Randi Rhodes shows ’em how it’s done

April 3, 2006

In case you missed CNN’s Larry King show on Friday night, Air America’s [tag]Randi Rhodes[/tag] had a bit of an on-air confrontation with conservative talk-show host [tag]Martha Zoller[/tag]. It wasn’t terribly heated, but it’s worth noting anyway because it highlighted the kind of altercation — and liberal response — I’d like to see more of.

Zoller: The point is that this election is going to be about ideas. And if Republicans don’t get it together…

Rhodes: This election, Martha, is going to be about five years of your party having the majority and doing absolutely nothing for the middle class, except trying to…

Zoller: … Let’s not forget September 11th.

Rhodes: I’m sitting in New York, Martha, don’t throw this around, because I’m a half a mile from where it happened. You know, people here in New York, it’s funny, September 11th happened here. You invoke it all the time and we’re liberals, go figure. You’ve got five years. You’ve had 12 years of having a majority in the House. And then you took the Senate. Now you’ve got all three branches of government.

Zoller: But getting back to the question Larry asked…

Rhodes: … Failed policies.

King: I’ve got to get a break.

Zoller: Getting back to the question that Larry asked.

Rhodes: People are not going well in this country, Martha. That’s the problem, the problem is that it’s not working.

Now, was that so hard? I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t watch much TV news, so maybe these kinds of smackdowns are more common than they seem, but Rhodes’ responses struck me as the kind of thing that should be sent around to libs everywhere before they go on the next cable news talking-head show.

Yep, the Republicanites have had five years, and they get at least another nine months. Even after that, if the Democrats win one or two houses, the Republicanites will be messing up this country for two more years (or Bush will).

Maybe if the Democrats gain control of Congress Bush will actually have the balls to veto an appropriations bill. That might make things better, though I doubt it.

But it is nice to see a liberal pundit with some moxy.

  • I’ve been wondering for a long while why more isn’t made by the left of the fact that the city hardest hit by the 9/11 attacks voted – by a wide margin – for John Kerry in 2004. Why is it that the city that suffered the greatest trauma on that day was perfectly comfortable putting its trust in a President Kerry? Hmmmm…

    Randi did a great job in this appearance. It was a refreshing change to see a liberal talking over a wingnut.

  • I agree wholeheartedly. I mentioned in the discussion yesterday what it meant to me to get Air America here in Bellingham WA (out of Seattle, 1090). People like Randi Rhodes, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Al Franken, and (in his own Limbaugh-like way) Ed Schultz make it clear, at last, that there is a thoughtful, comedic, passionate left-wing out there. For nearly a decade I wasn’t able to listen to American radio (fortunately we can get CBC). I never watch Larry King, but tuned in Friday to see Randi. She was phenomenal.

    I’ve been referring to Air America, though some of these folks are actually produced by Jones Radio (I think that’s the name). Anyway, we need much – much more – of Randi’s knowledgeable aggressiveness. The fact that Air America is growing, in markets all over the country, suggests the need for a TV outlet as well (since that’s what electorate is addicted to). Thom Hartmann plays current folk songs (mostly anti-Bush) as leads; I think there’s enough talent out there to make a full half-hour for the such in the schedule.

  • I l like Randi Rhodes, and actually saw this segement. While Rhodes was great, much of it was how wretchedly awful Zoller performed. When she grabbed for 9/11 it was so out of the blue that it was jarring.

    Don’t get me wrong – I’m used to wingnuts citing 9/11 to justify anything and everything that dances across their delusional minds. But usually, they will work the ‘debate’ to where 9/11 is at least a somewhat related topic. In this case, Zoller spat it out in sheer desperation. She had nothing left in the tank. So while she was talking about ‘ideas’, she illustrated, in no uncertain terms, that she had none. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

    As nice as it was to see Rhodes mop the floor with Zoller, it was kind of like watching the Pittsburgh Steelers mop the floor with a Lower Podunk Jr High team.

  • Diane,
    I just read the transcript between Hewitt and Time’s Michael Ware, and Hugh is a totally idiot. First, he has to play the Hitler card in comparing Ware’s contact with the Iraqi insurgency to collaborating with the Nazis (you mean like Bush’s grandfather?). But the best was when Ware compared his situation, reporting in the most dangerous place in the world, with Hewitt’s sitting in a nice and cozy studio in New York. Hewitt’s response is a classic:

    “I’m sitting in the Empire State Building, which has been in the past, and could be again, a target. Because in downtown Manhattan, it’s not comfortable, although it’s a lot safer than where you are, people always are three miles away from where the jihadis last spoke in America.”

    Wow, life for a conservative radio host in American is simply unbearble!

  • I saw most ot that segment on Larry King too. I usually don’t watch Larry king because mostly he is just too involved in trivia. I though the funniest line of the night was when Randi (or maybe it was Ed) said the only thing Bush did was cut taxes and go on vacation. It was very hard for the “conservatives” to argue with that statement.

  • Yes, the liberals who are hired for tv — and who we elect to Congress, so perhaps it’s simply a liberal problem — are lazy bastards who figure if they show up at a tv station and respond to questions that’s all they have to do. They don’t strategize, they don’t go on the attack, even though it is not only merited, but absolute required with what has been going on in this country. They often don’t really seem to be following what’s been going on, accepting the spin that tv “news” has given things.

    They probably won’t be asking Randi back.

  • There are two meta-themes, from which Democrats can choose:
    1.) Republicans are incompetent, corrupt or stupid, and have failed;
    2.) Republicans don’t want what we want, and are not trying to get what we want; they’ve succeeded, but haven’t benefitted most Americans, (and if you, middle class American voter, don’t like what they’ve accomplished, that means you are a Democrat — welcome to the Party!)

    The second meta-theme should get the emphasis, because it has the greatest potential for building a majority. The Republicans can always change the cast of characters, to escape the incompetence charge; besides they are good at talking “seriously” in a deep voice, and that’s all it takes for some people.

    Much better are variations, which emphasize that the Republicans are aiming at goals, which the majority do not share. On the economy, for example, it is far, far more effective to say that Republicans have been highly successful at achieving THEIR goals of increased corporate profit and income for the super-wealthy, than it is, to criticize them for “failure”. Failure implies Republicans share common goals with the middle class, which is demonstrably false.

    On Iraq, even, incompetence, though it is evident everywhere, is a less effective charge, than “success”. Explain that Bush is aiming at what we’ve got, a weak Iraq, so weak that they cannot throw us out, and we cannot leave. The only way to counter a charge of “success” in Iraq, is to admit failure; let Republicans try some creative rhetoric on that dilemma.

  • I just wish Hugh or somebody would have reminded everybody that this is the same Randi Rhodes who “joked” two years ago about pulling a Fredo Corleone on President Bush – i.e. take him out on a fishing boat and shoot him. That’s right, boys and girls. You are worshipping a lefty Airhead America host who jokes about assassinating the president. This despicable hatred is one of the reasons why your side continues to lose elections.

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