Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

Hypocrisy and the Masters of Smear

Smear seems to be the such a commonplace occurrence in talk radio and pundit TV that it seems the talking heads spend more time demonizing the opposition than actually putting forth solutions to the real problems plaguing our country and the world. Listening to talk radio hosts, be it the dominant right wing opinionistas or the miniscule but growing left, they all seemed focused on the same topics. The right is smearing children who give a face to the SCHIP program, the ineffectual Democrat-dominant Congress, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Primary frontrunners, immigration and war critics who, day after day, are proving to have been correct from the beginning. The left seems fixated on the Senator Larry Craig, right wing talk pundits and the President’s veto of anything that he hasn’t specifically dictated.

One of the latest topics that have provided fodder for both sides is a recent incident involving Air America Radio talk host Randi Rhodes. Over the weekend she took a spill while walking her dog that resulted in facial and dental injuries severe enough to keep her off the air for a few days. AAR host Jon Elliot broke the story and speculated that right wing detractors may have attacked Randi, touching off a wave of conspiracy theories that burned up the left wing blogs and shows. Shortly after the story broke, Ms. Rhodes attorney issued a statement that there was no truth to the rumors and that she had stumbled and fell while walking her dog. According to his press release, Ms. Rhodes had no memory of what caused the spill but she did not report it to the police and had no suspicions of foul play. This forced a retraction by Jon Elliot and the accusatory blogosphere that threw red meat to the right wing pundits. One specifically rabid detractor was Brian Maloney who hosts the Radio Equalizer blog. He was correct to criticize the conspiracy mongering of the left wing for speculating an extreme point of view that has left the accusers with egg on their face. But, not content to let this issue lie, he has joined a chorus of right wingers in hinting that Ms. Rhodes may have stumbled as a result of imbibing some sort of debilitating substance. Hoping to dredge up some new controversy the right is trying to make the case that Ms. Rhodes has substance abuse issues, giving them delicious pleasure in light of the attacks on Rush Limbaugh when he was busted (albeit lightly rebuked) for the same purpose. Randi’s defenders like to point out that her critics aren’t breaking anything and that she has admitted as such on her show. The bottom line is that no one knows what happened and what caused her to stumble and be injured. Supposedly, she has no memory of the incident.
Whether that is because of the head trauma she suffered or not is a point of speculation. Whether Randi can’t recall or has chosen not to share is a fact that will only be clarified if the party or parties involved choose to or are capable of enlightening an ever-curious public.

Regardless of what happened, the right wishes to charge Randi and her defenders with hypocrisy as they feel that Rush Limbaugh was unfairly accused for abusing prescription drugs and that Ms. Rhodes is not being held to account by the left. Randi’s defenders, on the other hand, give a speculative defense, suggesting that if drugs or alcohol were a factor, she should be given much greater latitude as she has always been open about the subject and compassionate towards substance abusers.

Hypocrisy runs rampant with both right wing and left wing radio. This is what happens when gifted communicators and the companies they work for sell out to become house organs for political parties.

This has always been true with those on the right wing of the spectrum. Even the so-called "Libertarians" like Neal Boortz tend to reflect Republican principles and beat the drum for party causes with rare exceptions.

There is no doubt that AAR was established from the get go to be a flack for the Democratic Party. The problem is few Democrats own radio stations or are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and major national advertisers so they had a difficult time accessing stations and advertising dollars. And the moneyed Democrats did little to help in building and sustaining AAR 1.0 as Shelly Drobny points out in his book "Road To Air America".

Randi's a phenomenal talent, bright and highly entertaining. But she's also a Democratic Party loyalist. Rather than using her bully pulpit to get the Democratically dominated congress to do the job they were hired to do, she continues to enable, justify and spin for the failure of Pelosi and Reid to stand up to the President. This is even more so now that Green is at the helm.
The money may finally be coming in as Wall Street is wisely currying favor with the Dems, reflected in Hillary's warchest. FEC reports show that, for the first time in decades, Wall Street campaign donations to Democrats exceed spending to Republicans by a 3 to 2 ratio. I'm sure AAR is getting a piece of that as well.

I can't help but wonder, as the approval ratings for Congress and the President continue to plummet, if this isn't wearing on Randi? I'm sure there is much she wants to say but won't because she knows who butters the bread. Perhaps this was nothing more than an accident and the lawyers are running interference to distance their client and the party from unfounded accusations and, perhaps, to minimize intrusion into Ms. Rhodes personal issues.

Regardless, the hysteria of radio on both sides of the issue makes me realize that this is not a left/right thing, its a Dem/Rep thing and its a meticulous balancing act to not piss off the advertisers and donors... ironically.. the same people dishing out dollars to both camps.
God, how I miss independent voices in radio. But I guess this is the reality when no broadcasting company or network has the balls or intelligence to innovate non-traditional revenue sources in an effort to be a truly independent voice.

Labels: Democrats, hypocrisy, pundits, Radio Equalizer Brian Maloney, Randi Rhodes, Republicans, smear, talk radio

posted by Dave Carroll @ 10/18/2007 10:07:00 AM