Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer has a shocking story to tell. On her Air America radio show on Super Tuesday, Randi Rhodes ran a commercial parody in which Mitt Romney supporters suggest they're going to go on a "killing rampage" if John McCain wins. He has audio, and the transcript:
ANNOUNCER: The following is a paid advertisement from Republicans for Mitt Romney, or mass suicide. If John McCain is the Republican Presidential nominee, it will destroy the Republican Party. We’re Romney supporters and we know. Cause, if you vote for John McCain, we’re going to go on a killing rampage. Hey, better dead then moderate.
REPUBLICAN CHARACTER VOICE: "Look, I for one don’t want to die in a hail of gun fire from crazed Mitt Romney supporters, but it’s better then nominating a man who opposed the Bush tax cuts. Hell, John McCain spent years in a North Vietnamese prison. A prison? That doesn’t make him a hero. That makes him an ex-con.
ANNOUNCER: Exactly, and um, you know what men do in prison. You see if John McCain is President, he’ll make sodomy mandatory. Now, Mitt Romney, well, he believes all sex should be outlawed.
SECOND REPUBLICAN CHARACTER VOICE: As a true Republican, I’m prepared to poison my own children if John McCain is the nominee, but I do wish there was another way.
ANNOUNCER: There is. If Mitt Romney is the nominee, he’ll give everyone a free new car, made by people in Michigan, with company-paid health care and pensions just like 1955. If John McCain is the nominee, well, we are going to kill everybody, then turn the guns on ourselves. So choose wisely this election day. This has been a paid ad for Republicans for Mitt Romney, or (gun cocking sound effect) mass suicide.
Maloney followed up:
Though Rhodes "apologizes" after the skit, it's clear she knew what she was airing.
And even if she didn't, there's a cardinal rule in radio broadcasting: you can be forgiven for a gaffe that occurs during a live broadcast, but there's no excuse for running prerecorded bits you haven't first personally reviewed. Even if this is a case of her production team running amok, Rhodes is still ultimately responsible for her own broadcast.
Needless to say, your Radio Equalizer doubts that's the case based on her history.
