Katrina vanden Heuvel: "Isn't there some room for Helen Thomas?"

Columnist Helen Thomas, a trailblazer for women journalists and one of the few in the White House press corps who courageously questioned President Bush and other officials in his administration on war, torture and U.S. policy toward Israel, announced her retirement Monday. It comes in the wake of a controversy triggered by offensive comments she made about Jews and Israel last week.

So being a feminist heroine and a crusading lefty excuses her vicious race hatred? Sorry, no. Her "offensive comments" were just a hair away from endorsing The Final Solution. In terms vanden Heuvel can understand, they were worse than offensive; they were "hurtful" and "insensitive."