference. Ask her what she needs and give it to her.

[earcandle]

23. I both like and trust strong women. Not forceful women, but those with real power to produce

results!  

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

25. K&R

I hope Helen writes one helluva tell-all book.

[earcandle]

27. Again...26. Helen Thomas will always make a difference. Ask her what she needs and give it to her.

[proteus_lives]

30. She had a great career. Too bad she had to shit all over it.

[Octafish]

33. Israel kills 9 unarmed civilian peaceniks and Helen gets taken out of context...

Which is worse?

For those interested, here's the story on Helen:

"Any Better Comments?" -- The Ambush of Helen Thomas

Gosh. Things in context sure sound different than what people say she said, don't they?

Oh yeah. The IDF has not released the video they took from the people they killed on the high seas. That tells a lot about their side of that story.

[proteus_lives]

37. And?

Does that make her statement less vile?

Boo-hoo, the old woman dropped her mask and people take exception to that.

[liberation]

39. Speaking of vile statements...

[proteus_lives]

40. I know, her statement was vile.

[liberation]

78. Wooooosssssshhhhh......

[proteus_lives]

85. Get a patch-kit.

We can hear all the hot air coming out of you.

[sabrina 1]

51. Funny we still entertain Netanyahu in our WH

The man who said when asked what he thought about 9/11 'it is good' for Israel. The old man dropped his mask and NO ONE in our government took exception to it. Does that make his statement less vile?

This double standard has gone on long enough. And Americans are coming to the conclusion that it is way past time to put a stop to it. Schumer's bigoted comments don't get a mention in the media, yet. But I sense a big change coming as Americans lose more and more of their rights and people like Helen Thomas who is a national treasure. These kinds of witch hunts of American heroes have a tendency to wake people up.

[whathehell]

38. Oh bullhsit....She's 89 years old and says one thing out of line in a fifty year

career and she gets canned?....It's appalling that not one democrat stood up for her..

As someone said earlier, social security is no longer the "third rail" of politics...Israel is, and that, IMHO, sucks.


Edited for spelling.

[proteus_lives]

41. Would you be supporting her if she targeted another group?

[whathehell]

42. Yes.....and I'm not saying that I agree with what she said...

I'm saying that at 89 with a long and good career behind her, she should have been given a little slack.

[proteus_lives]

45. Nope.

Don't give bigots slack, it's not right.

[ConsAreLiars]

47. "No Slack for You" (nt)

[proteus_lives]

49. Yes, I'd say that to Thomas.

[whathehell]

63. Nope.

Criticising Israel does not make one a "bigot".

[proteus_lives]

79. She went beyond criticizing Israel.

[whathehell]

81. That's true...She said they should "go home" implying that the state of Israel

isn't legitimate....I think that's extreme, but I don't know that it's "bigoted" or "anti-semitic" as a few headlines read.

You do know that some ultra-orthodox Jews don't believe in Israel's legitimacy either, right?

[proteus_lives]

83. Yes but I don't agree with them either.

I also think questioning the right to a future Palestinian state is bigoted too.

[whathehell]

84. You may not agree with them, but would you call them "bigots"?

[proteus_lives]

86. Given the history, yes.

[whathehell]

87. You would claim that these orthodox jews are "bigoted" or "anti-semitic"?.

Whatever.:eyes:

[sabrina 1]

76. How do you feel about Schumer?

He seems to think if you are of a different religious faith than his, it is perfectly okay to starve your people economically.

Or Netanyahoo who was excited enough by the deaths of Americans on 9/11 to call that tragedy 'good' and later explained that it was good for Israel. Not so good for Americans though, but apparently Mr. Netanyahu was perfectly happy to see Americans die for political reasons. He still has his job and so does Chuck Schumer. Should they also lose their jobs?

[Joe Bacon]

54. Yet Pat Buchannan goes on an on with his anti-Semitism

And because Pat is a Republican, It's OK. He can spit out the vilest anti-Semitism on MSNBC and he gets a thumbs up from his MSNBC pals.

[Darth_Kitten]

55. She didn't willfully kill innocent people, now did she?

:eyes:

[fascisthunter]

61. those defending Israel's government are bigots of Muslims

what the Israeli government has done to Palestine is pure bigotry. Since bigotry was brought up on this thread, I'm going to call it.

[sabrina 1]

82. Too bad Ari Fleischer had to shit all over it.

But then, he shit all over our country by helping to leak the identity of an uncover agent and got away with it.

Astounding that any progressive would give any credence to the spokesperson for one of the most criminal administrations in U.S. history. We weren't wrong when we accused him of meaning only the left when he said 'they better watch what they say, what they do'.

Disgusting excuse for a human being and I never thought I'd see the day when people on a progressive board would, based on his being the leader of a witch hunt against a Liberal Icon and American hero, betray someone who has been as ethical a reporter on the crimes of Ari's boss's crimes, as Helen Thomas has.

[G_j]

34. the only anti-war voice in a roomful of enablers.

well put

[BlueMTexpat]

44. +1000! nt

[saracat]

35. Odd. I was just thinking about this. My parents were members of the Westchester Country Club and

my mother knew Martha. We also were staying at the Club for few days that summer. I remember this story and I remember my mother telling me that Martha said she was held "prisoner" at the club. My mother never believed Martha was crazy. But she did believe John Mitchell was a bastard.

[ashling]

48. Martha "disappeared" when she got paranoid about the whole thing

of course, being paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you.

She turnd up in Greenville MS staying at the home of a socialite from the Billups family.

My cousin worked for the local TV station there he got an interview with her. Unfortunately, John was unable to get the camera and other stuff, When Martha heard that she got on the phone to the UPI which supplied all of the equipment and personnell for John to interview her.

The interview aired on the Dick Cavett show and Dick Interviewd John.

My little brush with history
LOL

[midnight]

52. K&R.

[Enthusiast]

57. K&R!

Helen Thomas, patriot.

[fascisthunter]

62. She will be honored and remembered

[Kingofalldems]

66. K and R to counter the freeper un-reccers

Who make up lies.

[cali]

67. Yay for Helen but gotta say, the reporter gets it wrong about Martha

She was a crazy drunk long before the 1970s. I knew a woman who worked for Martha Mitchell as a housekeeper in the 1960s and the stories she told about abusive drunk Martha were enough to raise the hair on the back of your neck.

[joeybee12]

68. Yup, we can't have a journalist actually doing his or her job...

think of the children!

KNR!

[WhiteTara]

71. Nixon feared her (Martha) greatly

so much so that John offed her. (of course, it can't be proven; but there it is)

[southernyankeebelle]

80. Gosh, Martha Mitchell, what a woman. I was a young girl and remember how they'd say she

was a crazy drunk. As it turned out she was right about everything. Those bastard did a job on her.