Randi Rhodes on the Republicans' Feigned Victimhood: 'It's All Projection'
Randi Rhodes and Ana Marie Cox joined Joy Behar to talk about right wing hate radio and Rush Limbaugh accusing the White House of "character assassination" after President Obama called some of the rhetoric from the likes of Limbaugh and Glenn Beck "troublesome". Randi summed up the hate talkers pretty well, it's all projection.
BEHAR: This country has 200 million or 300 million people on this country, so what is it, it`s a drop in the bucket and this guy gets a lot of press.
You know, Randi, talk to me about this upsurge in victimhood that I`m noticing. Tiger Woods` mistresses are all upset and they feel like the victims. The Catholic Church is the victim all of a sudden. I mean, and now Rush Limbaugh is the victim. What is that about?
RANDI RHONES: Well, you know, I don`t understand how he could accuse anybody of character assassination, because Rush doesn`t have any character.
So I`m lost here to understand, you know, what this argument is, unless you actually realize that this is all projection.
You know, this is what they did to him, or this is what Bush did. And so now all of a sudden he`s noticing that we have an unconstitutional president, we had a guy who outed CIA operatives, we had a guy who wire- tapped his own people.
We had a guy who -- and so now they`re saying oh, you know, we`re going to accuse them of doing everything we did. And that`s how people become these victims.
You know, it`s like -- an idea that, you know, people listen to him. They listened to him because Joy, they have no choice. He`s on every radio station.
BEHAR: I know, I know.
RHODES: He`s on -- they have no choice. So --
BEHAR: I mean, somebody -- somebody, something like Air America which both of you are on.
COX: Yes.
BEHAR: -- couldn`t make it, and yet this vitriol does make it.
COX: I think Air America could --
BEHAR: Well --
COX: -- I`m sure Randi would agree with me. I think there is an audience for the kind of stuff that Air America did. In fact, I think if you look at something like "The Daily Show" which is hugely popular, I mean, that`s the same kind of stuff that liberals --
BEHAR: That`s television.
COX: That`s television but I think that people are entertained by stuff that, Randi does and certainly, obviously she`s still doing to it.
BEHAR: Yes, that`s right, Randi, you do have that show.
RHODES: Yes.
BEHAR: But it`s not -- you -- you`re far between these cyber shows. Yes.
RHODES: Well, I don`t want to be sour or negative or anything about that, but Air America was run really badly. It wasn`t run by radio people. So --
BEHAR: All right.
RHODES: -- you had to sell it, market it, you know. Look at the people who came out of Air America. Ana Marie is at GQ. Rachel Maddow is on TV her own show.
BEHAR: All right, that ship has sailed. Let`s talk about Rush.
RHODES: I just don`t want him to be able to say that we failed in anyway.
BEHAR: No, you didn`t fail. You didn`t fail.
COX: No.
RHODES: No.
BEHAR: Now, what about the idea of using the word "regime". There`s something -- isn`t a regime -- the word "regal" is in regime.
COX: Right.
BEHAR: The word root --
COX: Yes.
BEHAR: Which is -- meaning like, you know, kings and queens are running the government.
COX: Well, it`s one of those words that somehow has a -- like a bad connotation, that somehow over the years has gotten mean something like Nazi regime, the Saddam Hussein regime overturn --
BEHAR: Yes, yes.
COX: -- in Iraq.
BEHAR: Ho Chi Minh.
COX: -- and Iran -- Ho chi Minh, I think it`s a word that other people have used, I mean, the Republicans have sent out several different e-mails I`ve gotten about Democrats using the word regime to describe Bush.
That`s not the problem there. The problem is when you use words like that to distract from debate, I think. I`m sure a famous one is also when people have called the social security scheme.
BEHAR: Oh yes.
COX: The scheme sounds much -- and maybe something ends on eme there`s some --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Well, I mean, you can play with words. I know Chris Matthews always called Dick Cheney `Cheeney.`
RHODES: Well, Joy, Joy.
BEHAR: Cheeney, which always sounds more evil. How about Boner -- Senator -- Representative Boner, there`s a good one. Go ahead, Randi.
RHODES: Well, I was just -- I mean, I don`t understand, you know, why people don`t get that Bush always talked about regime change in Iraq. And this is, again, the projection where exactly what the Republicans did. It`s now being laid at the foot of the Democratic Party that didn`t do it.
It`s all projection. They know what to say because they knew they were doing it for eight years. They tanked the economy, they raised the deficit, they tortured people, they outed CIA operatives, they lied to the American people about war and peace issues. And they called for regime change, axis of evil.
Every day on the radio, Joy -- you know, I drive now because I live in D.C. In New York I didn`t. Now I drive and I listen to nothing but talk radio and it`s all conservative.
It`s like they`re the best at name calling. You talk about bullying. I know how that story hits you, it hit me hard. They must have been bullied as children.
BEHAR: Oh yes. It is very much --
RHODES: Every time they have this long laundry list: sadist, Marxist, Maoist, Stalinist, you know --
BEHAR: All right, Randi, hang on there for a second. We have much more when we come back.
Full transcript available at CNN's site.


hahaha. that's rich. incredibly rich. That's like William Kristol accusing Ghandi of being a war monger, for not going along with the British.
me-oww!
Mahatma Gandhi
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Or like William Kristol accusing St. Mary of infidelity.sara
RANDI RHONES: Well, you know, I don`t understand how he could accuse anybody of character assassination, because Rush doesn`t have any character.
Priceless
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
when accused of having a personality conflict with, say, a co-worker, my reply is that they'd have to have a personality for me to have a conflict with--and they don't.
It's Goebbels' tried and true propaganda technique: Accuse your opponents of what you yourself are doing.
Right out of Goebbels play book . I've been saying that for a long time . It is plain as day , the entire Republican campaign is of constant and repetitive lies , , deception , smear campaigns , instilling fear and paranoia , using religion and using / taking over the media is right out of Goebbels play book . These guys are evil and I do believe they are capable of the same unimaginable evil that we read about in history books . No one should take these people lightly .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
Tells it like it is, that's what I like about her. She's right, they project their failures on Dems.
Character assassination, really? How about the actual assassination of an American citizen.
The Obama administration now has decided to authorize the assasination of such an American citizen.
Who needs Republicans when you have Democrats and their own Presidential citizen assassination program?
Glenn Greenwald here
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
but right now there are several people in several states that are under arrest for threatening asssination of Obama.
Did you mean justifies?
Did you mean assassination?
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
What a ridiculous charge for stupid to make.
Apparently he can indulge himself in the most vile innuendo and outright lies imaginable,but for the President to refer to any of this as "troublesome" is just too much.It's beyond the pale and it's "character assassination".Of course just like Beck,the more absurd the accusation the more attention one can hoover up like a big fat rail of crushed Oxycontin.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
... was captioned 'liberal commentator,' was Ana Marie Cox (recently called out for being a typical Villager shill) labelled 'conservative pole waxer'?
You can't kill what's already dead.
she sure can take the long way around to say little or nothing. Read this dialogue for example, you have to try to piece together various phrases between the "you knows" to come up with a coherent sentence. I listen to Randi Rhodes nearly every day, she is a rambler and sometimes gets off on these tirades about her personal life and/or experiences that make me turn off the radio, because KTLK 1150 AM in L.A. is the only radio station I listen to. I hope Randy will reread the conversation in this article, try to eliminate much if not most of the "you knows", and try to speak in a more coherent fashion. I support her anyway, but jeez - all those "you knows" could, you know, drive a man nuts.
Woody McBreairty
What she lacks in eloquence she makes up for in incoherence.
I kid.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
TeeVee is a joke. It's a dumbed down society for entertainment. Serious journalists and god forbid investigative journalists are not allowed. It's a designed distraction, a purposeful diversion.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Who else could out crazy the right but Barak Obama:
"Congratulations, Barack Obama: you're now to the Right of National Review on issues of executive power and due process, as Kevin Williamson objects: "Surely there has to be some operational constraint on the executive when it comes to the killing of U.S. citizens. . . . Odious as Awlaki is, this seems to me to be setting an awful and reckless precedent. " But Andy McCarthy -- who is about the most crazed Far Right extremist on such matters as it gets, literally -- is as pleased as can be with what Obama is doing (or, as Gawker puts it, "Obama Does Something Bloodthirsty Enough to Please the Psychos")."
I'm proud of Rhandi. She managed to get through that without shouting down someone who was trying to agree with her!
Yeahp , I like her politics but am not a fan , I'm sure this would be devastating news to her . LOL .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
Randi, I know this is petty, but you have a serious hair problem. Unless it's a cosmetic issue; in which case, sorry.
Randi understanding what you wennt thru with the last station ownership but jumping to that Right Wing piece of SH*T outlet has totally cutyou off. Sorry I will NOT pay because they are RIGHT WING RACIST NAZII KKK WHITE TRILAER TRASH SCUM.
I know that you HATE TV because of all the talking head has to do but would you think about coming back. If they put you next to the DRUG ADDICT blimpbaugh you would Shred him and they know it.
look lady between you and Racheladdow you OWN the talk sjhow circuit and the Brain Dead Morons chior girl hannity knows it she would be screaming at the top of her lungs, then the idiot and Mental Midget beck this Dumb Ass would be wiped out in one Month,Faux Noise would have to do a all out effort against Olbermann, rachel and you I understand your differences with Schultz but I know you and the rest would WIN.
They are stiffleing you Rhandi, please come back these Morons on the right will go NUTS, they can not handle the TRUTH.
Sure miss your facts and Friday homework assignments COME ON BACK.
DRUG ADDICT limpbaugh EVER reimbursed the Hospital in Hawaii for his stay? This piece of SH*T had so much to say I want to know if the Lying sack of SHIT reimbursed the Hospital, this White Trailer Trash is against Socialized Medicine.
Well you Gutless, Spineless, COWARDS on the right answer up.
so Obama isn't REALLY a racist?
people who call tea party protesters 'teabagging' arent REALLY homophobes?
but that cant be! the media says they are! CONSTANTLY!
god, the political media sucks....
btw, its still odd to me how calling someone a teabagger is homophobic, since you can do it to women to.
For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk
Victimhood , nothing but reverse psychology , the latest ploy from the GOP ( and Limbaugh ) . Accuse the other of doing exactly what you are doing , completely amateurish and child like but the dim witted morons can't pick up on it , they take down , hook line and sinker .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
I surely do miss Randi Rhodes on the commentary scene. At one time, our small town actually had her on the radio, prior to the Air America incident. I owe her a debt of gratitude, her insightful commentary actually awoke my progressive Democratic principles and I worked to get Howard Dean and later John Kerry elected, but unfortunately it was not to be. She was one of the pioneers that led to people like Rachel Maddow to become more than a quirky radio commentator and become nationally known today
Is Randi actually on radio right now? The last I heard, it was some other network arrangement than Air America.
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
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