Liberal Response to Randi Rhodes' "Non-Mugging"

Image from source, LTRadio.com

Over the last several days, a story lit the blogosphere on fire. Randi Rhodes, the firebrand talk show host on Air America Radio was believed to have been the victim of a mugging. It was posited by a fellow host on her network (during a back-and-forth with a caller) that her attacker may have been a rabid right-winger out for revenge. This inspired much speculation, and many tinfoil hats were donned in the left half of blog-world.

Right-wingers initially did not seem skeptical of the attack, only the right-wing attacker part of the story. They also had exceedingly nasty things to say about Rhodes, someone they allegedly hadn't heard of or listened to.

As the story grew, details--originally sketchy--started to emerge, and it became apparent that Rhodes probably hadn't been attacked after all. She tripped, or fell, or passed out--even she isn't sure, exactly. Her quick, two-sentence email to Air America (while still bleeding, and without front teeth), was misinterpreted and blown out of proportion--by both sides. And one side (two guesses) is still at it, nasty as ever. Here is an excellent response by a fellow liberal blogger.

[Excerpt]

The mugging that never happened, and the mugging that did

An open letter to the conservative blogosphere, in regard to the whole Randi Rhodes brewhaha yesterday:Okay, we screwed the pooch on that one. There appears to be no mugging. No creepy conservative goons lurking in the shadows beating up defenseless women (at least not in this case). We got our information from a credible source, Jon Elliott, who got his own wires crossed and jumped to conclusions on an opinionated talk show. From there, it trickled down to Democratic Underground and Daily Kos, then to Talking Radio and everywhere else. One of your own, Matt Drudge, even linked it. [snip]

Later, Elliott himself issued an apology, "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. I wish Randi nothing but the best and look forward to a speedy recovery." [snip]

But this wasn't enough. Oh no. You guys in the conservative blogosphere were crapping mountains with glee, wagging those self-important fingers with false pride about 'dem librulz is lyers.'. .

Read the whole thing at: LTRadio.blogspot.com