I’ve seen reports around from several blogs about the Brady Center scrubbing their association with Helen Thomas from their web site. The links still appear to work for me, which makes me wonder if they started to, and changed their mind once people were critical.
I’m going to be a contrarian on this one (surprise, I know) and suggest that the Brady Center scrubbing their association with Helen Thomas is the right thing to do. To be fair, they likely didn’t know about Helen Thomas’ insensitive views on the Jewish people when they gave her the “Visionary Award.” All they knew is that she was a fellow traveler who hated guns.
But the Bradys’ continued use of Thomas is, in my view, a tacit acceptance of what she said. Or at the least a strong indication they aren’t bothered enough by it to make a statement or distance themselves from it. If NRA had given a journalist an award, and they had then gone a few weeks later and made disparaging comments that, say, African-Americans should go back to Africa, I would be angry at NRA if they did not make a statement condemning those statements, or scrubbing any association with that person from their web site. I can’t get angry at Brady for doing what I would expect of NRA under similar circumstances. I hope they scrub every reference to Helen Thomas from their site. She deserves it.
From what I’ve been able to cobb together, her veiws on Israel aren’t new and her anti-semitism isn’t either. The only thing wrong, in their eyes, is that she got caught (by a Rabbi no less!) in the act and nobody could wish or wash away the consequences of what she said.
Ditto. It is pretty hard to pay any attention to Thomas without knowing that she has been in the bag for “Palestinian” thugs for years. I don’t think it is something that the Brady people could miss. It didn’t matter to them before because it didn’t matter to anyone else on that mattered to them, i.e. the MSM, the Democratic Party, the left in general. They are not scrubbing the site because what she said is wrong. They are scrubbing it because she finally got caught by the public at large.
The NRA is facing a similar problem with Harry Reid. I know all the strategy about single-issue politics, sticking with incumbents, etc, BUT; Reid has said and done some pretty loathsome things to usher along Obama’s efforts to nationalize the auto industry, healthcare, and the rest of the economy. It is not pretty to see the NRA sticking with someone like that — single issue or not, at some point you have to draw a line. NRA versus Tea Party is not a winning position. It is not to America’s benefit that he remain in office. Frankly, if the Dems and the left are successful at remaining in office, Reid’s maneuvering on gun issues won’t amount to a hill of beans — the 2A will be regulated out of recognition through “preventive health” regulations, taxes, and the like.
Sorry man but Thomas’s views on the middle east were well known way before this latest incident.
I remember Tony Snowe thanking her for the “Hezbolla View” at a WH press conference one time. The fact is, is that this should not come as a surprise to anyone that helen Thomas is a raging anti-semite. What does come as a surprise is that she was sitting in the front row at the WH press room for so long and that people bestowed awards on her long after she quit being relevant.
The Brady’s gave her the Sarah Brady Visionary Award in 2009. I don’t blame them for wanting to scrub all the video either but lets not pretend that they didnt know before hand that this is how she was.
They either knew about it and secretly agreed with her or they turned a blind eye to it.
Either way its despicable.
I think there is a difference between “scrubbing” your association and issuing a statement saying “We reject these views and won’t associate with this person in the future.” The latter is what you should do when you realize someone has despicable views. The former seems to be an effort to make it appear as if you never knew them in the first place, and smacks a bit of “we have always been at war with Eastasia.”
“I’m going to be a contrarian on this one (surprise, I know) and suggest that the Brady Center scrubbing their association with Helen Thomas is the right thing to do. To be fair, they likely didn’t know about Helen Thomas’ insensitive views on the Jewish people when they gave her the “Visionary Award.†All they knew is that she was a fellow traveler who hated guns.”
I suppose you also believe that obammy didn’t know about the “Rev. Wright” being a hate monger either.