Air America and Assassination

Another visit to Michelle Malkin provides this bit on one of the least qualified Air America hostesses:

Randi Rhodes on President G.W. Bush: "Like Fredo, somebody ought to take him out fishing and phuw. "

Call me a little sensitive, but that sounds slightly treasonous.

Randi Rhodes broadcasts at best a joke about assassinating our president and at worst hope that our president gets shot, but Ann Coulter (one of my favorites) is called hateful by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (and by the president of my alma mater, the University of St. Thomas).

Just to make a small point... the Fredo joke (referencing characters and events in the film "The Godfather, Part II") is pretty old. If Rhodes were making a joke, its a fairly unoriginal way to go about it. Dennis Miller did a variation on it just before the war... and at least he shook things up a little bit. (He commented on France and their constant nose-thumbing to the US... so he said something to the effect of, "gas up the boat and go fishing with Fredo, because you are dead to me.")

Michelle Malkin notes that Rhodes has gone down this path before (as noted in the New York Daily News from May 12th, 2004).

If I was rather cruel, I'd hope that Randi Rhodes gets fired, exiled from the US, forced to live in an uncomfortable hut, shot in the ass daily by a pellet gun (I suspect it would be like trying to hit a bull in the fanny with a bag of rice)... and is then rescued by the United States military.

As Bugs says, "What a maroon."


Update:
The Drudge Report features more.

Little Green Footballs weblog also has the story from the Drudge Report, plus comments (obviously regarding Rhodes lack of taste and judgement).

A Randi Rhodes fan website features an mp3 of the segment. (A fan site for Randi Rhodes... must not take up a lot of bandwidth.)


Another Update: 2:00 PM
The Power Line guys also have comments on Randi Rhodes.

We have commented a number of times on the frequency with which liberals advocate the assassination of President Bush. Sometimes it's supposed to be funny. Sometimes it's supposed to be art. Sometimes it's just flat-out, unvarnished hate. But I'm not aware of a single Democratic official who has criticized those who advocate assassinating the President.

It will be interesting to see whether the President of St. Thomas and our local columnists will take an interest in actual hate speech, as opposed to speech with which they disagree.

Interestingly enough, they also mention the accusations of hate speech by the Star-Tribune and the president of St. Thomas University. I think that means I'm on the same wavelength as these guys... that's got to be good news for me, or bad news for the Power Line gents. ;)


Yet another update: 8:20 AM April 28th
In the New York Post Online I see we have an apology... but how sincere, and to whom is she appologizing?

"It was a bit. It was bad. I apologize a thousand times," Rhodes told listeners yesterday on WLIB (1190 AM), adding: "I'm not in charge of the bits."

At what point did she realize it was a bad bit? Especially considering her comments immediately following the bit's airing (from the earlier Drudge Report story):

"What is with all the killing?" Rhodes said, laughing, after the clip aired.

I just wonder when she was asked by her management to apologize? She obviously didn't realize the bit was over the line until after her on-air comments.

To say she's not in charge of the bits (which is entirely possible, considering she's not funny to begin with), makes her sound like she's passing the buck. Probably because she is passing the buck.

Now, considering she's apologized... does that mean she's also appologizing for her Fredo/Godfather comment regarding our President? I doubt it. She's so clueless she makes Anna Nichole Smith look like Oscar Wilde.

NRO also has a few comments at The Corner:

MORE RE: RANDI RHODES [Tim Graham]
RE: RANDI RHODES [Tim Graham]
AIR AMERICA AND VIOLENCE [Byron York]

Man, she's just a one-trick pony.


Even more updates: 11:55 AM April 28th, 2005
Front Page Magazine has even more on Randi Rhodes' poor judgement... in fact she's quoted, and she doesn't sound very sincere considering she's already pointing fingers to others.

If [the Secret Service] had to take two seconds out of their day to look into me, I apologize for that...But where is the apology when [conservatives] threaten judges from the Senate floor or from the House floor? Or where’s the investigation into Ann Coulter’s mouth?

So if we are to understand poor Miss Rhodes, she and her show have done nothing in comparision to Ann Coulter? I think we've found the root of the matter... she's jealous of Ann's looks, smarts, and her career.

The article's author, Ben Johnson, sums up this issue in the final graph.

Rhodes did not even offer her apology, such as it was, until two days after faux pas, and then only after the internet brought her under national scrutiny. This gives conservatives additional evidence that the hard-Left places nothing, including human life, above the realization of its political agenda – and that nothing inspires the lamest of leftist apologies except incontrovertible proof and international publicity of malfeasance. As if we needed it.

Well put, sir. It should be no surprise with a name like Ben Johnson. ;)