Randi Rhodes: Talent on loan from the gutter!

She said what she said, she is a big girl and she can handle the consequences. All this talk of free speech, yet if we started calling Obama ethnic names you supporters would be livid and calling for jail time to those who did it.

She called my candidate a whore which is no different than calling someone a horrible, racist name. Hillary is not a whore. Randi said it, now she faces the music. It offended thousands of people who love Hill. I tell you what Randi, if there is nothing wrong with what you said, say it again the next time you get air time. Go ahead, you have free speech.:donut:

And I dispise Imus, I think what he said was calloused and racially tinted. But there was no one defending him like they are Randi.

AND utterly uncalled for by anything those young women had done,

while Hillary HAS sold her soul to the DLC.

She IS a fucking political whore to the DLC, just as McCain is a fucking political whore to the BFEE.

There's no mysogynistic implications - only political ones.

According to you, any sort of racist or sexist insult is acceptable as long as the person using it does not mean it as a racist or sexist insult.

:eyes:

The mental gymnastics some Obamatons perform in order to rationalize their attacks on Hillary Clinton are just breathtaking.

Words are just words. It is the INTENT, it is the CONTEXT that matters.

A while back I called one of my good friends a fucking Nazi. Didn't bother him, because he knows and I know that he is 180 degrees from that designation. OTOH, someone at work said that liberals are traitors, and meant it, and I offered to rearrange his face because 'liberal' meant me, and you don't go around calling former Marines traitors.

Intent. Context.

...which right wingers sometimes use to defend the use of racial slurs. Certain racist and sexist slurs can never be divorced from their racist and sexist origins.

original meanings, yes, they CAN be divorced from those origins.

The common usage of being a political whore reaches back at least a hundred years in American politics, and taken in context there is no sexual connotation. Additionally, the term 'whore' has been used figuratively for literally thousands of years, i.e., the Whore of Babylon - you don't think that is a literal reference to a woman, do you?

Racial slurs, OTOH, are unchanged in connotation to the present, and are therefore out of bounds - particularly to those who are not of whichever race (a concept I disagree with) which is being spoken of.

but of course you already know that - nobody had ever said that Hillary sucks dick for a living.

Technically, of course, political whore may not apply either, because that is someone who will sell out their own principles for political gain - and Hillary's principles are so little in evidence that I'm not sure she has any to sell.

Randi Rhodes did not qualify the word "whore" with the word "political" in her stupid tirade. If you have to alter what Randi Rhodes said in order to defend what Randi Rhodes said, then maybe you shouldn't be defending what Randi Rhodes said.

It is amazing that you could overlook the fact that she was talking about POLITICIANS. She wasn't talking about Monica Lewinsky or Paris Hilton. CONTEXT!

Obviously you CHOOSE to overlook it so you can manufacture more outrage.

It looks really silly on you.

she used the word "whore" without any qualifiers because she wanted it to have the ugliest sexist connotation.

because she knew her audience were adults who would know what she meant.

As I understand it, of 500 there, 2 complained.

Obviously, they have better comprehension skills than some here.

... that Hillary and Geraldine are indiscriminately sexual, taking it from whomever they can get it?

You choose to be offended, not because Randi -- a female -- was making any sort of sexist remark against Sen. Clinton or Ferraro, but because Randi was, and has been, politically critical of your preferred candidate. Welcome to the worldview of the 19%ers -- where all dissent must be crushed, and resistance is futile.

But resist we shall.

But if intent can really only be defined by the person who vocalizes the word (which is, I think the case), then the best we can do is simply infer and interpret what the actual intent is.

And I think it's a tricky thing sometimes-- self-defining someone else's intent. At times, it's a breeze as it can be so obvious, at other times it can be maddeningly difficult (as illustrated every day on DU).

.... were sexually promiscuous?

and the other guy is always an idiot.

:evilgrin:


Seriously, anyone listening to Randi's rant could never honestly think there was any sexual connotation to it - she was clearly, in context, talking about political whoredom.

Now, if the hillbots here were to argue that Hillary is not a political whore, that she is always only taking principled stands, that would be a valid (if wrong, IMO) arguement. But to say that Randi accused Hillary and Ferraro of making themselves sexually available to convetioneers, that is just plain stupid. And everybody knows it.

There is not a single principle that Hillary won't turn on its head for political gain. We've seen it already, and if we are so misguided as to elect her (which won't happen anyway) we'd see it again - she'd sell out gays, women, children, anyone who stands between her and political success.

If that is not political whoring, I don't know what is.

A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.

... then it becomes a matter of opinion as to whether Hillary is a corporate or political whore, or not; and Randi should have the right to speak that opinion, whether on her program, at a promo event, in a comedy club or in a bar.

And those who hear Randi's opinions and disagree have the option to not listen to her radio program or speeches, avoid her at comedy clubs, and generally avoid her, overall; as well as the alternative to voice their opinions to her directly or to her employers. It's called free speech -- and free will.

If deriding Democratic candidates is a sin warranting suspension, then the Clinton campaign should be suspended immediately.

... by the use of the term in association with Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro, but have never complained when the same term has been used in association with other females... whether in media (Norah O'Donnell) or politics (Condi Rice).

a well thought out explanation. Now let's watch the hillbots counter it with "stop the hillary bashing" argument...and nothing more.

... to the allegedly offended is relevant, as well.

Randi was stating her political point of view, that Ferraro and Clinton -- public figures open for criticism -- are political whores (though I reserve the right to retract this statement if anyone can provide evidence that Randi was implying that either of these ladies are casual, indiscriminate penis receptacles), while Don Imus attacked a bunch of hard working young ladies who did nothing more to merit his derision than excel in a basketball tournament.

So, your argument, then, is either that Don Imus' "nappy-headed ho's" comment was a political statement, or that Randi Rhodes was communicating her belief that Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro are indiscriminate sexually. Or, I suppose, you'll say that using the term whore" in association with females with whom you have an affinity is inappropriate, but is fair game at other times. Norah O'Donnell can be a media whore; but Geraldine Ferraro may not be called a political whore.

I was one of about 3 people who said firing was too much.

I agree Rhodes needs to be suspended, and put on notice to refrain from appearing at any more fundraisers until a nominee is decided.

dictionary might prove Randi correct, regardless of delivery...

1. A prostitute.
2. A person considered sexually promiscuous.
3. A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.

Both are names, both do harm, which is worse and why?

That okay with you?

I asked that yesterday and no one responded.

When has she said anything that is at odds with being a good Democrat?

Bill Clinton is a whore, in one context, because he's proven to be sexually promiscuous.

Sen. Clinton might be considered a whore, in a political context, because she opted for the triangulating, politically expedient choice of voting in support of the Iraq resolution, the Authorization to Use Military for in Iraq; and didn't begin voicing opposition to the occupation until things started getting very bad and a switch in public opinion made opposition to the occupation politically tenable. A more obvious, less controversial whoring example, though, might be Sen. Clinton's flag burning bill.

Star-Spangled Pandering
By Richard Cohen
Thursday, December 15, 2005; Page A33

But the real Hillary Clinton may be someone unmentioned in those books. "She is one of the most conservative friends I have," one of her pals told me. Bear in mind I was talking to a Democrat, so we are not talking Phyllis Schlafly here, but still, Hillary Clinton is hardly anyone's stereotype of a liberal. For one thing, she is religious and not merely in a church-on-Sunday sort of way. She relied on her faith in the darkest days of her husband's impeachment and the revelations of his sexual shenanigans. This is a lady who prays.

She has also articulated a moderate, somewhat ruminative position on abortion. It is rueful, insistent on "choice" but regretful about abortion in general. The same holds for the war in Iraq. Clinton voted to authorize it, and she has yet to call for a pullout of U.S. troops. If she is uncertain, hesitant -- not sure if a withdrawal would do a lot more harm than good -- then I welcome her to the club of Iraq agnostics.

In this and other examples, political observers discern political posturing. Maybe they are right. Whatever the case, though, the flag bill along with other examples of Clinton's willingness to court political reactionaries raises disturbing questions about who, exactly, she is. Consistency is not always to be admired in a politician, but when a supposed liberal is one of only two senators to sponsor a bill to restrict freedom of speech, then we are talking about something basic. If this is a pander, it is in the worst possible taste.

Attention whore, Media whore...all these things are nowhere near as bad as the word n*****

But still bad. Perhaps we should strive for saying things which good... or at least decent.

.... or submit a bill making flag burning illegal...?

Heidi Fleiss and Ashley Dupre... whores (sexual context)

Bill Clinton and Eliot Spitzer... whores (sexual & political context)

one is the worst thing you can say about a woman, and the other is the worst thing you can say about a black person.

Using a racist slur is not in the same category as calling someone, male or female a whore.

By the way here is a definition of the word "whore" from the Merriam-Websters Online Dictionary:

1: a woman who engages in sexual acts for money : prostitute; also : a promiscuous or immoral woman
2: a male who engages in sexual acts for money
3: a venal or unscrupulous person

Demeaning a woman or demeaning a person of color? Which is worse?

...describes the the slur as being something which has nothing to do with race. Yeah... oops! So, you may want avoid using M-W Dictionary as the basis for your argument that the word "whore" is not necessarily a sexist insult lest some idiot use the M-W Dictionary definition of a certain racial slur to excuse its use. Of course, what you should do, is simply drop the silly argument that the word "whore" is not necessarily a sexist insult.

Or did you purposely leave that out....

usage N* in senses 1 and 2 can be found in the works of such writers of the past as Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens,
but it now ranks as perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English. Its use by and among blacks is not always intended or taken as offensive, but, except in sense 3, it is otherwise a word expressive of racial hatred and bigotry.

No notes like that on the word "whore".

When you do a search of google news for the N word what do you get?

When I do a google news search for "whore" I get a story about Gordon Brown and another story about a reporter in Missouri that won a "Whore of the Year" award because he is a sellout movie critic.

google news search for whore

I expect Randi has a leg or two to stand on, in defense of her comments.

To sex workers everywhere.



Xeroxed from The Stephanie Miller Show

Sex workers are honest women. Clinton and Ferraro are political whores. What else should we call cozying up to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Richard Mellon Scaife? Mis-speaking?

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

I'm not surprised you don't get it.

I AM PLEASED TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO CALL ATTENTION TO YOUR HYPOCRISY. YOU ATTACK RANDI RHODES FOR CALLING HILLARY CLINTON A POLITICAL WHORE AND IN A BREATHTAKING DISPLAY OF HYPOCRISY JUST IMPLIED I AM A WHORE.

WHAT A PATHETIC JOKE YOU ARE.

Some people obviously need a crash course in Feminism 101.

Touchy, are we? You sound like you are speaking from some experience? Or are you just talking out of your arse.....again?

She did not call her a political whore...she called her a whore. Big difference in word speak.

Y'all are becoming a rather large group.

Never before have three words captured so succinctly why Hillary is losing this campaign.


Edit: And please stop being such a nutless wonder around here. Catherina doesn't deserve your crap. None of us do.

Yeah!

:puke:

Link please.

:eyes:

Will do! Whatever you say!

every time we posted Obama's name in all our posts we called him a B*****d or W***e here on DU? Do you think it would be PC or do you think we would be T.S.?

Busted and Weanie? I having trouble reading between the lines. What is b****d? and W****e?:shrug:

She call in some favors from the PHBs at Air America so they could force the coverage her way?

You and I both know what Rhodes meant when she used the word whore - in the context that IS acceptable here on DU, in other words, but you're going to keep your head firmly up your ass and play semantic games.

We both know why Rhodes really was taken off the air.

I tell you what, I'll start calling Obama derrogatory names and see how you feel? How bout that?

it's okay to call Michelle Obama a whore, right? After all, she is out there pimping for her husband, right? Sort of like Chelsea is for her mother? That okay with you?

already prickly & mean spirited with sexism & racism, by holding up Democratic political operatives & candidates in a less then human light. Now you can laugh at that if you'd care to. Say that that is just free speech. But you will then have nothing to stand on when Rush, or Savage, etc, incite similar violences upon other, similar folks.

It's been proven that people are malleable. They follow they cultural icons. Rhodes can be seen laboring within a similar notion. She should have been either, a) more careful, or, b) more funny

Randi Rhodes chose neither; it would have made more sense for her to pull her pants down and fart on a picture of g.w. bush and by extension his 3rd term puppet John McCain

In what way has Geraldine Ferraro sold her soul for politics? I mean, if that's the definition you want to use, perhaps you can explain how she sold out and deserved to be called a fucking whore.

Ferraro became a Principal in the Government Relations Practice of Blank Rome on February 1, 2007. Prior to this she was head of the Public Affairs Practice of The Global Consulting Group, an international investor relations and corporate communications firm, where she continues as a Senior Advisor. She is a Board member of Goodrich Petroleum, the National Democratic Institute of International Affairs, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ferraro had earlier served as president of G&L Strategies, a management consulting firm, and has been connected with many public and private sector organizations, including serving as a director of the former New York Bancorp, Inc., a NYSE-listed company.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldine_Ferraro

What did you think she had been doing for the past 20+ years?

If you don't like people calling your candidate a political whore, get her to stop acting like one.

What does this have to do with your guy, huh? It's ok to call Hillary demeaning names but hands off your precious saviour?

Didn't you just call me a whore a few minutes ago you hypocrite?

WHAT CHARMERS YOU BITTER, ANGRY KNEECAPPERS FOR HILLARY ARE.

You said that whores do honest work? How is that honest? And what does it have to do with Hillary? And how do you know what they are? TIA.

Whores *do* do honest work. How is their work not honest? They aren't thieves or murderers, are they? Prostitution may be against the law in most states, but that is a holdover from our puritanical days.

he entire Clinton campaign IS the gutter.

If you don't like people calling your candidate a political whore, get her to stop acting like one.

You may want to believe that, but it is not the truth. And how exactly has Ferraro earned that title no matter which dictionary you use?

Hillary still isn't winning the nomination...Have a good day.

Nope, Obama has not won the nomination. Unless I missed the delegate count this morning.:eyes:

I'll bet you defended her for saying it, and agree 100% with it.

whatever :eyes:

Not even.

delusional shillbot...

:rofl:

:eyes:

assclowns. When queen hilla(R)y implodes, and she will, I hope she takes them all with her. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

That'll show em!!

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

how does one dump an adjective?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:shrug:

Had nothing to do with what the Obama spinsters are saying. Nothing.

And as Randi was talking politics, not sex, the connotation in context could ONLY be 'political whore'.

Unless, of course, you want to manufacture some outrage.

Claiming that Obama's success was due solely to his racial attributes - not skill, not timeing, not luck - ONLY race. THAT IS RACIST.

It's the same argument that racists have used for years against well qualified affirmative action beneficiaries - that it was RACE, not qualifications, that got them the position.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Being sued by Caci?

Standing in the ditch in Texas with Cindy?

Giving a huge voice to the anti-war movement?

I guess that means nothing for CULTISTS.

Not that shocking given the contents of his posts, but it's nice to have one's suspicions confirmed.

I have the same hopes for Rush and company.

:eyes:

Apparently people are demanding Obama apologize for Rhodes statements because it was an AAR event for Obama in his name and raising money for him. I haven't found out if Obama was at the event or not.

Are you sure? If you find it, post it in this thread.

speech isn't about defending speech you like - it's about defending speech you don't like.

Does it bother you if I call McCain a corporate whore?

Randi Rhodes did not call Hillary Clinton a corporate whore. She called her a whore.

Nice try, apologist.

appellation when it's applied to McCain.

You still don't get it though - it doesn't matter what Randi called Hillary - it's her right to express her opinion and her employer should not punish her for it on her off time.

BTW, if Wal-Mart fired an employee for expressing anti-war sentiments in their off time -- you'd be OK with that? People losing their jobs for anti-war opinions has happened all too frequently in the last few years.

As progressives we should be championing the right of free expression in all its manifestations.

She wasn't called a political whore, she wasn't called a corporate whore - she was called a fucking whore. And since the government has nothing to do with the punishment given Rhodes, your point makes absolutely no sense at all.

when you're wrong. The law that protects unpopular speech is a law granted by the constitution which protects us from government interference to unpopular speech. There is nothing here that applies to that.

By the way, the double post was an error. I'm not sure what caused it... if it was something I did or something with the forum software.

Is also protected by common sense. It applies here to Randi.

As long as the government doesn't get involved, I have no beef with what her employer saw fit to punish her with. Just like I had no beef with what happened to Imus. Actions have consequences.

expressing your different political views on your off time??

Is it the adjective you object to? If she'd said corporate whore or political whore it would be better in your estimation? BTW, I didn't say Randi called her a corporate whore or a political whore, I simply ask whether you'd mind if McCain was called a corporate whore -- I was not re-writing history.

Freedom of expression is about defending the right of people to say offensive things.

At a company sponsored event? If so, he has that right.

No, freedom of expression is a legal right granted by the constitution that protects us from the GOVERNMENT infringing on our rights. This is not a first amendment issue.

an AAR affiliate. In Los Angeles where I live AAR's affiliate here is KTLA - it is not owned by AAR, simply picks up some of their programs and has programs of its own and gets other syndicated stuff. AAR does not have control over its affiliates.As far as I can tell from the stories the affiliate is not upset with Randi. The event was a fund-raiser "comedy" evening so put her comments in that context - maybe she didn't pull it off as well as George Carlin - but she was trying to be funny at a pro-Obama event.

So let's say it's not a company sponsored event I'd imagine you'd say he didn't have the right, but that at a company event he would. I don't think so - I'm sure that if your republican employer fired you at a company picnic for espousing democratic party ideas you would have a fit.

Perhaps technically the 1st amendment only covers repression of speech by the government, but in a free country we should defend a person's right to freedom of expression in all contexts. The employment situation is a constant bone of contention.

...an Air America station.

In any case, Air America should fire Randi Rhodes not because she says offensive things but because she is an idiot and an embarrasment to lefty radio.

(Now Rhodes has told the Huffington Post that Air America is "in breach of my contract and damaged my hard won excellent reputation in the broadcast industry.")

Hard won what? You pathetic, self-absorbed b***h! At least be apologetic. Good God.

Excellant work there Randi! Do it again, please? Say it over and over to your little heart's desire. It's free speech you know.

She is right. You just called her an extremely sexist term. Don't you see your own hypocrisy?

... media whore and corporate whore in the past?

To think that Randi was intending the more traditional context of the word, that Hillary is a loose, casual, indiscriminate penis receptacle is beyond reason. Randi was using "whore" in the modern political context, in which it describes a person whose actions are on behalf of another person or entity for some specific or promised quid pro quo.

So, to be consistent, any time the term "whore" is used on this website or elsewhere, in any context, you'll be notifying the proper authorities, right?

personality Rush eh?!

Viva free speech.

FREE RANDI RHODES

listening to Randi instead of Rush. Why do you want to take that away option away from me? Sorry, I don't see much difference between you and those that the rest of the media-whores.

She's been one for a long time. But I'm not a radio show host so I can say it with impunity.

C'mon ...