Air America host Randi Rhodes wasn't mugged

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Daily News

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.

-----

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."

-----

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."



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/10/16/2007-10-16_air_america_host_randi_rhodes_wasnt_mugg.html

[Buzz Clik]

1. Oh, my. This should be embarrassing for those who immediately assumed it was a rightwing attack.

[againes654]

2. Or a telling sign of the times we live in

[Der Blaue Engel]

4. Except that the reports on Air America were that she was mugged

So it's not as if anyone here leaped to that conclusion based on nothing more than "Randy fell and busted her teeth." Speculation on who might have mugged her and why, given the report of a mugging, doesn't seem to be out of the bounds of rational thought.

[Buzz Clik]

16. Speculation is not equivalent to rational thought.

[Hugin]

17. The reaction was to what was reported...

and the assumption it was fact.

No need for embarrassment.

[JeanGrey]

58. We had no proof that anyone from the right wing assaulted

her.

[Hugin]

62. But, we did have an article from the Miami Herald posted in LBN which said she had been...

Which is what people were reacting to.

In case you missed it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3030160

[JeanGrey]

64. It's a huge stretch from "she's been assaulted" to "she's been

assaulted by a right winger". We cannot stoop the level of the right.

[Hugin]

66. I guess the uninvestigated Anthrax attacks left many feeling vulnerable...

Yeah, that's it.

[Der Blaue Engel]

19. A rational person can engage in speculation

[progressoid]

23. Just goes to show...

Just because it's left wing media doesn't make it accurate media.

[tom_paine]

28. Always good to remember that, lest we become like the Loyal Bushies

which is a state of weak-minded mental enslavement I wouldn't wish on anyone, as it opens the door to be manipulated by evil for evil's own purposes.

Skepticism is almost always healthy.

[damntexdem]

5. Maybe it was a rightwing staircase.

Maybe the dog did it. Does anyone know Simon's politics?

[Buzz Clik]

18. I blame the dog. It's a known fact that dog's tend to be rabid rightwingers.

Think about it -- dogs are noisy, aggressive, and spend a lot of time snuffling each other inappropriately in public. That is mainstream GOP behavior.

[Retired AF Dem]

41. They never learn

As in the case of the "white supremest groups" that killed the Judges family.

[JeanGrey]

57. I thought that we jumped the gun on this too quick.

We should take care in the future not to do what the righties do!

[hedgehog]

3. Where did John Elliot get his information? nt

[Lance_Boyle]

6. insert goatse picture here

*THAT'S* where he got his "information."

[hedgehog]

26. goatse?

[Lance_Boyle]

31. you don't wanna know - don't google it

Suffice it to say my previous post means that Mr. Elliott pulled that "fact" straight from his rectum.

[NoodleyAppendage]

7. Or, was Randi threatened not to press charges or report what really happened?

Short of learning that she has a seizure disorder, I find it very odd that she would fall with enough force to break teeth and then not remember anything about the incident.

J

[Teaser]

9. you ARE kidding,right?

uh, falls do that. All the time.

I work in a hostpital. With neurologists.

Not unusual at all.

[NoodleyAppendage]

11. Not kidding. If she were knocked unconsious then some PTA, but not amnesia for the initial cause.

Post-traumatic amnesia is not uncommon, as you indicate, but what is more uncommon and unlikely is complete amnesia for the cause of the event. Even patients with severe TBI have some recollection of what prompted their head injury (e.g., "I was driving and then there was this train in front of me.").

J

[Stewie]

27. True, but they don't remember the few seconds before or after.

They'll remember the train, but not always the collision. It's very, very common for people who have tripped and fallen to strike their head so hard they don't remember the fall.

[regnaD kciN]

34. I had a bike accident one time...

...where I remember starting to lose control, and remember coming to lying on the ground with a major case of road rash, but nothing in between. I was wearing a helmet, so sustained no serious injury, but still don't remember the actual crash.

[Mike Daniels]

22. News Flash. Randi isn't that big of a threat to the Repubs.

The number of people who have heard of Randi is probably smaller than the number of people who've never heard of Rush Limbaugh.

I'm really sure the GOP has their sites on someone who doesn't have an iota of influence on the general public's perception of things.

[Ian David]

56. Like the "unsavory elements" at MSNBC? n/t

[movonne]

37. My friend fell and it looked like she had been mugged..or an abused

wife...she fell straight down on her face...

[JeanGrey]

59. We don't know why she fell. There are a zillion reasons

for falling.

[NoodleyAppendage]

69. If she has no memory for what happened, then how can mugging be ruled out?

If the argument is Randi tripped and fell and incurred a head injury, for which she has no memory. Then how can the claim be made so forcefully that it wasn't a mugging or assault? To exclude the possibility MUST mean that she does know what happened.

J

[AndyA]

8. It was that last double scotch that did her in.

(Just kidding...)

Feel better soon, Randi! And find a companion to walk the dog with going forward - it's safer.

[Cleita]

10. I guess we will have to wait until Thursday to get

the story from Randi herself. I fell roller skating and broke some teeth once on the concrete.

[Ian David]

12. There are four possibilities, as I see it.

1) Jon Elliott is a crazy idiot.

2) An unknown third-party misinformed Jon Elliott

3) Randi actually WAS attacked, but she and her lawyers are suppressing the story for some reason. Perhaps:
..a) It was a domestic dispute and Randi is protecting the attacker / abuser (Randi? Not the type, IMHO. But you never know).
..b) There is an ongoing police investigation and they want it kept quiet while they solve the case.
..c) It was a drug deal gone bad, and Randi wants it covered-up.
..d) Randi was herself the aggressor, but still got her ass handed to her.

4) The lawyer who called the Daily News is themselves a hoaxer, like the one that fooled Fox Noise into thinking he was representing O.J. Simpson.


Those are just the possibilities, as I see them.

Just what COULD have happened.

Anyway, I wish Randi a speedy and full recovery.

[Der Blaue Engel]

21. Speculation?? What kind of a mentally unhinged person speculates?

DU is so cute sometimes I just want to rub its belly. :D

[Ian David]

38. I admit that I know so little right now, I wouldn't feel comfortable attaching probability scores

But who knows?

Something REALLY strange could come so far out of left field, that it COMPLETELY surprises everyone.

Like maybe she had a seizure due to Mercury poisoning?

Or maybe it was a pre-arranged bondage role-playing session gone awry?

Or maybe she was about to go into her apartment building, and she thought the man in front of her was going to hold the door for her, but instead it closed unexpectedly and caught her off-balance while the man (John Kerry!?!) did NOTHING.

And why, if Randi fell down outside her building, did a woman in Building Seven also collapse?

And did you notice that the incident took place at precisely sixteen minutes after the hour... right when she should have been doing a time-check?

Anyway, I hope she not only makes a fast and full recovery, but that Dewey (!?!) starts calling into her show.

I've missed Dewey.

Did you hear him calling in to Sam today?

Does anyone know where Dewey was last night, by the way?

Or, for that matter, what about the "HeZzZZz-BOW-LAAAAaAAaaaaGGGGghhHHHHhHHGGHHHHhggGhhhh!!!!!' lady?


Let's speculate the hell out of it... since we have nothing else to go on.

[karynnj]

39. Senator Kerry has a decades old record as a gentleman

Besides he was in Lowell, Massachusetts phone banking for Niki Tsongus - and he even brought them donuts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQhSGGveC6o

The student and the police, not John Kerry were responsible for the situation. Even freedom of speech advocate Nat Henthoff of the village voice, who is a mixed bag on some issues,
"Under First Amendment law, you can loudly question, disagree with, or heckle a speaker—unless you make it impossible for the speaker to continue. That’s called “the heckler’s veto,” and is not protected by the First Amendment.

In this case, as the insistent Meyer’s own speech was fractured—his microphone cut off, college police wrestling him to the ground, handcuffing and then Tasering him—the speaker, Kerry, was saying, “That’s all right, let me answer the question.”

Then, as the boisterous student was screaming for help and pleading not to be tased, the former presidential candidate told the audience that he still wanted to answer Meyer’s “very important question.”

Clearly, this speaker was not unable to continue. On the contrary, in what I consider one of Kerry’s finest moments—amid all the turbulence, much more of it caused by the campus police than by Meyer—he still wanted to go on."


http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/runninscared/archives/2007/09/hentoff_on_the.php#comments

[Ian David]

40. I agree.

But Randi has a near pathological hatred of Kerry that I was riffing on.

[karynnj]

46. Yeah - I Didn't realize that until I heard some of her comments

repeated on DU. I had stopped listening to her years ago - when I realized that I was always turning her off and putting NPR on when I was picking up my teens because I was embarrassed by her language and her sometimes stupid extreme rants - and I am a pretty liberal Democrat.

I do hope she is better soon.

I probably erred on the side of defending Senator Kerry - I did see that it was intended as snark.

[0007]

60. "Like maybe she had a seizure due to Mercury poisoning?"

.....or sucking on one of those toxic yellow ducks from communist China

[Stewie]

63. Or....

Perhaps they're telling us she tripped over a toy plane, but there are videos being suppressed by the government showing her shoes were rigged for a controlled demolition.

[2rth2pwr]

67. Yes, LOL! nt

[tom_paine]

29. Nice analysis. But if she really didn't even file a police report

then it's probably #2 or #3b-d.

[regnaD kciN]

35. Probably the most likely explanation is...

...she had a fall and was hospitalized. During the communication between whoever represents her and whoever took the call at AAR, some misunderstandings occurred, so that the call recipient came away with the impression she had been attacked, and spread that news around AAR, where it got conveyed to Elliot.

It's not all that unusual. In the immediate aftermath of any accident, there will be a number of drastically-differing accounts of what happened, both from eyewitnesses and from those who get word of it second-hand, and a lot of these accounts are more speculation than anything else. It will take some time and correlation of accounts before the true picture begins to emerge.

[LibDemAlways]

13. This is very strange. If she wasn't mugged, how did the

story get started, and, once it did get started, why didn't she authorize someone to act immediately to officially declare the story unfounded and explain what happened. Randi is a straight shooter. This is plain weird.

[guruoo]

14. Hmmmm... interesting.

Nothing may be as it seems here.

[SIMPLYB1980]

15. Great pic!

Get well Randi.

[Javaman]

20. Well if it was a fall, then I still wish her a speedy recovery for

her accident.

[grayokc]

24. Maybe..

She isn't talking because she BUSTED TEETH and her mouth! That's usually where words come out at....

[alcibiades_mystery]

25. Oy gewalt

:rofl:

[RamboLiberal]

30. Newsday

-----

Gaulin confirmed that Rhodes was injured after she was floored by someone _ or something _ as she strolled the streets of Manhattan's Murray Hill district around 8 p.m., but wasn't sure herself what sent her tumbling to the pavement.

"She hit her head on the street and was disoriented," Gaulin said. "She's not sure what happened. She didn't see anything." He added that she never reported the incident to police.

Air America released a statement saying that "the reports of a presumed hate crime are unfounded."

Air America's vice president of programming, David Bernstein, said Rhodes missed her shows on Monday and Tuesday, but hoped to be back soon.

"She's OK. She needs a little dental work, and that's all," he said. "I spoke with Randi. She said that it happened, it took her by surprise and it's over," he said.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--people-randirhode1016oct16,0,7372381.story

[rodeodance]

45. glad she was not mugged. This should be a lesson not to jump to conclusions so fast

[tblue]

48. I didn't jump. It was at first reported as an attack, heaven knows why. nt

[vincent_vega_lives]

61. coulda been hit by a cyclist

those NYC bike messengers have been known to run into people time and again, and somtimes not stop.

[slackmaster]

32. TEH COVER-UP HAS BEGUN!!!!!111111!!!!!!

CALL CONGRESS RIGHT F***ING NOW!!!!!!!!!!

[Ekirh]

33. Well whatever may had happen . .

I wish her a speedy recovery.

I'm relieved to know she wasn't mugged though.

[deutsey]

36. That's what happens when you cast asperagus.

You get screwn.

:evilgrin:

[rodeodance]

42. Jon Elliott apologizes for faulty report of NYC mugging of Randi Rhodes

Forum Name General Discussion
Topic subject Jon Elliott apologizes for faulty report of NYC mugging of Randi Rhodes
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2062450#2062450
2062450, Jon Elliott apologizes for faulty report of NYC mugging of Randi Rhodes
Posted by RamboLiberal on Tue Oct-16-07 05:59 PM

An Air America radio personality apologized Tuesday for saying that a colleague, the liberal talk show host Randi Rhodes, had been the victim of a violent street mugging perpetrated by "the right wing hate machine."

Air America's Jon Elliott announced on his late-night show Monday that Rhodes had been assaulted Sunday while walking her dog in Manhattan near her Park Avenue apartment. He also speculated that the attack was the work of someone trying to silence a liberal voice.

-----

"I shouldn't have speculated based on hearsay that Randi Rhodes had been mugged and that it may have been an attack from a right wing hate machine. I apologize for jumping to conclusions based on an emotional reaction," he said in a written statement.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--people-randirhode1016oct16,0,7372381.story

[rodeodance]

43. k

[rodeodance]

44. REC

[slackmaster]

47. Kudos to him for being more of an adult than most so-called journalists

:toast:

[cali]

50. A cynic might say that he's interested in keeping his job

and repairing his reputation.

[slackmaster]

53. Whatever motivation it takes is OK with me

:hi:

[onehandle]

49. Hilarious. I was out of town, but assume that DUers went nuts.

Right-Wingers! DLC! The Pope!

Who done it!

Ha ha.


Best to Randi.

[ronnykmarshall]

51. The POPE!

That's a new one.

Here's what I think happened.

Randi was walking her dog and on the phone to Stephanie Miller. Randi made the mistake of telling Steph aka "Momma" that she ran into Keith Olberman while getting coffee.

Steph: Oh my god! What did he say? Did he ask about me? Does he think I'm cute? Did you tell him about me?

Randi: ...... Oh shit! ....

Phone goes dead.

[Kaylee]

52. Didn't Steph get injured last week walking her dog, Max....

I believe there may be a canine conspiracy against liberal talk show hosts. Dun, dun, dunnnn....

[slackmaster]

54. I read here that Al Franken wasn't mugged either

And I was SHOCKED!

[ldf]

55. okay, okay already.

i officially apologize for assuming the worst.

can you blame us? it came from AAR.

geez.

:spank:

ow!

:spank:

ow!!

:blush:

[rocktivity]

65. Air America management have no one to blame but themselves

If it had been a "mere accident," then that's what they should have said, and immediately. The latest reports says that Randi says she isn't sure what happened. So how can an attack, politcially motivated or otherwise, be automatically ruled out? Is is any wonder that people are specualating?

:headbang:
rocknation

[BornagainDUer]

68. Maybe the muggers told her if she filed a police report they would come back...

and do worse!

(((JUST KIDDING)))hee,hee. :hide:

[mhatrw]

70. What's the frequency, Kenneth? n/t

[Steady]

71. How many did she down ?

Let me get this straight, she spends the afternoon in an Irish pub watching football, walks outside to have a smoke, then falls on her face, and she wonders what happened to her ? :rofl:

[John Kerry VonErich]

72. Give credit where it's due

I had to laugh at that one. But Gawker is saying she had 16 Bloody Marys

[ChazII]

73. I wouldn't have made it past the table but then

I communion wine makes me tipsy.