Dana Perino
Perino in a daily press briefing, September 17, 2007
27th White House Press Secretary
In office September 14, 2007 – January 20, 2009
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Tony Snow
Succeeded by	Robert Gibbs
Personal details
Born	Dana Maria Perino (1972-05-09) May 9, 1972 (age 40) Evanston, Wyoming, USA
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Peter McMahon
Alma mater	Colorado State University-Pueblo University of Illinois at Springfield

Dana Maria Perino (born May 9, 1972) is an American political commentator for Fox News. She served as the White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush from September 14, 2007 to January 20, 2009. She was the second female White House Press Secretary, after Dee Dee Myers who served during the Clinton Administration.^[1]

Early life and career[link]

Perino was born in Evanston, Wyoming, the daughter of Jan and Leo Perino,^[2] and grew up in Denver, Colorado.^[3] Two of her paternal great-grandparents were Italian immigrants.^[4][5] She attended Ponderosa High School in Parker, Colorado, a suburb of Denver.^[3] Perino graduated from Colorado State University-Pueblo in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in mass communications and minors in both political science and Spanish.^[1] While attending the university, she was active on the forensics (public speaking) team and with KTSC-TV, the campus-based Rocky Mountain PBS affiliate^[6] where she served as host of Capitol Journal, a weekly summary of Colorado politics, and producer of Standoff, a weekly public affairs program.^{[citation needed]} Perino went on to obtain a masters degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS).^[7] During her time at UIS, she also worked for WCIA, a CBS affiliate, as a daily reporter covering the Illinois Capitol.^[7]

Perino next worked in Washington, D.C., for Rep. Scott McInnis (R-CO) of Colorado as a staff assistant before serving nearly four years as the press secretary for Rep. Dan Schaefer (R-CO), who then chaired the House Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power.^[6]

In 1997, while on a flight to Denver, Perino met her future husband, Peter McMahon. McMahon, born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, is a businessman involved in the marketing and sales of medical products. The couple was married eleven months later.^[8]

After Rep. Schaefer announced his retirement in 1998, Perino and McMahon moved to the United Kingdom.^[3] After a year in the UK, Perino and McMahon moved back to the United States and resided in San Diego, California, for three years. During that time, Perino worked in the field of high-tech public affairs.

In November 2001, Perino returned to Washington, D.C. and secured a position as a spokesperson for the Department of Justice,^[9] at which she served for two years.^[10]

Perino then joined the White House staff as the associate director of communications for the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), where she provided strategic advice on message development, media relations and public outreach.^[11][12] The House Oversight Committee, chaired by Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns, asserted in its findings on climate change censorship, that the CEQ exerted undue control of media relations in governmental scientific agencies during her tenure.^[13] Science writer Mark Bowen claimed that Perino directed other public affairs officers to kill press releases about the danger of hydrogen fuel cells after President George W. Bush announced his support for them.^[14]

Press Secretary[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)

Dana Perino, George W. Bush and Tony Snow

Perino served as Deputy Press Secretary from 2005 to 2007. She was hired by Scott McClellan. In the role, Perino communicated many times a day with President Bush's director of communications, his press secretary and his director of media affairs, as well as serving as the spokesperson for the White House on environmental issues. In addition, she served as the coordinator for all agencies on environment, energy and natural resource issues, as well as reviewing and approving the agencies' major announcements,

From March 27 to April 30, 2007 she was the Acting White House Press Secretary while Tony Snow underwent treatment for colon cancer.

On August 31, 2007, Bush announced that Snow would be resigning his post for health reasons and that Perino would become his replacement. Perino was accordingly promoted to the rank of Assistant to the President, and served as White House Press Secretary from September 14, 2007 until the end of the Bush Administration in January 2009.

On December 14, 2008, a TV journalist, Muntadar al-Zeidi, threw two shoes at Bush during a Baghdad press conference. Bush successfully dodged both, but Perino's eye was injured by a microphone stand during the commotion surrounding al-Zeidi's arrest. When pressed, Perino said, "Sure I would take a shoe for the President".^{[15][16][17][18]}

Post-Bush administration career[link]

Since leaving the White House, Perino became a political commentator on Fox News. She is a regular co-host on the talk show, The Five. In addition to her Fox assignment, Perino is a "chief issues counselor" at Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations firm.^[19][20] In November 2009, she was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an agency overseeing government-sponsored international broadcasting,^[20] and was confirmed by the Senate on June 30, 2010.^[21] In 2009, functioning as Karl Rove's family spokeswoman, she informed the press about Rove's divorce in 2009.^[22] In 2010, she started teaching a class in political communications part-time at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management.^[23]

Personal life[link]

In 2007, Perino appeared as the week's celebrity guest on the radio quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!.^[24] Perino told a self-deprecating, humorous anecdote about how she had to ask her husband about the Cuban Missile Crisis after it came up in a press briefing. News reports treated her comments as a moment of levity, noting that she was born ten years after the event.^[25][26][27] In May 2012 Perino appeared on Jeopardy! during its "Power Players" week, facing Kareem Abdul-Jabar and CNBC's David Faber.^[28]

References[link]

v t e White House Press Secretaries Akerson Joslin Early Daniels Ross Early Short Tubby Hagerty Salinger Reedy Moyers Christian Ziegler terHorst Nessen Powell Brady Speakes Fitzwater Myers McCurry Lockhart Siewert Fleischer McClellan Snow Perino Gibbs Carney

Bob Beckel
Born	Robert G. Beckel
Nationality	United States
Occupation	Political Pundit

Robert Beckel is an American political commentator and an analyst on the Fox News Channel where he currently co-hosts The Five. He is also a columnist for USA Today where he writes "point-counterpoint" style articles with friend and political opposite Cal Thomas. He is the brother of actor Graham Beckel.

Career[link]

Beckel holds a B.A. from Wagner College.^[1] While in college, he worked for Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1968. Early in his career, he joined the U.S. Department of State and became the youngest deputy assistant secretary of state for the Carter administration.^[2] Beckel was the campaign manager for Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign. During that campaign he became known as the man who effectively wrapped the Wendy's slogan "Where's the Beef?" around Gary Hart, Mondale's opponent for the Democratic nomination.

Beckel managed Alan Blinken's 2002 Senate campaign until he was dismissed after being targeted for extortion by a prostitute.^[3]

He was co-host of Crossfire Sunday on CNN alongside Tony Snow and later Lynne Cheney, and went on to Fox News Channel as a political analyst and commentator, regularly appearing on such shows as Hannity & Colmes (later Hannity), America's Newsroom, and Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. Beckel is a co-host of Fox News's The Five, a political talk show that replaced Glenn Beck in the 5 p.m. Eastern time slot in July 2011.

He made a brief appearance as himself on the Season 8 premier of 24 in a mock debate with fellow Fox News Analyst Monica Crowley.

Beckel is a graduate school professor of politics at the George Washington University.^[4]

Personal struggles[link]

Beckel, a recovering alcoholic,^[5] has spoken openly about his past addictions to drugs and alcohol, admitting in July 2011 on The Five: "I'm a recovering addict and cocaine was my drug of choice."

In 2007, Beckel was involved in an altercation in a Bethesda, Maryland grocery store parking lot with a man who took issue with his anti–George W. Bush bumper stickers.^[6] In October 2011, Beckel says he nearly choked to death at a Fox News reception, but was saved by Fox News chief Roger Ailes and The Five co-host Eric Bolling.^[7]

Controversial comments[link]

Beckel initially evoked controversy in August 2011 when he implied on air that he had held back from criticizing his Fox News colleague Sarah Palin. He agreed with The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld when Gutfeld said he felt awkward making negative comments about Palin, because "it's like (badmouthing) a coworker." "I know exactly what you mean," Beckel added. "I'll be honest, I've pulled my punches."^[8] Both Gutfeld and Beckel later said they were joking, however.^[9]

In December 2010, with reference to Julian Assange, Beckel commented, "This guy's a traitor, he's treasonous, and he has broken every law of the United States. And I'm not for the death penalty, so [...] there's only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son of a bitch."^[10]

On April 16, 2012, Beckel appeared on Hannity with Jennifer Stefano and Neal Boortz. After Jennifer claimed that the Head Start Program, which aims to help poor children, did not work, Beckel replied, "You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!" Beckel did not realize the show was back from the commercial break, and initially refused to apologize. When persuaded that the show was, in fact, live - Beckel apologized for his choice of language, but stood by the overall intent of the statement.^[11][12]

Bibliography[link]

• 2007, Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That Is Destroying America with Cal Thomas (ISBN 978-0-06-123634-1)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Fox News' Bob Beckel
• Weekly USA Today Column Common Ground
• Bob Beckel Topics Page – USA Today
• And You Think He's Feisty on Fox: Beckel's Parking Lot Punch-Out

Helen Thomas
Helen Thomas in February 2009
Born	(1920-08-04) August 4, 1920 (age 91) Winchester, Kentucky
Residence	Washington, D.C.
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	Wayne State University (formerly Wayne University) (B.A., 1942)
Occupation	Author, retired journalist and columnist
Years active	1943–2010
Religion	Greek Orthodox
Spouse	Douglas B. Cornell (m. 1971–1982)

Helen Thomas (born August 4, 1920) is an American author and former news service reporter, member of the White House Press Corps and opinion columnist of Lebanese Rûm/Melkite descent.^[1] She worked for the United Press and post-1958 successor United Press International (UPI) for 57 years, first as a correspondent, and later as White House bureau manager. She was a columnist for Hearst Newspapers from 2000 to 2010, writing on national affairs and the White House. She covered every President of the United States from the last years of the Eisenhower administration until the second year of the Obama administration. She was the first female officer of the National Press Club, the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents' Association, and the first female member of the Gridiron Club. She has written six books; her latest, with co-author Craig Crawford, is Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do (2009). Thomas retired on June 7, 2010, following comments she made about Israel, Jews and the Israel/Palestinian conflict.^[2]

Early life and education[link]

Thomas was born in Winchester, Kentucky, the seventh of the ten children of George and Mary (Rowady) Thomas, immigrants from Tripoli, Lebanon.^[3][4] Thomas has said her father's surname, "Antonious," was anglicized to "Thomas" when he entered the U.S. at Ellis Island,^[3] and that her parents could neither read nor write.^[5] Thomas was raised mainly in Detroit, Michigan, where her family moved when she was four years old, and where her father ran a grocery store.^[3][6] Of her experience growing up, Thomas has said,^[7]

"We were never hyphenated as Arab-Americans. We were American, and I have always rejected the hyphen and I believe all assimilated immigrants should not be designated ethnically. Or separated, of course, by race, or creed either. These are trends that ever try to divide us as a people."

She has also said that in Detroit in the 1920s, she came home crying from school, "They wanted to make you feel you weren't 'American'... We were called 'garlic eaters.'.^[6] She was raised as a Christian in the Greek Orthodox Church^[3]

She attended public schools, deciding to become a journalist while she was in high school.^[8] She enrolled at Wayne University (now Wayne State University), in Detroit, receiving a bachelor's degree in English in 1942.^[9]

Early career[link]

Her first job in journalism was as a copygirl for the now-defunct Washington Daily News, but shortly after she was promoted to cub reporter, she was laid off as part of massive cutbacks at the paper. Thomas joined United Press in 1943 and reported on women's topics for its radio wire service, earning $24 ($322 today) a week.^[10][11] Later in the decade, and in the early fifties, she wrote UP's "Names in the News" column, for which she interviewed numerous Washington celebrities.^[12] After 1955, she covered federal agencies such as the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Thomas served as president of the Women's National Press Club from 1959–60. In 1959, Thomas and a few of her fellow female journalists forced the National Press Club, then barred to women, to allow them to attend an address by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

Presidential correspondent[link]

Thomas with Gerald R. Ford and Dick Cheney in 1976

In November 1960, Thomas began covering then President-elect John F. Kennedy, taking the initiative to switch from reporting the "women's angle" to reporting the news of the day.^[13] She became the White House UPI correspondent in January 1961. Thomas became known as the "Sitting Buddha," and the "First Lady of the Press."^[14] It was during Kennedy's administration that she began ending presidential press conferences with a signature "Thank you, Mr. President,"^[15] reviving a tradition started by UPI’s Merriman Smith during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt.^[16]

In a 2008 article, the Christian Science Monitor described her thusly: "Thomas, a fixture in American politics, is outspoken, blunt, demanding, forceful and unrelenting. Not only does she command respect by the highest powers in the US, her reputation is known worldwide."^[17] When Cuban leader Fidel Castro, was asked in the early 2000s what was the difference between democracy in Cuba and democracy in the United States, Castro reportedly replied, "I don't have to answer questions from Helen Thomas." Thomas considered Castro's reply to be "the height of flattery."^[18]

Thomas was the only female print journalist to travel to China with President Richard Nixon during his historic trip in 1972.^[19] She traveled around the world several times with all U.S. Presidents since Richard Nixon, and covered every Economic Summit since 1975, working up to the position of UPI's White House Bureau Chief, a post she would hold for over 25 years. While serving as White House Bureau Chief, she authored a regular column for UPI, "Backstairs at the White House."^[20] The column provided an insider's view of various presidential administrations.

Thomas was the only member of the White House Press Corps to have her own seat in the White House Briefing Room. All other seats are assigned to media outlets.

Departure from UPI[link]

On May 17, 2000, the day after it was announced that the UPI had been acquired by News World Communications Inc., an international media conglomerate founded and controlled by Unification Church leader Reverend Sun Myung Moon which owns The Washington Times and other news media, Thomas resigned from the UPI after 57 years with the organization.^[21] She later described the change in ownership as "a bridge too far."^[21][22] Less than two months later, she joined Hearst Newspapers as an opinion columnist, writing on national affairs and the White House.^[23]

After leaving her job as a reporter at the UPI, Thomas became more likely to air her personal, negative views. In a speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she quipped, "I censored myself for 50 years when I was a reporter. Now I wake up and ask myself, ‘Who do I hate today?’"^[24]

George W. Bush administration[link]

During President George W. Bush's first term, Thomas reacted to then-Press Secretary Ari Fleisher's statements about arms shipments to the terrorists by asking: "Where do the Israelis get their arms?" He responded "There's a difference Helen, and that is --". "What is the difference?", she asked. He responded: "The targeting of innocents through the use of terror, which is a common enemy for Yasir Arafat and for the people of Israel, as well as --". She interrupted him, saying: "Palestinian people are fighting for their land." He responded: "I think that the killing of innocents is a category entirely different. Justifying killing of innocents for land is an argument in support of terrorism."^[vague][25]

In January 2003, following a speech at a Society of Professional Journalists banquet, Thomas told an autograph-seeker, "I'm covering the worst president in American history." The autograph-seeker was a sports writer for The Daily Breeze and her comments were published. After that she was not called upon during a press conference for the first time in over four decades. She wrote to the President to apologize.^[26]

Traditionally, Thomas sat in the front row and asked the first question during White House press conferences. However, according to Thomas in a 2006 Daily Show interview, this ended because she no longer represented a wire service.^[27] During the Bush administration, Thomas was moved to the back row during press conferences; She was called upon at briefings on a daily basis but no longer ended Presidential news conferences saying, "Thank you, Mr. President." When asked why she was seated in the back row, she said, "they didn’t like me...I ask too mean questions."^[28]

Thomas in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room half an hour before morning gaggle, 2007

On March 21, 2006, Thomas was called upon directly by President Bush for the first time in three years. Thomas asked Bush about the War in Iraq:

I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, [about] your decision to invade Iraq ... Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is: Why did you really want to go to war? .... You have said it wasn't oil...quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else. What was it?

Bush responded by discussing the War on Terror, and stated as a reason for the invasion that Saddam Hussein chose to deny inspectors^{[clarification needed]} and not to disclose required information.^[29] Thomas was criticized by some commentators for her exchange with Bush.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2006, she told The Hill, "The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself. All we need is another liar... I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does."^[30]

At the July 18, 2006, White House press briefing, Thomas remarked, "The United States ... could have stopped the bombardment of Lebanon. We have that much control with the Israelis... we have gone for collective punishment against all of Lebanon and Palestine." Press Secretary Tony Snow responded, "Thank you for the Hezbollah view."^[31] Other members of the press weighed in. According to Washington Post television critic Tom Shales, questions like the one above have sounded more like "tirades" and "anti-Israeli rhetoric."^[32] However, Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher described Shales' attack as "disturbing."^[33]

In a press conference on November 30, 2007, Thomas questioned White House Press Secretary Dana Perino as to why Americans should depend on General David Petraeus in determining when to re-deploy U.S troops from Iraq. Perino began to answer when Thomas interjected with "You mean how many more people we kill?" Perino immediately took offense, responding:

Helen, I find it really unfortunate that you use your front row position, bestowed upon you by your colleagues, to make such statements. This is a...it is an honor and a privilege to be in the briefing room, and to suggest that we, the United States, are killing innocent people is just absurd and very offensive.^[34]

Obama administration[link]

President Barack Obama presenting Thomas cupcakes on her 89th birthday^[35]

On February 9, 2009, Thomas was present in the front row for newly elected President Obama's first news conference. President Obama called on her with the statement, "Helen. I'm excited, this is my inaugural moment,"^[36] seemingly a reference to her long-term presence in the White House Press Corps.^[37] Thomas asked if any Middle Eastern country possessed nuclear weapons. Obama replied that he didn't want to "speculate" on the matter.

On July 1, 2009, Thomas commented on the Obama administration's handling of the press, "we have had some control but not this control. I mean I'm amazed, I'm amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency and you have controlled...".^[38][39][40] She also said that not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press as much as President Obama.^[41]

On August 4, 2009, Thomas celebrated her 89th birthday. President Obama, whose birthday is on the same day, presented Thomas with birthday cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to her before that day's press conference.^[42]

Resignation following comments on Israel and Jews[link]

Thomas retired in June 2010, following negative reaction to comments she had made about Israel, Jews, and Palestine during a brief interview with Rabbi David Nesenoff of RabbiLive.com.^{[1][43][44][45][46][47]} Nesenoff was on the White House grounds for an American Jewish Heritage Celebration Day, and he questioned Thomas as she was leaving the White House via the North Lawn driveway:^{[46][48][49][50]}

Nesenoff: Any comments on Israel? We're asking everybody today, any comments on Israel?

Thomas: Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.

Nesenoff: Ooh. Any better comments on Israel?

Thomas: Hahaha. Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not German, it's not Poland...

Nesenoff: So where should they go, what should they do?

Thomas: They can go home.

Nesenoff: Where's the home?

Thomas: Poland, Germany...

Nesenoff: So you're saying the Jews go back to Poland and Germany?

Thomas: And America and everywhere else. Why push people out of there who have lived there for centuries? See?

Nesenoff: Are you familiar with the history of that region?

Thomas: Very much. I'm of Arab background.

Nesenoff: I see. Do you speak Arabic?

Thomas: Very little. We were too busy Americanizing our parents... All the best to you.^[51]

—May 27, 2010, RabbiLive.com ^[46]

A one-minute excerpt of the May 27, 2010 interview was posted on Nesenoff's website on June 3. On June 4, Thomas posted the following response on her web site:

I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon.^[52][53][54]

She resigned from her job three days later, on June 7, 2010.

Thomas's agency, Nine Speakers, Inc., dropped her as a client because of her remarks.^[55][56] Craig Crawford, who co-authored Listen up, Mr. President, said "I ... will no longer be working with Helen on our book projects.”^[57] Her scheduled delivery of a commencement speech at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, was canceled by the school.^[58] The White House Correspondents' Association, over which she once presided, issued a statement calling her remarks "indefensible."^[59] On June 7, Thomas abruptly tendered her resignation from Hearst Newspapers.^[60]

On June 8, in an interview on NBC's Today Show, President Obama called her remarks "offensive" and "out of line." and said her retirement was "the right decision." He remarked that it was a "shame" her celebrated career had to end in such controversy, and at the same time he recognized her long service covering U.S. presidents, calling her "a real institution in Washington."^[61] Her comments also garnered rebukes from numerous others, including White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, former special counsel to and White House spokesman for President Bill Clinton, Lanny Davis, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson.^{[52][62][63][64]}

Helen Thomas' alma mater, Wayne State University strongly condemned what it called her "wholly inappropriate comments."^[43]

Thomas' defenders either supported her comments or put them into what they felt was a proper context. These arguments included the belief that she was completely correct and should not have felt any repercussions, that Thomas was only referring to the West Bank when she talked about Israelis getting the hell out of "Palestine," or that her comments could not be explained but should not erase what she had achieved in her memorable career. Hezbollah called Thomas' comments "courageous, bold, honest and free opinion," and Hamas said of her comments that she had "told the truth."^[65][66] Some, such as former White House correspondent Sam Donaldson did not agree with what Thomas said but praised Thomas' achievements as an early female journalist, and said her comments likely reflected the view of many people of Arab descent.^[67] Khalid Amayreh, a Palestinian journalist based in Dura, near Hebron praised Thomas, stating that her remarks were "factually true" and that the "descendants of converts to Judaism originating in the Khazar region, have no automatic right to claim Palestine as their patrimony especially if that dubious right is exercised at the Palestinian people’s expense."^[68]

After Thomas' resignation from UPI, her coveted front row center seat in the White House Briefing Room was awarded to the Associated Press (AP), while Fox News moved from the second row into the AP's former front row position.^[69]

In August 2010, a group of Holocaust survivors and relatives criticized the Arab American National Museum of Dearborn, Michigan for its plans to place a statue of Helen Thomas in its museum, saying that it would be immoral to honor her and that "American values are at stake."^[70][71]

In October 2010, Thomas said in a radio interview with Scott Spears of WMRN that she realized soon after making the comments that she would be fired, stating, "I hit the third rail. You cannot criticize Israel in this country and survive." She added that she issued an apology because people were upset, but that ultimately, she still "had the same feelings about Israel's aggression and brutality."^[72]

The president of the Society of Professional Journalists, Kevin Smith, said in June that Thomas's comments were "offensive" and "inexcusable."^[43] The society was later asked why it decided to continue the Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement after Thomas's comments. Smith's successor as the society's president, Hagit Limor replied in December: "We discussed the issue at our exec board meeting in July 2010. The majority believed this to be a one-time slip that didn't change Ms. Thomas's lifetime of service, which is what we were honoring." ^[73][74] However, on January 14, 2011, the Society of Professional Journalists voted to retire the Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement; stating that it staunchly defends the right to free speech, but that "the controversy surrounding this award has overshadowed the reason it exists." "...No individual worthy of such honor should have to face this controversy. No honoree should have to decide if the possible backlash is worth being recognized for his or her contribution to journalism."^[75] "SPJ will simply not give a lifetime achievement award (anymore)" said Scott Leadingham, spokesman for SPJ.^[76]

Later career[link]

2010 speech on Arab Americans[link]

On December 2, 2010, shortly before a speech for the eighth annual "Images and Perceptions of Arab Americans" conference at the Byblos Banquet Center on Chase, Thomas told reporters that she still stood by the comments she had made to Nesenoff. Referring to her resignation, she said "I paid a price, but it's worth it to speak the truth."^[77][78][79] During the speech, Thomas said: "Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by Zionists. No question, in my opinion."^[77] Thomas defended her comments on December 7, telling Scott Spears of Marion, Ohio AM radio station WMRN, "I just think that people should be enlightened as to who is in charge of the opinion in this country."^[80]

The next day, the Anti-Defamation League called for journalism schools and organizations to rescind any honors given to Thomas. The organization said that Thomas had "clearly, unequivocally revealed herself as a vulgar anti-Semite" in the speech.^[81] Hours later, Wayne State University in Detroit discontinued the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in Media Award, which it had been granting for more than ten years, citing what it called her antisemitic remarks. The school issued a statement saying: "As a public university, Wayne State encourages free speech and open dialogue, and respects diverse viewpoints. However, the university strongly condemns the anti-Semitic remarks made by Helen Thomas...". Speaking for the school, Matthew Seeger said: "The controversy has brought a negative light to the award, which was never the intent of the award."^[77] Thomas herself reacted with scolding remarks saying that "the leaders of Wayne State University have made a mockery of the First Amendment and disgraced their understanding of its inherent freedom of speech and the press." She also stated that "the university also has betrayed academic freedom—a sad day for its students."^[82] The university's Arab American Student Union held a protest on campus December 10. In a news release the Palestine Cultural Office of Michigan made a call for concerned individuals to contact the university. Also, members of the Congress of Arab American Organizations held a meeting with university officials on December 7 in an attempt to make them repeal their decision, but a later response from the university said it would not reverse its position.^[83] Asked by the Detroit Free Press how she'd respond to people who say she's anti-Semitic, Thomas responded: 'I'd say I'm a Semite. What are you talking about?'".^[84]

[edit] 2011 Playboy interview

In March 2011, Thomas did an interview with David Hochman, a reporter for the men's magazine Playboy. Asked by Hochman to explain her controversial remarks about Israel and Jews in particular, made in May 2010, she said, "Well, there's no understanding [on the part of the Israelis] of the Palestinians at all. I mean, they're living there and [the Israelis] want to come and take their homes and land and water and kill their children and kill them." When asked what she had meant when she commented that "they" should go back to Germany, Poland and America, Thomas replied that the millions of German, Polish, American and Russian Jews who have come to Israel in recent years should have stayed where they were as they have not been persecuted since World War II. Upon being asked if she recognizes that Palestinian hijacking and suicide bombing is wrong, Thomas answered, "Of course I don't condone any violence against anyone. But who wouldn't fight for their country?...The suicide bombers act out of despair and desperation." Thomas insisted she does not feel antisemitism toward Jews at all: "I think they're wonderful people. They had to have the most depth. They were leaders in civil rights."

Later in the interview, when asked by Hochman if she stood by her December 2010 accusations that Zionists own the White House, Hollywood and Wall Street, Thomas answered that she did stand by those remarks. When confronted with the fact that Jews constitute a small percentage of the total population, Thomas told Hochman: "I know where you're leading with this. You know damn well the power [Jews] have...It's real power when you own the White House, when you own these other places in terms of your political persuasion. Of course they have power. You don't deny that. You're Jewish, aren't you?" Hochman said that he was Jewish.

Thomas accused Israel of treating the Palestinians as the Nazis had treated the Jews of Germany and Poland and Hungary: "They can't just come in and say, 'This is my home,' knock on the door at three in the morning and have the Israeli military take them out. That's what happens. And that's what happened to the Jews [during the Holocaust]. Why do [the Israelis] inflict that same pain on people who did nothing to them?"^[85]

Awards[link]

Thomas has received numerous awards and more than 30 honorary degrees. In 1976, Thomas was named one of the World Almanac's 25 Most Influential Women in America.^[86]

In 1986 she received the William Allen White Foundation Award for Journalistic Merit from the University of Kansas.^[15] Thomas received an Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media from the Freedom Forum in 1991. The White House Correspondent's Association honored her in 1998 by establishing the Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000, her alma mater, Wayne State University, established an award for journalists in her honor, the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity award;^[87] but in December 2010, the award was discontinued by Wayne State citing her renewed remarks that she stands by what she had said earlier in May to Nesenoff. Speaking for Wayne State, Matthew Seeger, its interim dean said, that the award is given to promote the importance of diversity in the media; but this award “is no longer helping us achieve our goals.”^[88] In 2007, Thomas received a Foremother Award from the National Research Center for Women & Families.

In October 2010, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) honored Thomas with a lifetime achievement award.^[89][90]

In April 2012, Thomas received an award from the Palestine Liberation Organization's General Mission to the United States. The award was presented by PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi to “recognize Thomas’ long career in the field of journalism, during which she defended the Palestinian position every step of the way.”^[91]

Bibliography[link]

• Listen Up Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do. (with co-author Craig Crawford) (Charles Scribner's Sons, 2009) ISBN 1-4391-4815-5
• The Great White House Breakout. (with co-author and illustrator Chip Bok) (Penguin Group, 2008) ISBN 978-0-8037-3300-8 (children's book)
• Watchdogs of Democracy? : The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public (Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006) ISBN 0-7432-6781-8
• Thanks for the Memories, Mr. President : Wit and Wisdom from the Front Row at the White House (Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003) ISBN 0-7432-0226-0
• Front Row at the White House : My Life and Times (Scribner, 2000) ISBN 0-684-86809-1
• Dateline: White House (Macmillan, 1975) ISBN 0-02-617620-3

See also[link]

• Rick Sanchez
• Octavia Nasr
• News conference

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Helen Thomas

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Helen Thomas

• Helen Thomas at the Internet Movie Database
• Helen Thomas collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Helen Thomas in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Magda Abu-Fadil (August 4, 2010). "Happy Birthday Helen!". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/magda-abufadil/happy-birthday-helen_b_669977.html. 
• Michael Sneed (August 3, 2010). "Where is Helen Thomas?". Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/2559812,CST-NWS-SNEED03.article. ^{[dead link]}
• "RadioLIVE New Zealand interview with Helen Thomas" (Audio). RadioLIVE New Zealand. Posted June 15, 2010. http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Interview-with-veteran-White-House-correspondent-Helen-Thomas/tabid/506/articleID/14131/Default.aspx. 
• "Elders Part 4 - Helen Thomas" (Transcript of Andrew Denton interview with Helen Thomas). July 7, 2008. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s2296751.htm. 
• David Chambers (March–April 2006). Calling Helen Thomas. 57. Saudi Aramco World. http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200602/calling.helen.thomas.htm.  discusses Thomas impact on younger Arab-American journalists.
• "Truth, Fear and War", speech by Thomas, September 13, 2003.
• Oral History Interview with Helen Thomas, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
• Oct. 2010 Interview of Helen Thomas by Scott Spears (WMRN)

Myocardial infarction
Classification and external resources
Diagram of a myocardial infarction (2) of the tip of the anterior wall of the heart (an apical infarct) after occlusion (1) of a branch of the left coronary artery (LCA), right coronary artery = RCA
ICD-10	I21-I22
ICD-9	410
DiseasesDB	8664
MedlinePlus	000195
eMedicine	med/1567 emerg/327 ped/2520
MeSH	D009203

Myocardial infarction (MI) or acute myocardial infarction (AMI), commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die. This is most commonly due to occlusion (blockage) of a coronary artery following the rupture of a vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque, which is an unstable collection of lipids (cholesterol and fatty acids) and white blood cells (especially macrophages) in the wall of an artery. The resulting ischemia (restriction in blood supply) and ensuing oxygen shortage, if left untreated for a sufficient period of time, can cause damage or death (infarction) of heart muscle tissue (myocardium).

Classical symptoms of acute myocardial infarction include sudden chest pain (typically radiating to the left arm or left side of the neck), shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, sweating, and anxiety (often described as a sense of impending doom).^[1] Women may experience fewer typical symptoms than men, most commonly shortness of breath, weakness, a feeling of indigestion, and fatigue.^[2] A sizeable proportion of myocardial infarctions (22–64%)^[3] are "silent", that is without chest pain or other symptoms.

Among the diagnostic tests available to detect heart muscle damage are an electrocardiogram (ECG), echocardiography, cardiac MRI and various blood tests. The most often used blood markers are the creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) fraction and the troponin levels. Immediate treatment for suspected acute myocardial infarction includes oxygen, aspirin, and sublingual nitroglycerin.^[4]

Most cases of myocardial infarction with ST elevation on ECG (STEMI) are treated with reperfusion therapy, such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or thrombolysis.^[5] Non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) may be managed with medication, although PCI may be required if the patient's risk warrants it.^[6] People who have multiple blockages of their coronary arteries, particularly if they also have diabetes mellitus, may benefit from bypass surgery (CABG),^[7][8]. The European Society of Cardiology guidelines in 2011 proposed treating the blockage causing the myocardial infarction by PCI and performing CABG later when the patient is more stable.^[7] Rarely CABG may be preferred in the acute phase of myocardial infarction, for example when PCI has failed or is contraindicated.^[7]

Ischemic heart disease (which includes myocardial infarction, angina pectoris and heart failure when preceded by myocardial infarction) was the leading cause of death for both men and women worldwide in 2004.^[9] Important risk factors are previous cardiovascular disease, older age, tobacco smoking, high blood levels of certain lipids (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides) and low levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, lack of physical activity and obesity, chronic kidney disease, excessive alcohol consumption, the abuse of illicit drugs (such as cocaine and amphetamines), and chronic high stress levels.^[10][11][12]

Classification[link]

There are two basic types of acute myocardial infarction based on pathology:

• Transmural: associated with atherosclerosis involving a major coronary artery. It can be subclassified into anterior, posterior, inferior, lateral or septal. Transmural infarcts extend through the whole thickness of the heart muscle and are usually a result of complete occlusion of the area's blood supply.^[13]
• Subendocardial: involving a small area in the subendocardial wall of the left ventricle, ventricular septum, or papillary muscles. The subendocardial area is particularly susceptible to ischemia.^[13]

In the clinical context, a myocardial infarction can be further subclassified into a ST elevation MI (STEMI) versus a non-ST elevation MI (non-STEMI) based on ECG changes.^[14]

The phrase heart attack is sometimes used incorrectly to describe sudden cardiac death, which may or may not be the result of acute myocardial infarction. A heart attack is different from, but can be the cause of cardiac arrest, which is the stopping of the heartbeat, and cardiac arrhythmia, an abnormal heartbeat. It is also distinct from heart failure, in which the pumping action of the heart is impaired; however severe myocardial infarction may lead to heart failure.^[7]

A 2007 consensus document classifies myocardial infarction into five main types:^[15]

• Type 1 – Spontaneous myocardial infarction related to ischaemia due to a primary coronary event such as plaque erosion and/or rupture, fissuring, or dissection
• Type 2 – Myocardial infarction secondary to ischaemia due to either increased oxygen demand or decreased supply, e.g. coronary artery spasm, coronary embolism, anaemia, arrhythmias, hypertension, or hypotension
• Type 3 – Sudden unexpected cardiac death, including cardiac arrest, often with symptoms suggestive of myocardial ischaemia, accompanied by new ST elevation, or new LBBB, or evidence of fresh thrombus in a coronary artery by angiography and/or at autopsy, but death occurring before blood samples could be obtained, or at a time before the appearance of cardiac biomarkers in the blood
• Type 4 – Associated with coronary angioplasty or stents:
  • Type 4a – Myocardial infarction associated with PCI
  • Type 4b – Myocardial infarction associated with stent thrombosis as documented by angiography or at autopsy
• Type 5 – Myocardial infarction associated with CABG

Signs and symptoms[link]

Rough diagram of pain zones in myocardial infarction; dark red: most typical area, light red: other possible areas; view of the chest

Back view

The onset of symptoms in myocardial infarction (MI) is usually gradual, over several minutes, and rarely instantaneous.^[16] Chest pain is the most common symptom of acute myocardial infarction and is often described as a sensation of tightness, pressure, or squeezing. Chest pain due to ischemia (a lack of blood and hence oxygen supply) of the heart muscle is termed angina pectoris. Pain radiates most often to the left arm, but may also radiate to the lower jaw, neck, right arm, back, and epigastrium,^[7][17] where it may mimic heartburn. Levine's sign, in which the patient localizes the chest pain by clenching their fist over the sternum, has classically been thought to be predictive of cardiac chest pain, although a prospective observational study showed that it had a poor positive predictive value.^[18]

Shortness of breath (dyspnea) occurs when the damage to the heart limits the output of the left ventricle, causing left ventricular failure and consequent pulmonary edema. Other symptoms include diaphoresis (an excessive form of sweating),^[1] weakness, light-headedness, nausea, vomiting, and palpitations. These symptoms are likely induced by a massive surge of catecholamines from the sympathetic nervous system^[19] which occurs in response to pain and the hemodynamic abnormalities that result from cardiac dysfunction. Loss of consciousness (due to inadequate cerebral perfusion and cardiogenic shock) and sudden death (frequently due to the development of ventricular fibrillation) can occur in myocardial infarctions.^[7]

Women and older patients report atypical symptoms more frequently than their male and younger counterparts.^[20] Women also report more numerous symptoms compared with men (2.6 on average vs 1.8 symptoms in men).^[20] The most common symptoms of MI in women include dyspnea (shortness of breath), weakness, and fatigue. Fatigue, sleep disturbances, and dyspnea have been reported as frequently occurring symptoms that may manifest as long as one month before the actual clinically manifested ischemic event. In women, chest pain may be less predictive of coronary ischemia than in men.^[21]