It’s not as if the Helen Thomas flap should’ve come as a total surprise.
Thomas was never shy about expressing opinions in the White House press room — and found herself backpedaling from her more fiery comments. Though not always.
Thomas’s last retreat came Monday, when she retired in the wake of comments that Jews should leave Palestine and "go home" to Poland, Germany or the United States.
We’ve compiled a list of Thomas’ top five most controversial quotables:
Suicide Threat: In 2003, at an event for the Society of Professional Journalists, Thomas was quoted as saying, “The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I’ll kill myself. All we need is another liar." Thomas later said she thought she was off record, but she didn’t try to deny or modify her grim assessment of a Cheney presidential run.
Telling Off Obama: Thomas and the President have the same birthday, August 4th. In 2009, Obama celebrated the occasion by bringing Thomas a plate of cupcakes topped with candles in the press room. According to Obama, Thomas was blunt when he asked her what was her birthday wish telling him she wanted world peace, and end to prejudice, and "real" health care reform.
Going Out With a Bang: Though she didn’t know it at the time, Thomas ended her career in characteristic top form. Never shy about her opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, her last question to Obama came at a press conference two weeks ago — an affair that was otherwise squarely focused on the oil spill — and it was typically tough: "Mr. President, when are you going to get out of Afghanistan? Why are you 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.’"