Within hours of being hired by Fox News, White House correspondent Ed Henry found himself in the crosshairs of Fox-hunting media watchdog Media Matters, who published a thin batch of research suggesting conservative bias. Scant weeks later, Henry seems to have earned his way (at least temporarily) off of the group’s s#%t list, pretty much the same way he got on it: by doing his job.

If you thought former White House reporter Helen Thomas might want to apologize for the comments she made last year suggesting Jews “go home” to Germany and Poland and “get the Hell out of Palestine,” well, she’s fine with what she said. In fact, in her first big television interview since the controversy, she seemed to double down, angrily defending the content of what she said about Palestine.

Last August, Mediaite reported that Helen Thomas‘ nameplate had disappeared from her famous front-row-center seat in the White House briefing room. At the time, sources within the White House Correspondents Association and the White House press office were baffled about the disappearance. Tuesday night, however, the iconic nameplate was back in its old spot, affixed to the front row seat that now belongs to the Associated Press.

Helen Thomas may be writing again – she’s resumed her column for the Falls Church News-Press – but that doesn’t mean the Society of Professional Journalists are keen on having her name asso

Helen Thomas‘ returned to her Falls Church News-Press column today and, less than 24 hours after her first post has been published, she’s already inspired a new wave of controversy. Only, this time, it’s not for something Thomas has said.

It’s been seven months since Helen Thomas resigned as a member of the White House Press Corps after making comments that “Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by Zionists” and suggesting Jews “go home” to Poland and Germany. Now, Thomas is back to writing, crafting a weekly political column for the Falls Church News-Press.

Months removed from the anti-Semetic comments that lost her her front row seat at White House press briefings, Helen Thomas‘s continued remarks on the matter have lost her yet another honor– an award given to undergraduates at Wayne State Univeristy in Detroit in her honor, which has now lost its name.

Helen Thomas, the long-time White House correspondent who was forced to apologize and retire last spring after making comments about Israel and Jews, stood by those remarks yesterday at an event in Dearborn, Michigan—and then made even more fiery statements. “Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by the Zionists,” Thomas said during her remarks at an Arab-American workshop, according to The Detroit News. “No question.”

National Public Radio’s firing of Juan Williams over remarks he made on The O’Reilly Factor is just the latest example of a public figure losing their job for, to quote Allen Funt, “getting caught in the act of being themselves.”

While I don’t buy the various defenses that are being deployed on Williams’ behalf, there is an important principle at stake that is being washed away, not in the name of “political correctness,” but expediency. While loose lips have always been in danger of sinking career ships, the bar has been lowered to a level that can only serve to end our most valuable conversations.

Former Dean of the White House Press Corps Helen Thomas is making news again after granting her first broadcast interview since her controversial retirement (she first broke her silence in a brief interview with Mediaite). While printed accounts of the 35-minute radio interview have focused on her inflammatory remarks, subsequent apology, and her opinions of flashpoint politicians Christine O’Donnell and Sarah Palin, they ignore a portion of the interview that packs an emotional wallop.

Legendary ex-White House correspondent Helen Thomas has largely been quiet since June, when the 90-year-old reporter abruptly retired after making waves with a statement disparaging Israel (in case you forgot, here’s what she said: “Tell ‘em to get the hell out of Palestine…. They should go home… [to] Poland, Germany.”) Today, though, Thomas told her side of the story.

According to an exclusive Media Matters report, former White House Correspondents Association President Ed Chen is speaking out over the WHCA’s decision to move Fox News to the front row of the Brady Briefing Room, calling it “a travesty.”

However, there are several mis-characterizations in Media Matters’ report, and the WHCA is standing by its decision.

It has been a little over two months since Helen Thomas‘ whirlwind retirement, and while the final days of her career were filled with controversy, she remains a historic figure in journalism. That’s why I suggested, several months ago, that the nameplate from her front row center seat be enshrined on a plaque, either in the briefing room or at the WHCA.

There are some liberals who are freaking out about Fox News’ move to the front row of the Brady Briefing Room. Not helping matters was Bill O’Reilly‘s joking suggestion that he and Sean Hannity “hog-tie” Major Garrett and go tête-à-tête with Robert Gibbs themselves.

If it helps at all, I can personally vouch for the fact that nothing like this will ever happen. But even if it did, I don’t think it’d be such a bad thing.

It may sound corny to some, but Helen Thomas is never very far a way from my thoughts, but the occasion of the White House Correspondents Association’s re-assignment of her iconic front-row center seat in the Brady Briefing Room provided me with the impetus to speak with Helen for the first time since her controversial retirement. I called her this afternoon to reconnect, and to get her reaction to the news. I was surprised to learn that my call was the first she’d heard of it. Her reaction, and those of some of our colleagues, after the jump.

The White House Correspondents Association has reportedly reached a decision on who gets Helen Thomas‘s much-coveted briefing room seat. From Mike Allen: “Congrats to White House Correspondents’ Board on its hard work: AP moves to Helen’s center seat, Fox to AP’s front-row seat, NPR to 2nd row.”

God, those folks at the National Public Radio are pushy. Not only are they constantly asking for our donations, now they want to take Helen Thomas’ seat in the White House briefing room. The Yahoo! News blog The Upshot has obtained NPR’s letter to the White House Correspondents Association Board of Directors. What the Upshot post doesn’t clarify however, is whether or not the WHCA Board will receive a sweet mug or tote bag for giving NPR what they want.

Just a few quick observations from my time in DC today.

In between today’s East Room remarks by President Obama and the daily briefing, I spotted something amusingly incongruous as I copped a smoke outside the briefing room. Perhaps confirming the cliche´ about the versatility of duct tape, I noticed that someone had temporarily fixed a hole in the side of the briefing room with what actually appeared to be gaffer’s tape.

When Helen Thomas got in that little bit of trouble a few weeks ago (you know, the trouble that ended her career), a lot of people pointed out that the fact that Thomas was pro-Palestine wasn’t shocking. Her beliefs were apparent in the questions she asked, the statements she made, the…foods she prepared?

At almost the same exact time as BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg’s “small people” remark, an eerily similar gaffe was taking place just across town. Former Senator and Deficit Commission Co-Chair Alan Simpson got into an impromptu, on-camera debate over social security, and repeatedly referred to its recipients as “lesser people.” Now, some are calling for Simpson’s removal from the commission. I asked Robert Gibbs about it at yesterday’s White House briefing.

As the Gen. Stanley McChrystal story continues to evolve one of the questions will inevitably be…what happens next?

Will the lengthy Rolling Stone profile signal his downfall, or will he survive to see another day. Let’s take a look five recent career-threatening profiles or interviews, and whether the subjects were able to keep their job?

Rabbi David Nesenoff gained national name recognition when a general question on Israel got White House Press Corps legend Helen Thomas to demand that the Jewish population of Israel “go back to Poland.” In this weekend’s Washington Post, Rabbi Nesenoff reflects on those comments and their contribution to the mideast peace dialogue, and the best word to sum up his take on the matter is “oooh.”

Add Bloomberg to the (short) list of people who don’t think Fox should get Helen Thomas‘ recently vacated White House briefing room seat. While the media consensus thus far has been that Fox News’ Major Garrett will get the prime spot, Bloomberg is making the case that they deserve it.

In the wake of Helen Thomas‘ untimely retirement, immediate speculation on who would get her front row-center seat quickly turned into (non-gleeful) consensus that it would be Fox News. This didn’t sit very well with liberal media watchdog Media Matters. Ironically, though, their faint damnation of Fox News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett actually undercuts their larger point about Fox News.

Rabbi Nesenoff, whose video interview with Helen Thomas ended her career last week, is still making the media rounds. Only this weekend he seems slightly less enthralled with all the media attention than he did seven days ago. Nesenoff told Howie Kurtz that he has received over 25,000 pieces of hate mail (some of which you can read on his website), but even worse he has been learning about the “hate media.” Get out the violins folks!