Archives
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Not Right
Actually,
we feel kind of sorry for her.
A DAUGHTER OF ED. Yeah, I know it's probably premature to believe that Randi Rhodes is really off the air at Air America. The Not-Ready-For-Profit radio network has been pronounced financially dead a score of times and come back with refinancing schemes that would make most South American governments green with envy. If liberals were as creative with their social solutions as AAR has been about staving off market disasters like no audience, no advertising, and no clue about the radio business, one could almost believe in the Dems' too-good-to-be-true promise of free universal healthcare. Still, this does sound like a big step toward an official parting of the ways:
NEW YORK -- April 10, 2008: After being
suspended indefinitely for calling senator and Democratic presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton a "f****ing whore" and saying the same about
former Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro, Randi Rhodes has left Air
America Radio. Rhodes made the comments in March at a KKGN (Green
960)/San Francisco-sponsored event.
A joint statement released Thursday by AAR Chairman Charlie Kireker and President Mark Green said, "Last week Air America suspended Randi Rhodes for abusive, obscene language at a recent public appearance in San Francisco which was sponsored by an Air American affililate station. Air America Media was informed last night by Ms. Rhodes that she has chosen to terminate her employment with the company. We wish her well and thank her for past services to Air America."
A joint statement released Thursday by AAR Chairman Charlie Kireker and President Mark Green said, "Last week Air America suspended Randi Rhodes for abusive, obscene language at a recent public appearance in San Francisco which was sponsored by an Air American affililate station. Air America Media was informed last night by Ms. Rhodes that she has chosen to terminate her employment with the company. We wish her well and thank her for past services to Air America."
I won't pretend that I've ever liked her. But it's also true that politics in this country is a game of savagely violent chess.
Randi Rhodes was always a pawn in the game. I don't think she knew that because she carried real arms and took her habitual one step forward with real passion. Like her colleagues, she began the Air America experiment with a two-step move that gained her lots of national attention (the original link is gone, but I quoted it fairly at the time).
The queen of venom, Randi Rhodes,
followed Franken in the host slot. Her imitation of a cracker military
type telling a soldier to "insert this fluorescent light bulb into that
man's buttocks" was revolting. She compared U.S. prisons in Iraq to the
"Nazi gulag" and said, "The day I say thank you to Rumsfeld is the same
day I'll say thank you to the 12 people who raped me."
Rock bottom came when she compared Bush and his family to the Corleones in the "Godfather" saga. "Like Fredo, somebody ought to take him out fishing and phuw," she said, imitating the sound of gunfire.
Rock bottom came when she compared Bush and his family to the Corleones in the "Godfather" saga. "Like Fredo, somebody ought to take him out fishing and phuw," she said, imitating the sound of gunfire.
Was that opening gambit really so much different from the non-broadcast outburst that got her suspended in recent weeks? Here's what we have of the offending performance:
Has anyone complained about her calling the Vice President of the United States an anti-semitic racist? No. Anymore than anyone seriously complained when she sponsored a radio skit declaring John McCain a sodomite because all 'prisoners' automatically become homosexual.
Perhaps she thought that wasn't offensive because she assigned the notion to Mitt Romney's Mormon supporters. (And if you're planning to defend her by pointing out that her voice doesn't appear in the bit, then acknowledge that you don't hold Limbaugh responsible for this or this.)
She had also convinced herelf, like a lot of other, uh, progressives, that the mass media were somehow in the pocket of the Republican power structure. Something about Reagan.
How could she possibly have known that she would eventually become the victim of a double standard? She couldn't. After all, do pawns ever understand that they're merely cannon fodder? That when they confront knights or rooks or bishops, they're dealing with people who have more exotic and deadly moves than they do? There's no question Rhodes thought she had scored a signal victory when she announced her desire to "kick Ann Coulter in the nuts."
(And here she is swapping spit with another college drop-out know-it-all.) Problem is, Coulter isn't a pawn. She's a knight, at least, endowed with the ability to skip spaces and strike from unexpected angles.
Which is why Coulter is still standing and Rhodes is headed for minor syndication. So I do feel sorry for Randi. Unlike Coulter, she has no law degree, not even a college degree, no real connections. She was a useful tool of the Democratic Attack Machine until she attacked the wrong targets.
But, as I said, I'm feeling sorry for her. She's a radio guy, schooled in the same bruising arena as Limbaugh and Hannity. Here's her Wikipedia bio.
Limbaugh knows the wisdom of the truism, "Be careful who your friends are." Rhodes apparently doesn't. (Who knows about Hannity? We have our doubts about him, too.) She thought she had carved out a special place for herself. She hadn't. Unlike even the oh-so-vulnerable Hannity, she never acquired an audience big enough to protect her from random execution.
But that doesn't mean we should celebrate her downfall. She's an ordinary person who did her best to make a difference. I disagree with almost every political opinion she's ever expressed, but I don't think she's as revolting as, say, Michael Savage.
Here's what I'll say for her. She is a veteran. She is passionate. Sometimes she's funny, whether I like it or not. And every once in a while she is right. She was right about the Republicans fawning disgustingly over the ghost of Ronald Reagan. And she was right during her ominous calm in handling this caller:
She shouldn't have been drummed off the air for doing to Democrats what she routinely did to Republicans. If the one is okay [applause, applause, standing ovations], so is the other [boo, hiss, disgust, revulsion, shock]. Conservatives aren't made of glass. Liberals shouldn't be, either. Thing is, they are.
Radio is a big wide field. [Choke.] We wish her well in her future gigs.
