Sean Hannity Uses Randi Rhodes’ Accident To Smear Her, Air America, Media Matters And More

[Ian David]

Sean Hannity Uses Randi Rhodes’ Accident To Smear Her, Air America, Media Matters And More
Reported by Ellen - October 18, 2007 - 441 comments

It takes a special man to smear a woman who just had a serious accident but that’s exactly what Sean Hannity did to Air America Radio host Randi Rhodes last night (10/17/07) on Hannity & Colmes. Supposedly liberal guest Susan Estrich repeatedly complained (and rightly so, in my view) about the need to lower the temperature of political debate but she never confronted Hannity with the slurs he was throwing around right then and there. With video.

Hannity couldn’t even wait for the discussion before he started with the insults. In his introduction he said, “Last weekend, Airhead America talk show host Randi Rhodes was reportedly mugged and beaten in NYC. Another liberal host, Jon Elliott, immediately blamed the supposedly brutal beating on a possible right-wing hate machine. Other left-wing media outlets followed suit. As it turns out, Rhodes wasn’t beaten at all. It’s believed that she fell while taking her dog for a walk. So will liberal groups like Media Matters go after irresponsible media outlets that repeated this unfounded story?”

Uh, no, because Media Matters is “dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.” Besides, as Alan Colmes later pointed out, Elliott issued a retraction and an apology. But with Hannity, apologies only seem to count when they come from conservatives like Mel Gibson or Trent Lott.

After introducing guests Neal Boortz and Estrich, Hannity said, “Immediately, without knowing the facts, (Elliott) goes on the air and said, ‘Is this an attempt by the right-wing hate machine to silence one of our own?’ he asked on the air. ‘Are we threatening them?’”

More:
http://www.newshounds.us/2007/10/18/sean_hannity_uses_randi_rhodes_accident_to_smear_her_air_america_media_matters_and_more.php

[Pawel K]

1. Well it was a stupid thing for Jon Elliott to say

do we know why the original story was that she was mugged? Who was responsible for that rumor?

[Ian David]

2. Far as I know, the mugging story originated with Jon Elliott

Please note that the right-wingers have no problem citing an "anonymous source" posting on gawker.com to claim that Randi drank three brazillion bloody mary's before the incident, and claiming that we have a reckless disregard for the truth.

See:

Right-Wing Rag NY Post Reports Randi Rhodes 'propelled to the ground,' cites anonymous sources
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2068111&mesg_id=2068111

[Pawel K]

3. The right wing does it too is not a good excuse

[AuntPatsy]

4. Your right, they do it so often that people have begun to ignore them, hypocrites the lot of em.