Randi Rhodes Suspended By Air America For Calling Clinton/Ferraro "F@%king Whores"
By Nicole Belle Wednesday Apr 02, 2008 8:02pm
At a recent appearance in San Francisco, Air America host Randi Rhodes went after Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton, calling them "whores" to a generally mixed reception by the audience.
"Hillary is a big f**king whore, too. You know why she's a big f**king whore? Because her deal is always, 'Read the fine print, a**hole!'"
Rhodes has been now been suspended from the network. Air America released the following statement:
Air America has suspended on-air host Randi Rhodes for making inappropriate statements about prominent figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, at a recent public appearance on behalf of Air America in San Francisco which was sponsored by an Air America affiliate station.
"Air America encourages strong opinions about public affairs but does not condone such abusive, ad hominem language by our Hosts," said chair Charlie Kireker.
I'm a fan of Randi, but this is completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, this is the kind of thing that happens in the heat of a long, drawn out primary season.
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When will O'rly get suspend too?
It is best to be polite and to puncture the pontificating with the sharpness of one's wit.
Unfortunately our public discourse has grown ever so shallow.
BS BS BS !!! She said what a lot of us think. Using the Whore word is common on radio she just added fucking in front of it during an off radio appearance. The Greens are Hillary supporters. If she said that about anyone else on the conservative side it would have been okay.
randi should know better. no excuse.
She deserves to be suspended!
I've never heard anyone ever call a sitting US Senator a name like that.Never.
"Unfortunately, this is the kind of thing that happens in the heat of a long, drawn out primary season."
I respectfully disagree. Randi's outburst is just plain stupid and is hers alone. Despite my growing frustration with the length of the primaries, I have not yet been compelled to resort to calling people F-ing whores, nor have I seen others devolve to the same level.
Now, I have been known to hurl an F-bomb at GWB due to my frustration with the length of his administration, but I think I may be forgiven that.
"Fu@king Whores" is the new Macacca!
Lighten up, Francis.
She just showed how ignorant and petty she is.Time for her to go!
Sounds like free speech to me.
C'mon, Randi. Delusional egomaniac and pathological liar maybe, but I don't think she posts at backpage.com.
She is an egomaniac, I can't even listen to her bloviate anymore. BYE, BYE Randi BYE, BYE.
Hannah Hussein @ 2:
Sometimes brevity is in order: and calling a spade a space, or in this case a whore a whore, is preferred.
Time is money, after all... and I am tired of Clinton et al wasting mine.
Bah, her behavior was clearly acceptable to the people at the event. To me it views like a stand-up routine: designed to shock you and make you think. I don't think she was being literal (Clinton does have a bit of a rep as an ice queen does she not?) so... Bah right back at the powers that be.
Personally I think doing that kind of job (liberal radio host) would be enough to drive anyone a bit off these last 7 years or so. Seemed half comedy half blowing off steam to me.
Who gives a phlying phuck what that moron says.
Rhodes is an annoying whiner. I can't stand listening to her.
......at a comedy club on a weekend night at a function where I believe she was unaffiliated with Air America Radio? Goodness I no we're ll wilting flowers here and all but is it a stretch to be protesting against the government and being sanctioned by my employer for having done so and having Randi's speech rights abridged like this?
I called her unhinged a year ago and got attacked for it. She called for the same thing Rush did, switching party affiliation to change the vote. No one said shit then. She's the left's version of Malkin...only a lot smarter and educated.
Rhodes should be given a raise for that.
Randi, how could you?
I agree with NB. I've admired Randi's outspoken chutzpah in the past and she's been so often right on. But this was awful, just awful. Made me wince. We'll get no where by being this divisive and ugly. Bad taste in the mouth.
(*but happy to be first post for the first time!*)
Oops! Too late to be first!
Thats right with all the crap the neo cons are doing to this country spend all your time bashing democrats for laughs. She could be fired and I could care less. We don't need our version of Rush. We're better than this.
So, does this mean Ann Coulter or Michael Weiner-savage gets the gas chamber at dawn tomorrow?
Didn't think so
Is Randi the new Janis Joplin? You may not like Hillary's politics but it wasn't all that easy in the mid-60's to be a young women trying to be educated for a profession in the all too male world. Many of us our postmenopausal but we don't deserved to be mocked! Does Randi hate her mother too? Obama doesn't need Randi's mouth or the Obama girl's chest to help him. By the way, are breast implants part of the Obama health plan?
Big Deal...that was it!?!?! It was a comedy routine ferchrisakes!! What is the big freakin deal? Hey I am not a big Randi fan, usually can take her for about ten minutes...but this is supposed to be scandalous....pleeeeeease.
IH @ 6:
Why you and not Randi?
Listen, you folks are entirely too uptight. Randi has always gone a bit overboard in front of a crowd. Don't be corralled into railing on her just because she stuck her foot in her mouth. Seriously, lighten up.
I bet most of you have said worse at some point. Who cares? They are just words. You empower them only by letting yourself be offended (or allowing yourself to be manipulated into becoming offended). Don't be so thin-skinned.
robbyhusseinmack @ 15:
She was at an Air America function sponsored by the local Air America station. They have every right to suspend her over this.
And this is NOT a free speech issue. People seem to think free speech means that you can say anything you want with impunity. That's not what it means. Free Speech means that the government has no right to impinge on your statements, or jail you for something that you've said. You still must deal with the repercussions of your speech on a private level. You can't be put in jail for calling Hillary a whore, but you absolutely CAN be suspended by your employer if they feel that violates their employment tenets.
Can Hillary sue Randi for definition of character?
BCIASB @ 11:
Not the point. The right will run with this. "The Angry Liberal". "How can we let a group like this run a country". Just not a good decision by her and for us.
Dear Air America,
FUCK YOU! You suspend Randi for expressing her views on her PERSONAL time. You fire Mike Malloy for being angry when anyone with 1/10th of a brain should be mad at all the shit that's going on. The right wing says what they want, when they wish, no matter who they hurt and you cocksuckers play this weak ass "good cop" bullshit in the middle of a knife fight. Go to hell with your weak ass AAR!
mudshark @ 6:
Dick? Dick Cheney? That you?
This suspension makes me mad... Randi's words aren't going to kill/harm anyone. They aren't racist and Rhodes doesn't strike me as a woman hater... Whereas Clinton could royally throw the next election to McCain and finish Carl Roves stated goal of destroying the democratic party for ever... (sometimes I wonder if they're all in it together, but that would be tin-foil hat territory wouldn't it?)
A couple of years ago, I did an experiment for about 5 months. I had recently taken a job where I needed to commute about an hour each way. I put the radio buttons on all the talk stations, left and right, and switched around them as i drove. When one had a commercial I switched to another. Got the morning shows and the later afternoon / evening ones.
They're all (well, not all but most) over the top. Randi Rhodes especially. She was right up there with Rush Limbaugh and Tony Snow with her exagerated claims and hyperbole. Entertaining? Yes. A source of informed and reasoned commentary? No. Antics, antics, and more antics.
Anyway, after about 5 months, I had had enough. But I did decide that - while I identify mostly with so-called lefty ways of thinking - both left and right radio talk show hosts are FOS. (not counting Thom Hartman)
Funny this.
Clinton has taken the gloves off and yet when people call the clinton camp out on their scorched earth tactics and perhaps call them a few names for good measure... my goodness gracious the clinton camp finds that unacceptable.
How much you wanna bet a CEO's phone rang at 3am and he was told him to shitcan Randy via the ever so chilled clinton camp.
Hillary, gtfo and take your rovian bullshit with you please.
“… I can no more disown Randi Rhodes than I can disown the blogging community. I can no more disown her than I can my white supporters - supporters who helped raise me in the polls, supporters who slandered my opponent again and again, supporters who love me as much as they love anything in this world…”
B. Obama
;)
Why is this unacceptable?
Seems fairly accurate for starters ...
It's sad that we live in a world where someone telling their honest opinion gets suspended for it.
Hillary has no qualms with child labor and imperialistic NAFTA-like practices and she is being considered for president.
Randi get suspended from her job for calling her a "fucking whore."
It's repulsive that any progressive/liberal would be against Randi on this.
douglas in oklahoma @ 356:
They are?
Not the last book I saw kiddo ... might want to check those fats, er, opinions of yours.
Wish there was a way to suspend HuffBO from the internets. ... now that's become one foul cesspool of sensationalized headlines and trolling. I'm done with their tired-ass routine. I did love Randi when she said republicans were gross because they drink white wine in the winter.
Arianna Huffington and Al Franken know that politics makes strange bedfellows, but I can't imagine any sex-worker who would countenance posing for a photo like this one.
Cute BlueDog, buuuuut wait....Why should I hate B. Obama? Because he's inspiring? Because he's voted similarly to HRC? Because when he was 20 points down in the polls he didn't react like a neo-con thug? Because he refuses to stump for McCain over his in-party rival? Clarify it for me? We know how HRC and BO are the same, spell it out why I should vote for HRC? BO has more experience as an elected official, he's done more hands-on experience in the community, his talking points aren't the same one's from 1992. Hit me with it, what makes HRC the better candidate?
pickles @ 365:
If only there were some way to avoid going to a site....Damn you Al Gore and your Stalinist Internet!!!!
I support Air America and listen to it daily. However, Randy Rhode's bitter rhetoric is too familiar. She often sinks to the same level of the hate merchants on the right, she just substitutes names. Let her go Air America! She can find an audience working with or perhaps appearing on Jerry Springer.
Wow! Blue Dogs support Hillary! Big %&$#@!& surprise. I know Strom Thurmond isn't running, but at least you'll have McCain when Hillary completes her implosion. Still happy about those two Bush votes? May the self-styled moderates be so easily manipulated forever!
The only thing that really bothers me about this whole thing is the connection between the Greens and the Clinton campaign. The incident was 2 weeks ago and the video online since then...what took so long for AA to take action if RR was so aggregious? I think it took some time for the Clinton campaign to become aware of it and complain to the Greens...they took action immediately in response. Im uncomfortable with the idea that a political campaign (any party) can cause an employee to be disciplined for speaking out...or for any reason whatsoever.
Let her go Air America! She can find an audience working with or perhaps appearing on Jerry Springer.
When the humorless and clueless fired Marc Maron, we who were listening in San Francisco on the AAR affiliate, the one that hosted the recent RR shindig, were subjected to his replacement, Jerry Springer.
Not a good year for Randi. First, she gets her teeth knocked-out in an attack, and now this.
Hillary takes money (boatloads) from new money society climbers like Susie Buell Tompkins. She and then husband Dougie ran Esprit (based in SF) and were VIRULENT Union busters and overseas slave labor abusers, all they way until they cashed out. Research away - it's all there - to be ignored by the Hillary supporters...
Why does Hillary hate Unions? Why does Hillary take money from Union busters??
That's true. But no one ever said free speech doesn't come without consequences. Air America is not the Federal or State govt, so her free speech rights were not being infringed upon. The GOVERNMENT is not silencing her, her employer is. Nothing illegal about that. Last I checked the 1st Amendment only prevents the GOVERNMENT from passing laws limiting speech.
Thank god we have so many people here who feel that politicians are too easy a target for comedians.
We need to protect this class of people as they have almost no power and little influence on our society.
fiver
Wrong. I'm not a BlueDogDem. And really, find anything I've said that defends Hillary.
I just don't like that Air America and RR have become the ALL OBAMA station. Randi supported Bill Clinton for years, setting the record straight on every lie that people like Rush said about him. Now she's spreading the lies that she once reputed.
All I can think is that many of you don't actually listen to Randi and are just making pre-concieved assumptions. If you really were a long time listener you would know how her tone has become unbearably shrill and she treats Obama like he's the Second Coming.
Listen, you can love Obama all you want but here's a clue: He's not The Messiah. Really people, get a grip.
Who is Air America afraid of? In Hillary's case she should have added lying F #)#)#)#) W#)$)$)!
Do they think Air America will win praise from Fox for their appropriate response? This is a political war for the heart and soul of our country.
I don't know how people listen to her. I'd like to see her and Rush Limbaugh in a steel cage death match.
If a station can hire you because of your name value, they ought to be able to fire you for it.
It's sad that so many here defend calling Hillary Clinton a "f*cking wh*re." Imagine if someone had called Barack Obama a nasty name - let's say a person said, 'Oh, he's a f*cking n*gger.' You'd want them eviscerated! This is a double-standard that proves the power of the Republican hate machine which has seared the notion that Clinton is the Devil into our collective unconscious.
On another note, I'm a little tired of hearing people complain about the Democratic Party coming apart at the seams. When someone wins, regardless of who it is, the vast majority of the party will rally behind that candidate - regardless of what they say now. It always happens; even McCain found grudging love amongst his once-enemies. Furthermore, people are complaining that the Democratic Party's process has too much democracy in it. Hillary should set down! Even though she's winning! For the good of the party!
I believe Randi Rhodes was the best left wing talk show host, by a long shot, for several years. However, in the last year or two she has become an insufferable egomaniac. If I have to hear about Willie Nelson's wife one more time, or how close she is to John Conyers, I think I'll smash my radio.
Randi, you need time off to think about who you are and what you should be doing with the voice you have been given. Maybe you can some day get back to what you once were. In the meantime, it won't make much difference to me, because I have increasingly found you unlistenable.
DMad43 @ 375:
Good to see people defending corporate censorship. After all, there's ten media giants controlling nearly all the airwaves. How many more opinions could you possibly want? It's good that people are still willing to trust giant conglomerates to make sure we only hear what's good for us. To hell with the fact that the censorship is applied to publicly owned airwaves. In corporations we trust.
She's a typical Obamite. Bringing people together with his minions using vial sick epithets while he stands back and says nothing. Typical Rovian tactics. Truly a new kind of politics. W all over again.
Meat @ 380:
you say "she's winning"
I say stop hogging all the crack rocks
Good points Green Eagle.
It's all crystal clear now. Randi smoked some blunt with the Nelsons and watched an Obama speech. Now she thinks it was a spiritual awakening. (don't take the brown acid).
First Amendment – Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause; freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly; right to petition
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
I will say that it did not appear that much thought went into what Randi had written beforehand. It was a scripted speech, after all...But, with that said, it is rather hypocritical that, in such an atmosphere of "swiftboating" politics and our "oh so sensitive" culture, we act as if we can ill afford to have someone say something negative about a sitting Senator or any powerful person while a war (occupation) whose blood could fill the Tigris is raging in Iraq and while our freedoms, already on a slippery slope, are being ravaged by a mortal fool and his pathetic minions who find the constitution to be nothing more than a "goddamned piece of paper" and whose idea of torture is anything they can get away with while a complicit press turns a blind eye and the economy kneels in fits and starts and Iran is in the sights of the warmongers hell-bent on destruction or Israel continues to brutally fence off a state like its no more than a prison called Palestine and Afghanistan resurges on the drug and terror market and China looms in the background chomping at the bit! Yes! God forbid someone says “she’s a fucking whore” or “Goddamn America” or “go fuck yourself” or “fascist” or “Bush doesn’t like black people”, etc etc etc!
We better focus on a blue dress or a governor paying for it or a gay affair or a black preacher (speaking the truth) or March Madness or baseball season or The Oscars or The Grammies or who’s hair is prettier or which super star is best suited to be a mom or who is the anti-Christ or any other such bullshit we can wallow in!
For shame we allow such rhetoric from a DJ ruin our little goddamned freedom party!
Sure, it is unfortunate that someone of her intelligence would allow herself to write such a script and present it before a camera knowing full well that it would get out there and the neocon meat grinder would lunge full force, but it is not what this country should consume themselves with for this or any other news cycle! It is still freedom of speech despite how ill-conceived it may have been, right? Or has that right been swallowed by ultrasensitive buffoons unaware that this particular freedom is what all other freedoms hinge upon? It is the one right, the only one that guarantees all the others...
I was at the SF event, so this is a first-hand account.
It held in an over-21 nightclub theater.
It was promo event for the local AA affiliate Green960. It was not an Air America event.
It was a large venue -- and packed (sold out). The program director said it was the station's largest event ever.
RR performed a comedy routine. It consisted of jokes, political jokes.
It was over-the-top and rude. Just like in an over-21 nightclub theater. Or an HBO roast.
Following the performance RR signed autographs while live music was played from the stage.
That's what happened.
I don't get why this is so unacceptable. Randi Rhodes isn't a political figure or political surrogate. And she looks like she's basically providing entertainment here. Isn't this really just the kind of thing you don't like if you're a Hillary fan, otherwise you don't mind it?
I'm not saying it's a free speech issue. There's no infringement by the state if her employer suspends her or even fires her. But, at the same time, I don't see why folks are in such a flutter about it.
I may be wrong, but I don't see how Randi calling Hillary a fucking whore is going to end the war any faster. Free speech is important, but so is personal responsibility.
@BlueDog
First, you need to chill out with the "all men are sexists" stereotyping. You yourself are being a sexist by suggesting all men, myself being one, are such. Don't be a hypocrite. It gets annoying after you spew it for post after post after post, etc. and so forth.
Secondly, we get it. Randi hasn't been the butter for your biscuit the last few months. No need to repeat it every 3 entries.
Finally, I know Obama isn't "the Second Coming of Christ." But he's still a damn shade better than Hillary Clinton. I base that conclusion not on what the media, pundits and pundit-wannabes tell me, but on the fact she voted *for* the authorization for military action against Iraq bill only to try and cop out (during her presidential campaign, mind you) and say she "didn't know" bush would use it to attack Iraq. A Bush with a bill called "Authorization for Military Action Against Iraq"? Are you shi**ing me? A chance to do what "daddy Bush" didn't and make a lot of money for his buddies? Seriously. I immediately knew what was going to happen when that bill hit the floor. And the fact she voted for it, tried to cop out of it during her presidential campaign, and not admit it was a mistake (simply playing to the middle/right on that one, so she doesn't look 'soft' on national security)...that's inexcusable.
So yes, I'm a man. No, I don't give women grief because they're women. Yes, I know Randi isn't what she used to be, to you. And yes, I know Obama isn't God. My point is calm down and stop with the hypocritical sexist remarks. The victim card gets old. Quick.
el @ 390:
You mean like when aaaa we are called racists for not sipping at the cup of Obama? Your right it does get REAL old.
Bad form to reply to my own post, but I need to clarify. I don't KNOW whether it was an Air America event or not, but I didn't see any Air America signage or Air America sponsorship acknowledgement. I received the email promos, which read as follows:
"An Evening with Randi Rhodes: A Benefit for Green 960 and Bay Area Progressive Talk Radio"
The only obvious sponsor was Moore's Martial Arts and the Laser Eye Center.
Sorry if my earlier post was misleading.
Quote: "I may be wrong, but I don’t see how Randi calling Hillary a fucking whore is going to end the war any faster. Free speech is important, but so is personal responsibility."
It's not a free speech issue. It's not even really about ending the war. It's about entertaining people. And like every kind of entertainment out there, some are gonna like it and some aren't. I really don't get what the uproar is about. But there sure does seem to be one.
BlueDog @ 377:
Go back to Johnson's blog. You're getting stale here.
@RLF
I don't recall calling anyone a racist. But if you want to stereotype me by throwing me in with someone else's remarks, completely disregarding my own, go right ahead. That'll be your own brand of prejudice.
Johnsons blog? I have no idea what or who you mean?
Pardon me Nicole, but grow up. What kind of thug are you that would punish ANYONE for having an opinion REGARDLESS how at odds with yours?
This should be precisely NONE of your business ... NO tests for political correctness.
I'm not a 'fan' of Rhodes for different reasons - but unlike Brian, I wont throw her to your wolves because she isnt a favorite.
And for those who ARE applying their own test for 'decency' to this ... piss off. No one and I mean NO ONE should be held to your standards BUT YOU!
I am not defending Rhodes - as a fan - I am not a fan. But my reaction to her comments are - its her business.
She's an idiot for copying Randy Rhoads' name in the first place.
What kind of behavior do you expect from a left wing Michael Savage that probably hit the bar before she hit the stage? Her barfly ranting is the only entertaining thing on Air America, as goofy as it is.
What does Free Speech mean? Who cares what she said. The Clintons are whores, and Ferraro is a old slutbag! ha ha Why even play into the drama. I believe Imus should have kept his job and Randi too. If we let these people control the constitution, which includes OUR airwaves, they will control us and tell us what to say and when to say it.
Hillary's not a whore. No one would pay for that shit.
muddy-
OT, but...
anything interesting in your in-box lately? (nudge nudge, wink wink)
Left&Left has it right...FUCK YOU AIR AMERICA!.....fuckin pussies.
anon @ 37:
See my post at #29. You might want to rethink your position.
lost_nacf_gop @ 33:
Yeah, Go F Ys.LOL,;)
I thought it was pretty damn accurate myself! Come ON, people! This AIN'T the friggin' Liberty University! And I happen to agree with Randi. Hilly's a workin' girl! She's workin' the system for all it's worth! She needs to step aside now that her and Hillbilly Billy with his wild will are worth FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS! BTW, what do YOU have in common with someone worth fifty million dollars?
wow... i'd given up thinking you were going to touch this...
i'm a huge randi fan... she is incredibly smart and quick and spot on...
dramatic and emotional, too much, at times...
but i am torn about this one... i'll agree it was over the top,
BUT, it was a stand-up show... it was NOT on her radio show...
bring her back - we need randi's knowlegde, gut and passion...
i've said plenty of times, i wish hillary was not "whoring" herself and her campaign to FOX and MURDOCH and SCAIFE and even LIMPBALLS...
good gawd...
way too bad it got this crummy, for sure...
"I’ve never heard anyone ever call a sitting US Senator a name like that.Never."
Seems to me like ol Jay Rockefeller's a fucking whore. As is Trent Lott. As is I'd say about 80-90% of congress. What planet are you on that you dont see the fucking of the world by these bullshit artists ? Hello K-Street get me 909 ! Nafta, ok ? Nafta ? She voted for the war, so the responsibility for hundreds of thousands of deaths is on her hands as well as all the others; all for NOTHING! And you havent heard them called whores before ? What, perchance might be the proper term? War criminals ? Traitors ? Idiots ? Greedy ......fill in blank by all means.
robbyhusseinmack @ 17:
No. In the words of Charlie Kireker, she was appearing on Air America's behalf, at an event sponsored by an Air America affiliate station.
I agree with Nicole Belle.
Randi needs to tell AAR to shove it, resign, and take her show over to Nova M with Mike Malloy. For her to return to this embarrassment of a "liberal" network for chastising and disrespecting her would be a mistake.
AAR SUCKS. So does Hillary Clinton. Both of them ARE whores and are both the root cause of the problems bringing down what's left of the Democratic party, in both the media and political arenas. Fuck 'em both and kudos to Randi for telling it like it is. These a-holes who want to censure her for doing a stand-up routine and doing her schtick are just as totalitarian as the criminal jackasses we're trying to drive out of the White House right now.
el @ 396:
Nothing personal. I'm replying more to the typical Obamist. Your post simply made a convenient conduit.
When knew? Randi is funny. Now we can quibble about Hillary, but Geraldine, she had it coming. The woman has become a racist (or probably has always been one). Nothing wrong with calling it like you see them.
BlueDog @ 393:
May I quote you then?
*ahem*
Post #333
Post #341
Post #346
And my mom died of lung cancer 3 years ago. Thanks for reminding me.
Darn. el @ 401, you beat me to it.
Insipid @ 225:
I'm married in a bi-racial relationship, and if someone called my wife a low-life N-word whore, I would probably retaliate with words, or actions certainly. I still support their right to say it. Just like I thought it was ridiculous that Don Imus