Coulter's disgraceful description of Helen Thomas

[Moses]

"March 1, 2005, Washington DC- The American-Arab Anti-DiscriminationCommittee (ADC) is deeply offended by insensitive and outright racist remarks made by Ann Coulter, a syndicated journalist and writer. In an article published February 23, 2005, Coulter argues "Press passes can't be hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president."

"The article intends to debate claims that the White House denies press passes due to political motivations. However, Coulter also uses this context as an opportunity for Arab bashing and perpetuating Arab phobia.

"Furthermore, the implicit characterization of Helen Thomas, one of the first female journalists and dean of the White House Press corps, as a threat to the president due to her Arab-American background is outrageous. Thomas was and continues to be, a trailblazer for female journalists everywhere. During her time at the White House she insisted that women reporters have the samd access and privileges as their male counterparts. As a result, she has interviewed or questioned every elected President since John. F. Kennedy.

"In the past ADC and several other civil rights groups have issued statements expressing concerns over Coulter's habitual hate speech and extreme insensitivity. Among her many comments, the writer has stated that we should invade Arab countries, "kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." In another article, titled "Mineta's Bataan Death March," she commented, "Ethnic profiling is the only reasonable security measure that has been thwarted in the war on terrorism."

"ADC is deeply distraught over Ann Coulter repeatedly outrageous claims and attitudes towards Arab-Americans, Arabs and Muslims. As evident by the above mention comments, her articles often compound paranoia, and outright racism in order to make otherwise unsubstantiated points. Her attack on Helen Thomas is especially offensive considering Thomas's stature as a pioneer for female journalists who paved the way for equal access to the White House.

"If you would like to express your concern about Ann Coulter's article and history of racial profiling, ADC has prepared an action alert that you may use to voice your opinion. To take action click here."

capwiz.com

[Moses]

Universal Edited Out Coulter's 'Old Arab,' to Discuss Problem of Different Versions

By Dave Astor

Published: March 01, 2005 1:05 PM ET

NEW YORK Universal Press Syndicate will be talking with Ann Coulter about using the same versions of columns on AnnCoulter.com as she sends Universal.

The syndicate also said this morning that Coulter, in the Feb. 23 column she transmitted to Universal, did use the words "old Arab" to describe Helen Thomas before the syndicate edited out "Arab." Universal had originally been unsure whether the column Coulter sent Universal contained "Arab" or whether Coulter only used that word in the version she posted on her Web site.

Meanwhile, E&P reached Thomas this morning, and she declined to respond to what Coulter wrote about her.

In her Feb. 23 column, Coulter wrote: "Press passes can't be that hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president." Universal said it removed the word "Arab" before distributing the column to Coulter's 110 client papers; the new version read "dyspeptic, old Helen Thomas." But "Arab" remained in the version Coulter put on her Web site.

Kathie Kerr, Universal's director of communications, told E&P that the syndicate is having "friendly discussions" with Coulter about using the same wording in a column on her Web site as in the syndicated version. "The policy would not just be for this [the Feb. 23] column but also for future columns," said Kerr. What if Coulter insists on using different wording on her site? Kerr replied that possible options would include Coulter putting a disclaimer on a changed column or removing the Universal copyright from a changed column on her site. As of today, a Universal copyright continued to appear under the AnnCoulter.com version of the Feb. 23 column even though it contains the "Arab" word the syndicate edited out.

Thomas, whose Hearst Newspapers column is distributed by King Features Syndicate, is of Lebanese descent. The former United Press International reporter has been a journalist for nearly 60 years and has covered every president since John F. Kennedy.

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Dave Astor ([e-mail]) is a senior editor at E&P.

[Moses]

The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily
Wednesday, 2, March, 2005 (21, Muharram, 1426)

Arab Bashing Reaches Low With Thomas Slur

Barbara Ferguson, Arab News —<br> <br>
WASHINGTON, 2 March 2005 — Arab bashing reached a new low in Washington last week when Ann Coulter, a loudmouthed, mean-spirited, pro-Bush columnist, decided to defend the White House press pass controversy over faux-reporter James Guckert (a.k.a. Jeff Gannon) by writing in her syndicated column: “Press passes can’t be that hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president.”<br>
Thomas, whose Hearst column is distributed by King Features Syndicate, is of Lebanese descent. The former United Press International reporter has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, and has covered every president since John F. Kennedy. She was the first female president of the White House Correspondents Association.

Even her syndicators realized the gaffe. When Coulter’s column was posted on Universal Press Syndicate’s (UPS) website, someone edited out the race-based slur “that old Arab Helen Thomas,” using instead: “that dyspeptic, old Helen Thomas.”<br>
But the “old Arab” reference still appears the column posted on Coulter’s website: www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/article.cgi.

Coulter was, perhaps, taking a cue from the White House, which has slighted Thomas several times since 2003. During a televised news conference, President George W. Bush deliberately snubbed several reporters he ordinarily calls upon, including journalists from the Washington Post, Newsweek, and USA Today. But the most conspicuous recipient of the Bush freeze-out was Thomas, who has barbed and grilled every president since Kennedy and almost always gets to ask a question. Bush pointedly ignored her.

Bush then dealt Thomas a second slight. By custom, Thomas concludes White House press conferences at the president’s signal by saying, “Thank you, Mr. President.” Bush instead ended the conference with his own sign off, “Thank you for your questions,” and killed a decades-old White House custom. Lastly, she was removed from her front row seat, and delegated to a back seat in the press choir.

Is this treatment due to the fact that Thomas has been critical of the Bush administration? She has condemned the terror-fighting Patriot Act and slammed Bush’s domestic and international policies. She also called the Iraq war “a violation of international policy under any circumstance,” and said it is “immoral.”<br>
But she has never been known to mince her words to any president.

There has been disappointingly little reaction in defense of their colleague by White House journalists.

In an article entitled “Lipstick Fascism,” James Wolcott, a Vanity Fair contributing editor, writes: “I wonder what would happen if a writer, say me, were to refer in a Vanity Fair column to ‘that old Jew Norman Podhoretz’ or, naughtier still, ‘that old Jewess Lucianne Goldberg.’

“Through the magic of exaggeration, I can just imagine the commotion. Daniel Pipes and David Horowitz would blow their respective lids...petitions would file in to Vanity Fair demanding that I be fired, or, for penance, be forced to tour Auschwitz with Prince Harry.

“Arabs of course are fair game on talk radio and the trash punditry, of which Ann Coulter is stringbean queen,” says Wolcott. “Presumably Helen Thomas’s very ancestry, about which I know nothing, makes her an incipient terrorist threat, though presumably commando call boy Jeff Gannon would have been coiled to pounce into action if the octogenarian made any sudden violent moves. Coulter’s typically crass wisecrack is the cartoonish version of the hostile profiling of Arabs and Muslims being conducted all over the neoconservative right, as typified by Michelle Malkin’s pioneer work to excuse the Japanese internment in order to justify the preemptive incarceration of Muslims and other suspicious elements.

“I’m sure this sort of thing doesn’t fluster them in the slightest. Conservatism and sadism have become indivisible,” writes Wolcott.