RUTHFULLY YOURS

Visit NewsReal

Helen Thomas, now former columnist for Hearst newspapers, has a track record of “utter detachment from reality.” In a 2006 column, Thomas characterized her colleagues in the White House press corp as “lap dogs” for the Bush administration leading up to the Iraq war. With axiomatic confidence she wrote,

“They lapped up everything the Pentagon and White House could dish out — no questions asked.”

This raised the eyebrow of National Review Online author Stephen Spruiell, who called Thomas to task. Citing a March 2003 transcript of a White House press conference, Spruiell proved journalists had piled on the administration. He concluded that Thomas’s assertion was “nonsense.”

There is a word for the inability to discern reality from delusion. It is psychosis. It goes a long way toward accounting for Thomas’s expressed political beliefs.

The same could be said of Rosie O’Donnell. In the wake of calling for the government seizure of British Petroleum by executive order, O’Donnell demonstrated willful ignorance of fact, while excusing Thomas’s anti-Semitism.

Earlier this week, Thomas resigned in disgrace amid controversy surrounding an off-the-cuff remark calling for Jews to “get the hell out of Palestine.” On Wednesday, during her satellite radio show, O’Donnell defended Thomas with blatant disregard for Israel’s sovereignty.

Here’s the exact quote of what [Thomas] said: “… Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember these people [the Palestinians] are occupied. It’s their land, not Germany’s, not Poland’s.” She was asked where they should go, and she answered, “They should go home, to Poland, to Germany, to America.”

Guest 1: How could that be construed as hate-speech?

O’Donnell: I don’t know.

Guest 1: I don’t see any way that could be construed as hate speech.

Guest 2: What if [Thomas said] Black people should go back to Africa?

O’Donnell: Black people are not occupying a country.

This concept of “occupation,” which O’Donnell shares with Thomas, is indicative of the same detachment from reality which underlays Thomas’ perception of Bush-era “lap dogs.” These women see the world, not as it is, but as their politics require it.

Is O’Donnell prepared to out herself, and every other American not directly descended from “natives,” as an occupier? Is she prepared to “go back” to her country of ethnic origin? If not, she is employing a double-standard. Such hypocrisy can only be explained by anti-Semitism or psychosis.

Unfortunately, either possibility seems as likely as the other. As the exchange between O’Donnell and her guests continued, she dismissed the anti-Semitism underlying Thomas’s call for Jews to return to the scene of the Holocaust. O’Donnell argued the lack of active death camps in Europe negates any Jewish claim to Israel.

O’Donnell went on to wholly reinterpret Thomas’s remarks:

What [Thomas] was saying was the homeland was originally Palestinians’… and that it’s now occupied by Israel, and that Palestinians should be afforded, you know, human and civil rights. That’s what I think that she was saying.

Here again, O’Donnell demonstrates utter detachment from reality. Israel never belonged to “Palestinians,” as there has never been a state of Palestine.

Civil rights are created by states. O’Donnell’s reinterpretation of Thomas has her calling for civil rights from a state whose existence she opposes. This is blatantly nonsensical. O’Donnell is either ignorant of what civil rights are or unable to reconcile disparate ideas.

No matter which way you cut it, O’Donnell proves incredible. Whether she joins Thomas in anti-Semitism, psychosis, or a potent mixture of both, O’Donnell’s distorted perspective inhibits critical thought.

—

Walter Hudson is a political commentator, activist, and Tea Party coordinator from the Twin Cities. He runs a blog and internet radio show, both entitled Fightin Words. He also contributes to True North, a hub of Minnesotan conservative commentary. Follow his work via Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Print This Post