Posted on 10/16/2007 5:55:17 AM PDT by FooBarBaz
Randi Rhodes is the Victim of a Violent Attack Randi Rhodes was mugged on Sunday night on 39th Street and Park Ave, nearby her Manhattan apartment, while she was walking her dog Simon.
According to Air America Radio late night host Jon Elliott, Rhodes was beaten up pretty badly, losing several teeth and will probably be off the air for at least the rest of the week. At of late Monday night we have not able to locate any press accounts of the attack and nothing has been posted on the AAR website.
Several liberal blogs, including the Randi Rhodes Message Board and Democratic Underground have logged numerous posts on the Rhodes mugging with most of the posters expressing concern about the condition of the popular lib talker.
Morning talk host, Lionel filled in for Rhodes on Monday, but did not say anything about why she wasnt on hand to do her show. The Randi Rhodes board reports that Sam Seder, who does a Sunday afternoon show for AAR, will be filling on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Elliott was extremely agitated when he reported on the incident. He opened his show by saying "it is with sadness that tonight I inform you that my Air America colleague Randi Rhodes was assaulted last night while walking her dog near her New York City home."
Pointing out that Rhodes was wearing a jogging suit and displayed no purse or jewelry, Elliott speculated that "this does not appear to me to be a standard grab the money and run mugging."
"Is this an attempt by the right wing hate machine to silence one of our own," he asked. "Are we threatening them. Are they afraid that we're winning. Are they trying to silence intimidate us."
Some of blog posters also expressed concerns that the attack on Rhodes was hate crime. Other posters warned that we need more facts before any judgements are made.
According to Elliott, Rhodes was resting in her New York City apartment and was not hospitalized.
Attacks on liberal talk radio stations and their hosts are not a new thing. About a month ago a gunman fired a shot through a window at the studios of KPFT, Houstons, Pacifica station narrowly missing a DJ who was hosting music show at the time. There is currently a $10,000 reward offered to anyone who identifies the shooter.
This is not the first politically motivated attack on KPFT. More than 35 years ago, the Ku Klux Klan blew up the station's transmitters twice within the Houston station's first year on the air.
Also, according to a blogger on Democratic Underground, Thom Hartmann said on his Friday show that his auto repairman, after replacing his windshield, pointed out to him that he had three bullet holes in his car.
Apparently, some right-wing critics of lib talk arent happy that conservative talk only accounts for 90% of the programming on talk radio. These whack jobs appear determined to whatever it takes to silence the opposing point of view.
Not surprisingly, the only talk radio host killed for his political views was a liberal. In 1984, two right wing extremists gunned down Denver talk show host Alan Berg. Bergs tragic murder was memorialized in a chilling movie Talk Radio
P. S. A man had to be swallowed by a whale to go to the city God wanted him.
"I was holding hearings regarding dog abuses at the time."
pointed out to him that he had three bullet holes in his car.
And threats of death are an acceptable form of conversion to Islam, right? Ends justify the means, right?
You are putting words in my post. You are the problem.
*************
I've never listened to her. She sounds like a lost soul. What a shame.
She WASN’T HOSPITALIZED????/ Being violently attacked and LOSING SEVERAL TEETH, she WASN’T HOSPITALIZED??? THAT makes NO sense!! Where was the DOG she was walking? Must have been a little one.
...was hate crime.
Attacks on liberal talk radio stations and their hosts are not a new thing.
These whack jobs appear determined to whatever it takes to silence the opposing point of view.
Not surprisingly, the only talk radio host killed for his political views was a liberal.
Must be tough going through life being paraniod all the time.
If a mime is mugged in Central Park and nobody is there to hear him scream, ...?
Sure looks like "ends justify the means" to me. And apparently the mods agree that your first post was over the line!
Nice try!
“...they will surely receive counseling.”
‘Young man, you seem to have made some bad choices.’
‘What do you think we should do about that?’
She’s no Texas girl. Brookline,NY. IIRC.
Wonder how the heck she got to Seminole, TX? It's not a place you just drive by and decide to stop, it's 65 miles from the nearest interstate, I-20.
He's such a stand up guy.
I’ll bet she longs for the days of Rudy all of a sudden........sc
Every single member of the KKK in the 1960s was a Democrat. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!
I read an essay in English class by her a few years ago (required reading) that she advocated getting a dog for protection because guns were dangerous.
Guess that worked out for her.
Hate putting it that way but maybe she’ll learn something from this.
Yes this has hit various radio boards and I guess one host said on air it was politically motivated. I doubt it. It was more a case of a random crime, I would think, than a talk
host being targeted. It’s not like someone got offended
by what was said on air and went to her studios and
beat her up there. It was prob. random.
If she gets back on air and endorses Fred Thompson, calls for
strict controls on illegals, condemns global warming
theorists, and supports the war on terror then we know
she was a “liberal who got mugged” in THAT sense! :)
Air America host Randi Rhodes wasn’t mugged
BY DAVID HINCKLEY and TINA MOORE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Tuesday, October 16th 2007, 12:04 PM
Print Email Suggest a Story
Air America radio host Randi Rhodes is temporarily off the air, but claims she was brutally attacked near her Manhattan apartment are bogus, her lawyer and a police source said today.
Fellow host Jon Elliott claimed on the liberal radio network that Rhodes had been mugged while walking her dog, Simon, on Sunday night. Elliot, who said Rhodes lost several teeth in the attack, waxed about a possible conspiracy.
“Is this an attempt by the right-wing, hate machine to silence one of our own?” he asked on the air, according to Talking Radio, a blog. “Are we threatening them? Are they afraid that were winning? Are they trying to silence intimidate us?”
A police source said Rhodes never filed a report and never claimed to be the victim of a mugging. Cops from Manhattan’s 17th Precinct called her attorney, who told them Rhodes was not a victim of a crime, the source said.
Rhodes’ lawyer told the Daily News she was injured in a fall while walking her dog. He said she’s not sure what happened, and only knows that she fell down and is in a lot of pain. The lawyer said Rhodes expects to be back on the air Thursday. He stressed there is no indication she was targeted or that she was the victim of a “hate crime.”
Rhodes started with the Air America when it launched in 2004. Her show airs from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays.
The network released a statement that said Rhodes “experienced an unfortunate incident.”
“The reports of a presumed hate crime are unfounded,” the statement read by a receptionist at the network’s New York offices said. “Ms. Rhodes is looking forward to being back on the air on Thursday.”
Still, the tale lived on in the blogosphere.
“What the %$#$ is WRONG with you people?? Are you that SICK in the head that just because you dont agree with someones political views you believe that they deserve to be mugged? Are you on the right that DEMENTED??,” a blogger called neddlenosehanty posted on watchingthewatchers.org.
Another blogger shot back, “I very seriously doubt if this unfortunate woman was mugged by a conservative. To jump to the conclusion that she was mugged by someone on the right is bigotry of another kind. Think not?”
Pointing out that Rhodes was wearing a jogging suit and displayed no purse or jewelry, Elliott speculated that "this does not appear to me to be a standard grab the money and run mugging." "Is this an attempt by the right wing hate machine to silence one of our own," he asked. "Are we threatening them. Are they afraid that we're winning. Are they trying to silence intimidate us." Some of blog posters also expressed concerns that the attack on Rhodes was hate crime... Apparently, some right-wing critics of lib talk aren't happy that conservative talk only accounts for 90% of the programming on talk radio. These whack jobs appear determined to whatever it takes to silence the opposing point of view.Yeah, that ten per cent and shrinking market share -- which is subsidized, rather than being taxpayer supported -- is a real threat. Nothing like libby logic. Note also that the tone of the op-ed (it certainly isn't an article) changed from "I wonder" to "must be".
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