Jon Elliott Apologizes for "Randi Rhodes Attacked" Story

Image from TheRandiRhodesShow.com

I posted earlier about Air America Radio's Randi Rhodes being mugged. . .and then not being mugged. Much of the misinformation came from a colleague of Randi's, Jon Elliott. He has now apologized.

This is a very odd story, and I'm not sure this is the final word. Two interesting things happened from this. First, was the reaction of the left-leaning blogs, which was fear, concern and outrage. Spurred by Elliott's take on the story, many commenters were given to wilder and wilder suppositions. Many things were said--in the vehemently negative--about what sort of person would attack her. I'm sure you can imagine where they went with that.

Right-leaning blogs were, on the whole, far worse, in my humble opinion. Some of the sickest, most vile posts I've yet read directed at an individual were posted about Randi today. Often, while saying no one had heard of her, or Air America, they made nasty, personal attacks. Which is it, guys? Do you know who she is or not? Or are you prone to character assassination based only upon the fact that she is a liberal radio host? Hypocrisy, thy name is FreeRepublic.com

[Excerpt]

Talk show host apologizes for faulty report of NYC mugging

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. . .

Read more at: NewsDay.com

UPDATE: Some of the vile comments I mentioned are still being written. The left is in dual "mea culpa" mode, and outrage at the nastiness still coming from the right. Many of them at the NewsDay site above. Just read it, you'll see what I mean.