I'm a big fan of Randi Rhodes, but I think she needs to chill!

[Ian David]

Yesterday we were listening to "The Best of Randi Rhodes" (in other words, a repeat) and she just absolutely attacked one of her callers.

The thing is, she went out of her way to turn an ally into an adversary and accuse him of "intellectual dishonesty."

The caller's deal was that he was in favor of gay marriage, but against civil unions, because he felt civil unions undermined marriage, but gay marriage did not.

He made some valid points, but after about five minutes of eviscerating the poor guy Randi finally seemed to notice he was in favor of gay marriage. The guy didn't seem to get angry so much as confused and frustrated.

Apparently, divorce is a major hot-button for Randi who has been divorced herself and doesn't seem to have enjoyed the experience. She used the opportunity to go on a tirade along the lines of, "If you're pro-marriage, you have to be anti-divorce and if you're not against divorce, then you're being intellectually dishonest."

I really felt bad for the guy. She painted him into a corner and it seemed like all he wanted to do was make Randi his friend again.

All too often, Randi has a habit of turning allies into enemies. Maybe she's bored when too many people agree with her. Maybe she's in a really crappy mood and still in pain from her surgery. Maybe she needs to get her hearing checked so she can tell when her gets are actually on her side.

Ed Schultz does the same sort of thing, but never as bad as I heard Randi do it yesterday.

I kept shouting at the radio, "Randi! Be nice! He's on your side! Don't be mean to him, just nicely ask him for ideas to prevent divorce without outlawing it and criminalizing adultery!"

Randi even touched upon some real discussion points-- but only in passing while she caught her breath for the next round. She said the most frequent causes of divorce are adultery and money problems.

Damn, Randi! Just ask the guy how he can address those!

I don't know why it needed to "get ugly." She hardly missed a beat once she realized the guy was in favor of gay marriage but against civil unions.

So, here's a note to everyone: Never mention the "divorce" word to Randi. Ever. EVER.

If Randi uses the word "divorce," and you still want her to be her friend, just say, "I don't know, Randi. I realize it's an important issue to you and I'd like to hear some of your ideas."

Remember, radio people love to hear themselves talk.

If Randi happens to read this, I want to say: "Randi, we love you, but please be nice to people who are on your side and instead of seeking out confrontation with them, seek common ground and solutions.

Anyone else agree or disagree?

[Warpy]

1. Yes, and put on a nice housedress and string of peals

and some high heeled shoes and go buy herself a new mop and bake some cookies.

She is who she is. If you don't like it, switch off.

[WildEyedLiberal]

4. I don't think the OP was suggesting she should be a submissive woman

Really, that implication is a bit of a stretch.

I don't listen to AAR because I think almost ALL radio talk jocks are obnoxious, regardless of the show topic or ideology.

[iconoclastNYC]

28. Here are some suggestions

Try Amy Goodman or Laura Flanders, or even Springer.

[Adelante]

34. That's the thing

Is there liberal radio whose talk jocks speak in regular conversational tone and have give and take discussion?

I actually like Randi when I've listened to her, but I can't stand the stridency, and that goes for anytime I tune in to any talk host's show, not just hers. I don't know if programmers think everybody has to sound like Rush Limbaugh or what. But I can't listen to it.

[laura888]

2. agree! Also, she claims that troops need to stay in Iraq...

...until they've fixed it.

At times, I love her - at others, I turn her off.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

3. I heard that the other day. Though I didn't understand ........

how the guy rationalized his position she can turn off some people. We do need a person like her but she has to tone it down in regards to some of the callers. It can be a turn off.

Though Malloy is aggressive I don't think he turns off the callers.

[nolabels]

24. The guy was a liar already, she was just using him to make an example

The guy basically cornered himself during the call. The guy sounded like a closet homophobe that could not admit he was one even to himself. But that was just how the conversation went it seemed to me. For all we know he could have been Karl Rove himself so why should it matter?

That was also seemed to be one her better one from the few I have heard from her as of late. What also sounded like a whole throng of undercover fundies were calling up (or at least she was taking them kind of calls).

That was fun listening, she was doing a good job. She was blowing holes in almost of all rhetorical talking points they would bring up. That must of had some of them fundies steaming when she was talking about the church and marriage

[IowaGuy]

5. The fact that you and other responders....

can actually listen to her, formulate an independent opinion, and still respect other views she has and her as a person is what differentiates progressives. liberals, and yes, even DLC types from the dittoheads - that is why we probably never will ever buy into the cult of personality that is so prevalent among the many people in the Republican party....maybe she does need to chill, but not really for the reasons you cite, maybe jsut because we will never really have a Limbaaugh type as some sort of unquestioningly adored cult like godhead figure its basically futile to try and emulate his stridency to energize people.

[Randi_Listener]

6. More Randi and less callers is a good fucking thing.

[rockymountaindem]

7. That's why I never listen to her.

She's abrasive and she argues with people who are trying to agree with her. I noticed that very early on.

[smirkymonkey]

14. I agree, it really rubs me the wrong way - I feel like she's not

even listening to the person, she's just got a bone to pick whether you agree with her or not.

I agree with her on a lot of things, but I think her personality is offensive. She sometimes sounds as pigheaded as the morons on right-wing talk radio.

[quinnox]

8. it's probably a ratings thing

the more controversy and shouting she does is good for her ratings, so maybe they (the call screeners) need to get more real republicans on to argue with her instead of Dems so she won't have to argue with them stupidly.

[Fridays Child]

9. She can be a bur under the saddle but we need her.

Liberals are natural seekers of common ground, and we try to accommodate many sides of a given issue in that noble effort. Neocons cannot seek common ground because they are genetically incapable of yielding one inch of their own ground to get there. Randi, however, is a Liberal who has learned how to play by neocon rules and beat them at their own game. She scorches the earth, sometimes, but when she's good, she's good.

[never cry wolf]

10. Yes, sometime she does go off on someone ion our side

and it makes me nervous. It's not all that often but it happens and is uncomfortable to listen to. It usually seems to happen when she doesn't understand someones point.

With regards to marriage, she has definite views. She does not endorse gay marriage, neither does she endorse hetero marriage, she recommends no one marry. Apparently she and her husband lived together in a great relationship/partnership for 9 years when they decided to marry. Apparently it soon went downhill after the nuptuals. She is still great friends with her ex and says she loves him alot so I don't think the divorce was ugly, it was the marriage part.

[Left coast liberal]

11. Yes, I heard it too... I do agree.

Plus there was some poor lady who called on Monday who sent Randi into a tizzy too. "I know that you like me and I am supposed to like you too but..." and something about hating people who blow it out their asses. Sheesh...

Hey listen, I love Randi, she has mozzi but she seemed just plain old pissed off last week. Plus then she took Thursday and Friday off, so go figure... We all have bad days. Plus she is trying to quit smoking. Filthy, stinking tough habit to kick!

I bet it does get annoying having people calling you up and saying how much they love you but it's her job. Hero worship is not for the weak of stoumach. And, you're right it's not making anyone smarter or better informed to hear her pop off.

Let's hope she pulls it together.

[RamboLiberal]

12. Randi's weakness is dealing with callers

and at least to me she seems more impatient with women callers than with men - most of the time.

But I'll also say in Randi's defense - some of the callers aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer - I don't know if the call you are referencing was one I heard - but I really wondered about Tuesday's show - the majority of callers Tuesday were arguing with her about civil unions and marriage. They seemed to be liberal and of the ilk of either letting churches control marriage, or saying civil unions destroy marriage. And most supported gay marriage.

Randi was really frustrated with their logic and lack of thinking through the issue.

But again, I've listened to a lot of liberal/progressive talk hosts and a few conservative idiots. Randi is one of the weaker hosts dealing with callers except when she can challenge to a good argument. She seems bored with most callers that agree with her.

It's funny to say but my local host Lynn Cullen in Pittsburgh gets better callers than Randi does with a national show. And it's not a Pittsburgh thing, because the other blowhard station - KDKA talkers right and left get really dimwit callers for the most part.

[Ian David]

13. You know, if she's bored we could call and pretend to be dumb republicans

We could offer her up some good straw-men to argue with, and then everyone would be happy.

"Yes, Bubba from Hazard is on the line."

"Ayup. I'm a first time caller, Randi, and I'm very upset about how you liberals want to amend the constitution to ban public urination."

"What are you talking about? What are your sources?"

"It was in the newsletter from my church. I also think that traditional marriage between two men and one woman should be preserved."

"You mean one man and one woman."

"That's what I been sayin'!"

"No, you said two men and one woman!"

"Two men and one woman? Is that what you liberals want?"

"No, we want equal treatment so any two people can get married."

"There you go again, Mandy. Two men and one woman!"

"No, it's Randi!"

"You can call it whatever you want, Civil Union... Randi... Candy.. it don't matter none. It still ain't right."

"You said traditional marriage is between two men and a woman..."

"Now, Sandy, you liberals like putting words in people's mouths. I never said no such thing. Traditional marriage is a holy saccharin that's been around for tens of thousands of years. It's what separated us from the Jews."

(Insert about two minutes of Randi yelling at Bubba)

"You know, first you say you want to destroy marriage, and then you come out against public urination. You can't have it both ways, Rosie!"


Now that would be a good time for everyone, I think.



Yee-hah! Let's go save Traditional Marriage!

[ProudToBeLiberal]

15. thanks for the good laugh lol nt

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

16. 1/2 good, 1/2 not

My husband and I caught this show while we were driving up the East Coast this weekend. (We don't have Air America where we live and always try to catch it while we are travelling.) Anyway, the front part of this show was pretty good, when Randi was talking about a Rebublican Tom deLay memo ( which she called a menu) which basically seemed to be selling votes for contributions , "quid pro quid". That part of the show was great. This part which is being alluded to in the first post was a mess. The caller was simply saying that if all the benefits of marriage are made available to "domestic partners" (and he was NOT talking about gay partnerships - he was referring to unmarried heterosexual relationships) that there was no reason to get married and that these policies undermined tradtional marriage.

Randi did not seem to hear his point or understand it. She went off on this big rant that if you were FOR traditional marriage then you had to be AGAINST divorce (apparently for any reason except she did make an exception for abuse). She was tiresome and unrelenting on this issue. I guess you weren't allowed to be FOR Good marriages and FOR divorce in the right instances. I thought she was using the "false choice' with her caller, who, as others have pointed out, was far more sympathetic with her viewpoint than unsympathethic. She should do herself a favor and relisten to this broadcast and decide who is being "intellectually dishonest".

[libnnc]

19. I love Lynn Cullen

I wish she'd go national. I haven't listened to her in a while because I have to stream her online and I don't like her station's Surfer Net streaming.

[aaronnyc]

17. That's the problem with talk radio

They get ratings by always being overly passionate about everything.

While the caller was on her side, he had a small differences in opinion with her. The response of people in talk radio (generally) is to berate the caller whenever they disagree with the host's position. What Rhodes should have done is engage the caller in a thoughtful and toned down exchange of ideas - however, that gets bad ratings, so she instead just yelled at the caller.

This is typical of political talk radio, and is why I generally avoid listening to it.

[Ladyhawk]

18. Actually, Randi is the only AAR personality who does this.

I've listened to the others and they seem to even give Republicans a chance to express their opinions before tearing them a new one. Randi needs to stop taking calls, IMO. She just can't handle callers in a responsible way.

[B Calm]

20. As a huge Malloy fan, I think you need to give Randi a break.

I often get very passionate when talking politics and do the same as Randi. I think we all do it to some degree. She has been through a lot this past month and I'm sure she's not feeling 100%..

[DemoTex]

21. I love Randi. Randi HATES taking callers. She treats 90% like dirt.

Randi, please stop taking calls. You have too much to say to waste the air time anyway! Brother Al doesn't (or seldom does) take calls. Besides, Randi, I love the sound of your voice .. especially on a warp-3 rant. Spend you time killing fascists, dear Randi.

[RamboLiberal]

25. I love Randi when she's not taking calls

She does great analysis or is interviewing great guests.

She really doesn't need callers IMHO, unless they are Freeper callers which I think she handles with great aplomb.

I think another problem on Randi's show is that the callers are on hold so long that by the time they get on, the point they want to discuss was covered an hour or two ago.

Now I think Mike Malloy and Ed Schultz do a great job for the most part of handling callers.

Randi should do us all a favor, if she's bored and cranky that day with taking calls - she shouldn't do it.

[Just Me]

22. Her anger gets in the way of her capacity to "listen", from time to time.

She is in complete "ANGER-DEFENSE" rather than total "PROGRESSIVE-OFFENSE".

Give her some time. She's being challenged in turmultuous times. She'll find her center.

[DemoTex]

23. I agree/disagree.

Good assessment. But she might not find that balance. Randi might hurt her radio show by continuing to take calls. I wouldn't want to see that happen.

[DefenseLawyer]

26. What is her background?

I have only heard her show a few times, but my impression was that she was a career radio personality that got a show about politics, rather than a student of politics that got a radio show. Sorry to say my impression has been that she has a good radio voice and her show is entertaining but might not be our brightest star, so to speak (I have also heard what you describe, where she seems to totally miss the points her callers seem to be very clearly making). But as I said I am not a regular listener and am not trying to bash her, that has just been my impression.

[iconoclastNYC]

27. Agree in general but not with this instance

It was my feeling this guy did not support gay marriage -- he was just someone who was smart enuf to lie, and use the right-wings frames to blur the issue and damage the left.

The "Defense of Marriage" ruse is just that, it raises our negatives, and gets their mouth-breathers to the polls and explain those interesting/mysterious turnout numbers.

[Unforgiven]

29. Like Malloy Sez:

it's my show.

[Doctor Panacea]

30. Callers are terrible

Callers really add nothing to a show, whether it is right-wing, left-wing, or just general news. They break up the natural flow of a show. At least half the time they are just dumb.

The only exceptions are callers who have information (not opinion) to share when a historical topic is being discussed. I once saw a good discussion of a book about Vietnam on Book TV, and a couple of callers really added to the discussion. Of course, a couple of ideologues had to call in and show their ass, too.

My opinion is: If callers want to voice their opinions, let them get their own show or put up a blog or just harangue their fellow employees.

[iconoclastNYC]

31. Well

I hope that by listening i'll learn good tactics to take on right wingers, but randy is not good for teaching me that. in real life you can't scream at people like that.

[TheUnspeakable]

32. I think you kind of missed the point...

She was trying to expose that guy for what he was-These people are BIGOTS . They oppose gay marriage because they hate gays, but they cloak it in "trying to preserve marriage". She isn't personally "touchy" about divorce, per se, but these people who want to preserve the sancity of marriage seem to have no problem whatsoever with divorce, and let's face it, that is the biggest threat to marriage. I agree that sometimes she is impatient with callers, but that is a small weakness she has -the good she does far out weighs that.

[Ian David]

33. The guy was NOT opposed to gay marriage. He was FOR gay marriage

What he was against was civil unions for gay or straight people.

He DOES believe in gay marriage.

[TheUnspeakable]

37. I'm sorry-I should have read your post more carefully..

My reaction to that guy was the same as Randi's-I didn't really buy that he was for gay marriage, and then turned a deaf ear to some of the good points he was making (just like Randi). I love her a lot, but I do cringe sometimes when she turns on a caller and doesn't listen to them.

[Toots]

35. I refuse to listen to her

I just don't like people who are as disrespectful as she is. She is not far from Limbaugh in her technique and I consider Limbaugh completely immoral. It is the issues folks. Attack the issues you disagree with and leave the messenger out of it...That is the greatest failing of the right-wing IMHO their immense disrespect for the common man. We don't need to be just like them in that regard. She is nothing more than a DINO in this regard...

[DS1]

36. Can't stand her. n/t