Helen Thomas has died at the age of 92.

[maddiemom]

119. I can never express how much I admired Helen Thomas and how saddened

I was by her treatment in her last years, especially since the "Israel can do no wrong" mantra has since become more balanced and she had every right to express herself, coming from an Arab background. I never knew her heritage before the controversy. My mom was the same age as Thomas, older by only a few weeks, and had been very politically active locally. She died at 91. A Democrat in a Republican area, she did most of the coordinating for JFK's local visit while he was barnstorming the country in 1960. By eighty she had lost her sharp edge and awareness of politics. Helen was still going strong, and I sadly regretted that my mother hadn't stayed equally sharp. The last political remark I remember her making came while my brother and I were complaining about Dubya while visiting her in her nursing home near the end of his term. "I don't know why everyone complains about Bush. He seems like a nice man." We were certainly taken aback by that remark. Mom didn't even "like Ike" and we had often argued about this when I reevaluated my opinion of him in the eighties. RIP Ms. Thomas, indeed.