By Libby
Updated below
As usual, in the scoop-driven atmosphere we live in, the details on what happened to Air America's Randi Rhodes are conflicting. Initial reports indicated she was mugged. The latest reports from that bastition of "serious journalism," The NY Daily News claims she fell down. What seems clear at this point is that she was hurt seriously enough somehow to have been unable to do her show.
Unsurprisingly, the early reports that she had been mugged engendered some speculation that the attack may have been politically motivated. The wingers immediately responded by hurling accusations against the "hateful lefties" that would draw such spurious conclusions against the soul of civility that is the wingosphere.
Surely this is nothing like flooding a NYT photographer with death threats for two days before finding out she had permission from Cheney to photograph his house. The recent death threats against the Frosts shouldn't color anyone's views. And of course, it's absurd since radio personalities have never been victims on account of their political views, except when they were. And it's not like some rabid wingnut fan ever sent prominent liberals fake anthrax death threats -- except when he did. And meanwhile, the rank and file wingnut brigade's comments at the posts about the story, surely demonstrate their compassionate nature. Their expressions of concern are breathtaking.
Whatever happened to Rhandi, we certainly hope she didn't suffer any permanent damage and wish her a speedy recovery. As for the injured feelings of the prominent bloggers who trade on hate speech, words have consequences. If you want to avoid becoming victims of suspicion, then stop victimizing your political opponents.
Update: Charles at Mercury Rising has assembled a sampling of the wingers' civil and compassionate response to Rhandi's misfortune from the comment gallery.
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