Randi Rhodes

I wasn't going to comment on the Randi Rhodes situation but there are two observations that I want to make.

First, originally it was reported that Rhodes was mugged. Air America's Jon Elliott said so on air. That original report had to come from somewhere. There have been reports from Gawker that Rhodes was injured because she was drunk. Taking these two things together makes me think that if Rhodes injured herself while literally being "falling down drunk" then it's probably not too far of a jump to make that she was too embarrassed by the truth to tell it to her employers. "Dear Boss I can't make it into work today because I was mugged and lost some teeth" sounds a lot better than "Dear Boss I can't come into work today because I got drunk, fell down and smashed some of my teeth."

Second, the fake Brownshirt attack made me think of Morton Downey Jr. and the fake skinhead attack. According to Wikipedia:

In 1989, as fascination with Downey's show began to wane, he was involved in an incident in a San Francisco International Airport restroom in which he claimed to have been attacked by neo-Nazis who painted a swastika on his face and attempted to shave his head. Some inconsistencies in Downey's account (e.g., the swastika was painted in reverse, suggesting that Downey had drawn it himself in a mirror), and the failure of the police to find supportive evidence, led many to suspect that the incident was a hoax and a plea for attention.[7] A few months later, the show was canceled.[7]

If Rhodes did originally lie to her employers about being mugged then I wouldn't be surprised if she was fired. The move would make good business sense for Air America. Rhodes is probably among the highest paid if not the highest paid employee at Air America (I forget if Al Franken is still there). They could replace her with lower price talent and use all the hub-bub surrounding this fake mugging as free PR for the change. Its not like the move will hurt ratings.