This Randi Rhodes story just keeps getting better and better….

For those of you who didn’t read my blog yesterday, or are not familiar with this story, it was reported on Air America on Monday that one of their hosts, Randi Rhodes, had been mugged outside of her home in Manhattan.

Jon Elliott, another host at the network, told listeners "This does not appear to me to be a standard grab-the-money-and-run mugging," and, "Is this an attempt by the right wing hate machine to silence one of our own? Are we threatening them? Are they afraid that we’re winning? Are they trying to silence intimidate us?"

It later came out that in fact there was no mugging. The facts are still a little bit blurry, but it appears that Ms. Rhodes fell, and somehow this got escalated into an attack and ultimately a planned assault by the vast right-wing conspiracy.

My point in all of this yesterday was how amazed I was that the liberals were so willing to believe these outrageous allegations with absolutely zero proof. Heck, it turns out that there wasn’t even an attack.

Today I want to share with you some comments from readers of a prominent left site: DemocraticUnderground.com. Now keep in mind some of these comments were made before the news came out that there was not a mugging, so I don’t fault the readers for reacting too the fact that she had been mugged. As for the “leaping to far-fetched conclusions”, well you be the judge.

Below are just a few of the comments from the regular contributors to this site (with the name of the respondent at the end of each comment):

“If this was a neocon.....they have just upped the ante....” (Mad Maddie)

“I hate living in a country were I have to suspect my government did this. Random mugging? Maybe. But IMHO, the odds of her being the victim of a random assault are much, much smaller than the odds are of somebody from the BFEE (Bush Family Evil Empire) busting her chops just because they hate what she says.” (Rageneau)

“I don't believe for a second that this was a random thing” (JSK)

“Wow, my biggest fear, and I have stated several times in posts, that at some point, SOMEONE is going to snap. It may be someone on the left, or it may be someone on the right. It now appears that it may be from the right. I am too cynical to believe that Randi was a random mugging. She is too well known, especially for her outspokenness. But once it starts, it will be extremely difficult to stop. It could, literally, end in an ideology war between conservatives and liberals, that will rip this country apart. A war that will be bloody, and claim lives. And once it starts, all grievances will be addressed. We won't be able to hide from the freepers, the freepers won't be able to hide from us, the politicians will not be protected by their gated communities... the shit will, literally, hit the fan. Too bad Americans don't care enough to deal with the situation, but would rather ignore, whistling past the graveyard, until it is too late. Hell, maybe this is what has to happen before we can start to take our country back. I hope not.” (LDF)“Interesting they went for her mouth and teeth, isn't it?” (Breeze54)

“You want to know what's useless? Watching the clouds grow darker on the horizon, watching the millions of individual events signaling the transition of America from what it was 1776-2000 and whatever it will eventually become, of which this incident (if further information corroborates this to not have been a robbery, and if the perp’s aren't caught, which they likely won't be because Randi is a New Jew and her attackers then would be New Nazis, as it were, then we will know as close as we can to certainty without ironclad proof what is going on) is juts another step and one which signals that we are getting well along now. What's useless is watching all that and denying it because it's an Inconvenient Truth, perhaps the most inconvenient of the lost of them we have to deal with these days. I, for one, am willing to wait to hear what Randi has to say and to see if the cops do an "Anthrax Investigation" and the perp’s walk scot-free (that's my bet) before making final judgment. But this whole thing stinks to high heaven of the Middle Phase of the Transition of America.” (Tom_Paine)

“Yep. Nothing shocks me about the radical right in this country And this ain't no tin-foil hat shit, either. I think this is a deliberate attack from some right-wing nut jobs. We do have some wild conspiracy things that float around here on DU. I personally don't believe this is one of them. Randi has been on TV. She tells it like it is on her show, and believe me those fascists don't care about her one bit. This is one hit job, alright.” (Ishoutandscream2)

“Arrogant thugs, I feel anger and hate for the Gestapo neocon right. I will calm down sometime today. if I hear just one repuke say anything I will most likely knock their teeth out!" (froward69)

“I'm almost certain this was politically motivated. Pretty damned sickening. The right-wing hate machine needs to take at least a little blame for this - they'll of course say they had nothing to do with it, but people like Ann Coulter gleefully encouraged it. And so Amerika's Krystallnacht comes that much closer. Don't think I won't defend myself on that day...” (backscatter712)


Some interesting stuff. “Randi is a New Jew and her attackers then would be New Nazis”, “This is one hit job, alright", “And so Amerika's Krystallnacht comes that much closer”, "But this whole thing stinks to high heaven of the Middle Phase of the Transition of America.” And my favorite “It could, literally, end in an ideology war between conservatives and liberals, that will rip this country apart. A war that will be bloody, and claim lives. and once it starts, all grievances will be addressed.”

Now to be fair, there were a few people posting saying things like “Don’t jump to conclusions” and “lets wait until the whole story gets out before we start speculating”, but these folks were definitely a minority.

I do wish Ms. Rhodes a speedy recovery, and maybe we can all learn a little something from this incident. Apparently though, Air America itself has not learned anything. I just visited their website, and there is no news whatsover about the incident, which in my mind is just feeding the misinformation and left-wing frenzy.