Randi Rhodes Mugs Up And Falls Over

THE Talking Radio blog reported on Tuesday that US liberal talk radio host Randi Rhodes was brutally attacked while walking her dog in New York. But the local police can’t confirm the report.

From the blog:

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.

According to Det. Cavitolo, an NYPD spokesman, “Nothing has been filed with us. We have no reports of an incident.”

Pointing out that Rhodes was wearing a jogging suit and displayed no purse or jewelry, Elliott told his listeners “this does not appear to me to be a standard grab the money and run mugging”.

And: “Is this an attempt by the right wing hate machine to silence one of our own? Are we threatening them? Are they afraid that we’re winning? Are they trying to silence intimidate us?”

But Elliott’s account of the incident was a surprise to Rhodes attorney, Robert Gaulin.

“She hit her head on the street and was disoriented,” says Gaulin. “She’s not sure what happened. She didn’t see anything.” He added that she never reported the incident to police. and is uncertain if she was knocked into or just tripped.”

Says Elliott: “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.”

But the newswires and the blogs are alive with the story, speculation wound about an innocuous incident. Indeed, why let the facts get in the way of a headline-making conspiracy?

For British readers: the dog is believed to be OK.

Source: Talking Radio

Anorak

Posted: 17th, October 2007 | In: Anorak In New York Comments (4) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink