Transgressive speech

A week or so ago, a video turned up showing Helen Thomas, a veteran White House correspondent and long time affliction of the powerful, letting it all hang out about Israel:

"Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. Not Germany. Not Poland."

If you can't imagine why she would have said such a thing, I recommend Crossing the Mandelbaum Gate by Kai Bird.

Thomas said more:

When the questioner, who knew he's caught a live one, asked what Jews should do, Thomas didn't miss a beat, saying "They should go home. Poland. Germany. And America and everywhere else."

If you can't imagine why saying such a a thing was enough to push Thomas into retirement, I recommend Crossing the Mandelbaum Gate by Kai Bird.***I have just finished reading this excellent memoir as an audiobook. While I highly recommend it, I have to say that this "edition" needed "proof-reading." It is extremely distracting to hear a reader mispronounce proper names of people who populated the nightly news in my lifetime. This is a common fault in otherwise satisfying audiobooks. Publishers should work to prevent this.