That would be Jon Elliot. Why? We’ll get to that in a moment.
Randi Rhodes was mugged on Sunday night on 39th Street and Park Ave, nearby her Manhattan apartment, while she was walking her dog Simon.
According to Air America Radio late night host Jon Elliott, Rhodes was beaten up pretty badly, losing several teeth and will probably be off the air for at least the rest of the week. At of late Monday night we have not able to locate any press accounts of the attack and nothing has been posted on the AAR website.
Several liberal blogs, including the Randi Rhodes Message Board and Democratic Underground have logged numerous posts on the Rhodes mugging with most of the posters expressing concern about the condition of the popular lib talker.
“Concern”, and also “hate-spew”. As one Rhodes supporter writes, “I noticed that many people went all sorts of nuts when this first came out”.
Freedom Eden links to American Spectator which has some examples of some of the rabid response from the moonbat brigade. Very entertaining reads if you want to just kill off time and a few of your brain cells in the process. Having listened to her program on occasion, I’m not surprised by the reaction from her supporters.
Now, as it turns out, Jon Elliot, who fancies himself “the most dangerous liberal in America”, and all those others who jumped on the “blame-conservatives-first” bandwagon must eat crow:
Elliott’s account of the incident, however, was contested Tuesday by Rhodes attorney, Robert Gaulin.
Gaulin confirmed that Rhodes was injured after she was floored by someone _ or something _ as she strolled the streets of Manhattan’s Murray Hill district around 8 p.m., but wasn’t sure herself what sent her tumbling to the pavement.
“She hit her head on the street and was disoriented,” Gaulin said.
“She’s not sure what happened. She didn’t see anything.” He added that she never reported the incident to police.
Air America released a statement saying that “the reports of a presumed hate crime are unfounded.” Elliott followed that up with a retraction.
“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,” he said in a written statement.
I’m sorry Randi Rhodes suffered any kind of physical injury at all. Based on this account by Rhodes’ attorney, though, I’d say Rhodes probably had one too many whiskey shots at the local pub and is responsible for her own condition. But I’d hate to be one who speculates and shouts “flame” in a crowded blogosphere….
Further Reads:
What a Difference a Day Makes, Talking Radio‘s follow up post
CrooksandLiars
On the Randi Rhodes Message board:
Randi mugged, bashed in the teath (their spelling…not mine)
Air America Host apologized for bad reporting
The Rightwing attacks Randi when she’s down
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.
