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!

Since the abrupt retirement of Helen Thomas earlier this week, the White house Press Corps is now without its unofficial Dean. Since Helen was the most senior of all White House correspondents, her departure has left Audio-Video News’ Connie Lawn and World Net Daily‘s Les Kinsolving as the 1st and 2nd most senior members of the corps, respectively. While neither has designs on the deanship, they each had a lot to say about Helen’s departure, and the current state of the White House briefings.

Throughout this year, Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher has been turning the tables on White House reporters, putting them in the hot seat for his Inside the White House Press Corps interview series. We thought it was time he got a taste of his own medicine, so we enlisted a White House correspondent we’ll call Reporter X to fire a fresh batch of questions at him.

The Helen Thomas controversy rages on. Less than a week after a video of the legendary White House correspondent saying she thought the Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and go back to Germany and Poland the debate has recently turned from who will get Thomas’ much coveted White House press briefing room seat to whether the “Helen Thomas” nameplate on the seat should be removed.

Rosie O’Donnell spent part of her radio broadcast yesterday defending the recent controversial comments made by Helen Thomas (which lead to her retirement.) The former talk show host (who has been called by some as “the next Oprah“) wondered how Thomas comments could be viewed as “hate speech,” then proceeded to interpret what Thomas really meant when she said that “Jews should go back to Germany.”

So did the image get your attention?

It was the way Stephen Colbert helped illustrate what Helen Thomas had done before her abrupt retirement – and he had a solution to help her legacy.

On last night’s Daily Show, host Jon Stewart (or as I like to call him, “Respectable #37“) eviscerated the White House Press Corps over what he calls “jockeying” for Helen Thomas‘ front row seat, the Biden BBQ Brouhaha, and the quality of their questions. While the bit was hilarious (I especially loved the reference to whammy-rific game show “Press Your Luck“), I would like to point out a few things.

Rabbi David Nesenoff is now famous for two things: recording the anti-Israeli rant that ended White House columnist Helen Thomas‘ career, and starring in a strange viral video where he made some ethnic jokes while giving the weather. It’s for the latter claim to fame that Nesenoff landed the silver in today’s Countdown “Worst Persons in the World” anti-contest, because while prompting Thomas’ retirement, Nesenoff didn’t “exactly have clean hands.”

Although it just happened Monday, it seems like ages since Helen Thomas abruptly retired following a firestorm over comments she made about the Middle East. While speculation began immediately over who would end up in Helen’s front row center seat in the briefing room, a clear consensus among White House reporters has taken shape: looks like Fox News’ Major Garrett might be the big winner

Helen Thomas was gallant, even heroic, in forcing the case for women in journalism. But she was also, in what was then the era of objectivity as a professional objective, a subversive precursor of the prejudicial slant in reporting that has come to characterize the worst in the shrill polemicists in the blogosphere and cable news.

Pioneering Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas was on hand yesterday for a panel discussion at the liberal America’s Future Now! conference, and spoke with authority about grassroots activism in the Age of Obama. I caught up with him after his panel to bounce a few media-related questions off of him, and he had some surprising things to say.

Ever wonder if Jon Stewart looks at the news these days and concludes he is suffering from an embarrassment of riches? Last night was a veritable tour de force. Stewart began by thanking Rush Limbaugh for the diversion of his wedding, and then proceeded to excoriate Helen Thomas

Welcome to the second chapter of the story of Rabbi David Nesenoff. America first got to know this man as the guy who recorded Helen Thomas on his flip-cam saying what many believed to be offensive comments regarding Jews. But just just as a pendulum swings both ways, the nature of viral video swings back to reveal Mr. Nesenoff in what many will surely see as an offensive and stereotypical portrayal of Mexican-Americans in a hackneyed weatherman shtick.

Hearst Newspapers columnist and trailblazing White House correspondent Helen Thomas has retired today, a swift conclusion to a story that only broke on Friday, quick even by the standards of today’s microscopic news cycle. Along the way, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin tried to leech onto the story by tweeting that Helen’s “press pals condone racist rant,” referencing comments Helen made at the White House on May 27th. I was in the White House briefing room today, and I can tell you that Palin’s tweet couldn’t be further from the truth.

I put off watching the Helen Thomas video all weekend. Of course, I’d seen the headlines. I knew that the gist of it was her telling Israelis to ‘go back to Germany and Poland.’ Even with the best possible spin, it was…revealing. And it revealed something about Helen Thomas that I didn’t want to see.

But alas, it’s something that you can’t just un-see.

C-SPAN seems to be the outlet of choice for callers who want to share their extreme opinions with the rest of the world. This morning, a caller stated he agreed with Helen Thomas, whose controversial remarks about Jews and Palestine last week caused her to announce her retirement today.

With the news that Helen Thomas is officially retired, the question becomes: who gets her prime briefing room real estate?

Let’s put it to a poll!

While it may not be totally unexpected, the story appears to have developed extremely quickly.

Hearst Corporation has announced Helen Thomas will be retiring, effective immediately.

During this morning’s White House Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs was asked to comment on the controversial remarks recently made by press corps legend Helen Thomas who said, among other things, that the “Jews should go back to Germany.” Mediaite’s own Tommy Christopher asked if President Obama had “any reaction to the controversy over Helen’s remarks?” Gibbs was clearly ready for the question and made clear that her comments did not reflect the opinion of the White House. Video after the jump.

Rabbi David Nesenoff, who interviewed Thomas at the White House Jewish Heritage Day during which she made her now infamous remarks about Jews “getting the hell out of Palestine” and going “home” to Germany, or Poland, appeared on Fox & Friends this morning. Also, there is apparently more video coming.

Last week news broke of White House press icon Helen Thomas made headlines by claiming “Jews should go back to Germany.” While she has since apologized for her statement, there is increasing sentiment that she should receive much larger censure, or lose her job altogether for, what’s deemed by many, as terribly insensitive words. Last night, former Press Secretary for the Bush administration Ari Fleischer joined a growing chorus of those claiming her apology is not enough.

Sarah Palin has turned her Twitter sights on White House correspondent Helen Thomas. Thomas made headlines the other day after she went on record saying she thought the Jews should ‘go home,’ and then further defined ‘home’ as Germany and Poland. She has since apologized. If Palin’s Twitter is any measure, however, that apology may not be enough to smooth over the controversy in the coming week as the cable news hosts get a hold of the story.

Well this isn’t likely to turn out well for White House Press Corps legend Helen Thomas The senior correspondent to Hearst newspapers was interviewed on camera by Rabbi David Nessenoff of Rabbilive.com (during the Jewish Heritage reception at the White House) and let lose some commentary that is sure to make many wonder if seasoned Thomas might be losing it. Thomas has since issued an apology, which can be read below.

Since yesterday’s Israeli military attack on a flotilla heading to Gaza, the White House has been walking a tightrope trying to keep their comments about it as neutral as possible. Even their neutrality, however, was questioned today by none other than Helen Thomas, who put Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in a tough spot by railing against the Obama administration for not calling the event a “deliberate massacre” and more concretely confronting the Israeli government.

In the middle of President Obama‘s long press conference on the BP Oil spill Helen Thomas took a left turn and asked the president this head-turner:” When are we going to to get out of Afghanistan? Why are we continuing to kill and die there? What is the real excuse and don’t give us this Bushism: ‘If we don’t go there, they’ll all come here.” Tell us how you really feel, Helen!