Did Randi Rhodes go too far??

[derby378]

Poll question: Did Randi Rhodes go too far??

From the Drudge Report:

http://www.drudgereport.com/mattabt.htm

So, what do you think? Did Randi & Co. step over the line with this parody ad?

[Wickerman]

1. no idea

I won't give Drudge any hits.

[JI7]

2. i don't go to that website so can you be more specific ?

[swag]

3. I'm not going to Drudge,

so I'll just say "Probably Not."

If Drudge's panties are bunching up, I have no problem with whatever it was.

[Beware the Beast Man]

4. If that is indeed the exact context of the bit, then yes.

I don't care how you feel about the guy, you don't joke about that kind of shit.

I don't buy it, though, coming from Drudge.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. Hard to say without hearing it.

[AmandaRuth]

6. i bet they will use anything to get her off the air, but

it sure seems to be okay to put a total skank on cable news talking about how she advises talking to liberals with a baseball bat.

[deutsey]

7. I didn't hear it, but if this report is accurate

I don't think it's funny in the slightest.

[derby378]

8. Here's a shortcut to the ad itself

So you don't have to pay Drudge a visit:

http://www.wilem.com/rrs/rrs_20050425_001.mp3

Just play the file from the beginning and you'll hear the ad right after Randi's "West Palm Beach" intro.

[funkybutt]

9. For those of you who don't go to Drudge

"The announcer: "A spoiled child is telling us our Social Security isn't safe anymore, so he is going to fix it for us. Well, here's your answer, you ungrateful whelp: (audio sound of 4 gunshots being fired.) Just try it, you little bastard.(audio of gun being cocked)."

The audio production at the center of the controversy aired during opening minutes of The Randi Rhodes Show.

"What is with all the killing?" Rhodes said, laughing, after the clip aired. "

[ltfranklin]

17. Sounds like a sound effect problem.

The text of the sketch is talking about "spoiled child" and "ungrateful whelp". This says "spanking" to me, not "kill the child with a 45". The sound of a really "good" spank (a slapping sound) kind of sounds like a gunshot (like a 22 maybe), so more than likely the original idea was to have a spanking sound. Probably whoever did the commercial messed up on the sound effect.

Don't know what the "gun being cocked" sound was, tho. I'll have to check it out.

[ltfranklin]

19. Ok, never mind...

I just went and listened to the clip. I never saw the complete text of the sketch, just the minimal text shown above. Yep, no doubt about the gunshots. I'm afraid somebody in the staff had a "senior moment" when they made this one. Somebody was concentrating on "gee, what a funny concept" and didn't think "hmmm, what if somebody took this seriously". Randi apologized for it, took responsibility, and well done.

[funkybutt]

10. Refresh my memory Re: "Snipers Wanted" n/t

[deutsey]

11. Craig Kilborn did a thing on his show where he flashed

"Snipers Wanted" over a graphic of Bush.

I think it was back before or shortly after the 2000 election.

I also thought that was distasteful.

[derby378]

12. Yep - it was during the 2000 campaign

It basically ended Craig Kilborn's career on CBS. On a certain level, it might have been considered cute, but the overall effect (when I saw it) was a bit unsettling.

For those of you who don't know, Craig used to host The Daily Show on Comedy Central before Jon Stewart came aboard, back in the Lizz Winstead era.

[tuvor]

13. drudge is a total hypocrite.

That is, unless someone can show me any post he might have made, tacitly condemning ann coulter for her commenting that the terrorists should have bombed the NYT building.

I have no time for the concerns of self-serving hypocrites.

[redqueen]

14. What you said.

Oh, how I love their selective outrage. :eyes:

[Misunderestimator]

15. I could only judge if I heard it in context and not reported by drudgery

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Initech]

18. You guys forget that when Matt Drudge says "Developing..."

It means that's he's full of shit on this story.

[Goldmund]

20. Yes, the outrage is selective and uber-hypocritical

BUT this little stunt is total bullshit. It doesn't offend me that it implicitly jokes about the president's death, I don't give a fuck about him. It offends me that it jokes about a human being's death. It offends me that it uses DEATH and KILLING to make a point. Fuck that.

[RagingInMiami]

21. It might be a little too distasteful for most Americans

But I personally am not offended by it. The shrub and repugs have been pushing us to the point of violence for a while now. It shouldn't come as a surpise that some people feel this way.
I see things getting worse in the years to come if the current administration is not put in check right now.

[Hugin]

22. Oh, I see... Outing a CIA agent isn't a crime...

But, this is?

"Even joking about shooting the president is a crime, let alone doing it on national radio... we are taking this very seriously," a government source explained.

Sit down Karl.

[RagingInMiami]

23. I just heard it

And it's obviously a sarcastic take on the repugs love for guns. They're making fun of the NRA by calling the AARP the AAARP, the armed american association of retired people.

It's making fun of the new law in Florida that allows you to shoot people if you feel threatened. It's saying that the shrub's SS plan is going to backfire on him.

[libnnc]

24. no. this is manufactured poo meant to discredit and distract

the shrub in chief wasn't even implied IMHO.

shiny thing...distraction...

Matt Pudge is full of it

[Catherine Vincent]

25. Drudge is just alerting his zombies.

He must not have gotten too many hits the past week, so he had to sensationalize something to get their attention.

[Debi]

26. This may sound foolish to some here,

but I think there should be some line that isn't crossed with respect to the office of the president (notice I didn't say Bush - I mean the office). In my mind there is no way to tell a funny joke about killing the President of the United States. I don't think it should be done no matter who the President is. (I know Bush is making a joke out of the office, I know this war and all those whose death he's responsible for isn't a joke, I know the wealthy/poor gap that he is broadening is no joke).

But I don't think jokes should be make about killing the leader of this country.

I also think that this skit has just handed a new moral outrage for the Sunday morning talk-show morans so we won't be talking about no weapons of mass destruction or Delay or gas prices or the filibuster Justice Sunday horseshit.

Now we'll be talking about disbanding Air America by the FCC and the stupid not funny joke.

[pdx_prog]

27. If it wasn't contraversial it wouldn't be any good....

Drudge is a turd.....