Randi v. The Right
Randi v. The Right
Matt Drudge has summoned the right-wing attack machine on Air America and Randi Rhodes for an irresponsible skit that aired the other day (Rhodes says she hadn’t heard the bit before it ran, and wouldn’t have aired it if she had).
Certainly it’s not the first time that political radio has crossed the line — here’s the difference. In Randi’s case, she took to the air the very next day and apologized, not just to listeners who might have taken offense, but to the Secret Service and to President Bush himself. Air America’s president of programming Jon Sinton also released a statement calling the bit in “bad taste.”
Compare that to the behavior of Rush Limbaugh, whose many offensive remarks making light of the abuses at Abu Ghraib (which top analysts say damaged our efforts to fight terrorism and endangered U.S. troops) were widely condemned, even by members of Congress. Yet, just yesterday, Limbaugh was at it again, marking the first anniversary of the photo revelations by thinking up gifts he’d give to liberals on “Abu Ghraib Day”:
RUSH: “I don’t know how I forgot this. Obviously, at the top of the gift list has to be women’s underwear. Remember, women’s underwear was put on the heads of Islamic prisoners to humiliate them. … Another thing, remember all of the pictures of Abu Ghraib prisoners with bags on their heads, with eye holes cut out. Give them some of those. Those are cheap. Go to the grocery store, get groceries, then give them the empty bags with the eye holes cut out favorite liberal … Then, of course, there is a leash. A leash can be found at any pet store and it goes along with the German Shepherd that you are going to give away to a democrat here as they celebrate the one year anniversary of Abu Ghraib Day. … We forgot, a water board would be a great gift. For some libs, if you could find a naked Iraqi inflatable insurgent doll that would be a thrill. … Kevin in Eugene, Oregon. Hello and welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: How you doing Rush?
RUSH: Pretty good, Kevin.
CALLER: Love to talk to you.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: I just want you to know that we are going to have our Abu Ghraib barbecue party tonight and we are going to be playing nude Twister.
RUSH: (Laughing.) How many people you got coming?
CALLER: Well, I figure we only need 8 or 10 to make it a rip roaring time. I thought that would be kind of fitting.
RUSH: Yeah. Nude Twister? Big Abu Ghraib barbecue. (Laughter.) Okay. And that’s from Oregon. Progress here.
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Rush could teach us a lot. He has way more listners than Randi or any other liberal talk show. People love this stuff.
April 28th, 2005 at 10:09 amI heard the bit and I don’t think Randi has anything to apologize for. And as she said yeaterday, if the bit that AA played was wrong, when is Ann Coulter going to jail for calling for the assanation of Pres. Clinton and other public officials? How about Tom DeLay? It is a felony to suggest such a thing, much less act upon it. It’s also a felony to disclose the name of an undercover gov’t operative like Ms. Plume. When is Bob Novack going to jail? It’s a felony to doctor shop and get multiple perscriptions for regulated drugs. When is fatboy Rush going to jail?
April 28th, 2005 at 10:36 amI guess Drudge is feeling leftout these days and needed to get his name back out there.
Randi has been kicking Rush’s butt on the air ever since she began in West Palm Beach. Franken is kicking Rush’s butt in New York. The fact is…Rush has a lot of listeners because he is aired in lots of places, but in places where AAR is on along with Rush, Rush gets his butt kicked every time.
Do not confuse pervasiveness with success. Money can syndicate anything, especially a radio show that tows the party line and caters to a pro-capitalist agenda.
So I disagree…th only thing you will learn from Rush is how to lie and get away with it.
April 28th, 2005 at 11:45 amthe law is that satire like this is not a crime. a reasonable person has to take it as a threat and not a joke. the right wing fanatics are so hypocritical and desprate now that they will do anything to slander air america. the truth is, that radio is funny entertaining and informative, and rush limbaughs station is tanking everywhere. in new york air americas ratings were stable while rush dropped 20% in the same period. so much for those right wing fortune tellers.
April 28th, 2005 at 12:29 pmgee, and i woke up this morning thinking that the Stalin quote from a couple of weeks ago was actually a really good idea in terms of certain nominees… but i guess it is one thing to be a conservative christian politico and make that suggestion, and quite another to be from the progressive left. Why? i am not sure exactly.
April 28th, 2005 at 1:57 pmYou have to put the comments of the draft dodger drug addicts (Rush and Bush) and his supporters in context. They like to engage in deviant behavior and find nothing wrong with the idea that the guy that has stolen two elections has both sanctioned torture it in Iraq and Afghanistan, but encouraged it. For them humiliation of people that produces no intelligence results and alienates the native population that they are bringing “democracy?” to is the norm. They have invented a God and morality in their own image. Morality is no longer normative behavior, where the degradation of human rights has moral consquences, this new Rushist-Bushist-Stalinist code of conduct is the New Order, the new goodness.
April 28th, 2005 at 3:50 pmMatt Drudge may have tried to summon the right wing attack machine, but so far the story doesn’t seem to be getting much traction. It is the ultimate in irony when a bad comedy routine gets even this much attention while Anne Coulter who advocates domestic terrorism gets the cover of Time magazine.
April 28th, 2005 at 5:18 pmman if it was up to me and that was my company, and a slimeball like drudge slandered me by accusing me falsely of a crime, id slap a lawsuit on him so fast his boyfriend’s head would spin.
April 28th, 2005 at 5:47 pmHa, ha! You all are hilarious! Hate to burst you bubble, but no one really listens to anything anyone on Air America has to say. Meanwhile, Rush and his ilk are attracting younger and more diverse listeners, which reflects the way the thinking of the majority in our country is growing. This just proves the point that, once again, you libs are so out of touch with modern America that it is blatantly obvious why you all keep LOSING!
April 28th, 2005 at 7:48 pmlook at the ratings in new york. air america is unchanged. rush is down 20%. hate to burst your bubble but you are in a bit of a fantasyland.
April 28th, 2005 at 10:24 pmCaydee….you are brainwashed and the sooner you seek help the better the chances are you’ll be able to work your way back into reality in the future. Seek help and for God’s sake stop listening to the rightwing whackjobs. They have polluted your soul!
April 28th, 2005 at 10:57 pmCaydee — I agree with Jason. You are brainwashed. Please get some help to stop yourself from enabling this filthy gang of gouls.
April 29th, 2005 at 12:35 amone more thing to caydee, anyone who thinks that in a country where blacks and latinos make up a bigger majority every year and whites a smaller minority, that the future america is going to be friendly to republicans, really has to stop listening to rush so much.
April 29th, 2005 at 12:06 pmwhen dirtbags on the left ,speak of draft dodging,why do they delet the fact that they have never served in the U.S.armed forces.or that the Naera Heros of the Lefist (you know where B.S.movement originated) had been rel draftdodger ? so sit back have another glass of michael moore and tell yourselves how your winning ,how voteing machines were rigged how your gonna take back congress this year man,keep it up and thank you i need the LAUGHS
July 5th, 2006 at 4:11 amwhen dirtbags on the left ,speak of draft dodging,why do they delet the fact that they have never served in the U.S.armed forces.or that the Naera Heros of the Lefist (you know where B.S.movement originated) had been rel draftdodger ? so sit back have another glass of michael moore and tell yourselves how your winning ,how voteing machines were rigged how your gonna take back congress this year man,keep it up and thank you i need the LAUGHS
July 5th, 2006 at 4:11 am