Inside Politics
The Washington Times
October 17, 2007
Greg Pierce – Conspiracy theory
Air America radio host Randi Rhodes is temporarily off the air, but
claims that she was mugged near her Manhattan apartment are bogus, her
attorney and a police source told the New York Daily News yesterday.
Fellow host Jon Elliott claimed on the liberal radio network that Miss
Rhodes had been attacked while walking her dog, Simon, on Sunday
night. Mr. Elliot, who said Miss Rhodes lost several teeth in the
attack, waxed about a possible conspiracy.
"Is this an attempt by the right-wing hate machine to silence one of
our own?" he asked on the air, according to the blog Talking Radio.
"Are we threatening them? Are they afraid that we’re winning? Are they
trying to silence [or] intimidate us?"
A police source said Miss Rhodes never filed a report and never
claimed to be a crime victim. Police from Manhattan’s 17th Precinct
called her attorney, who told them Miss Rhodes was not a victim of a
crime, the source said.
Miss Rhodes’ attorney told the Daily News she was injured in a fall
while walking her dog. The attorney said Miss Rhodes expects to be
back on the air tomorrow. He stressed there is no indication she was
targeted or that she was the victim of a "hate crime."
Miss Rhodes’ show airs on Air America from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays.
"The reports of a presumed hate crime are unfounded," the statement
read by a receptionist at the network’s New York offices said. "Ms.
Rhodes is looking forward to being back on the air on Thursday."
Still, the tale lived on in the blogosphere, the Daily News said.
"What the %$#$ is WRONG with you people?? Are you that SICK in the
head that just because you don’t agree with someone’s political views
you believe that they deserve to be mugged? Are you on the right that
DEMENTED??" a blogger called needlenosehanty posted on
watchingthewatchers.org.
Big plans
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday
proposed extending unpaid family leave to an additional 13 million
workers and spending $1 billion a year on paid leave programs.
"Too many Americans today feel trapped between being there for their
kids and being there for their employer, and our government policies
have just not kept up with the realities of American life," said Mrs.
Clinton, who proposed expanding the Family Medical Leave Act to
include companies that employ at least 25 workers instead of the
current 50.
That would make millions more workers eligible for up to 12 weeks of
unpaid leave to care for a newborn or ill family member. Mrs. Clinton
also said she would encourage states to develop paid leave programs by
offering $1 billion a year in grants.
Beyond family leave, Mrs. Clinton proposed requiring all workers to be
given seven sick days a year that could be used to care for themselves
or their children. Mrs. Clinton’s plan also would require employers to
at least consider requests for flexible work schedules, the Associated
Press reports.
Craig on TV
Sen. Larry E. Craig, Idaho Republican, said he was entrapped in a sex
sting at a Minneapolis airport men’s room and was not aware of the
bathroom’s reputation as a spot to cruise for homosexual sex.
"Well, I certainly am now," Mr. Craig told NBC’s Matt Lauer in an
interview aired last night. "I go to bathrooms to use bathrooms."
Mr. Craig said it was a "tough call" when he decided not to tell his
wife or children about the arrest, the Associated Press reports.
"I didn’t want to embarrass my wife, my kids, Idaho and my friends,"
Mr. Craig said in the interview taped at his home in Eagle, Idaho. "I
should have told my wife. I should have told my kids. And most
importantly, I should have told counsel."
Suzanne Craig said that when her husband told her the story was about
to break, "I felt like the floor was falling out from under me. And I
felt almost like I was going down a drain for a few moments."
Mrs. Craig says she believes her husband is not homosexual. "I
honestly believe my husband has always been faithful to me in every
way," she said.
Web traffic
The Draft Gore group has found another way to get some attention –
charting their Web hits.
The group’s traffic skyrocketed Friday when former Vice President Al
Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize, reporter Christina Bellantoni writes
in her "On the Democrats" blog at WashingtonTimes.com.
"According to the Web tracking firm Alexa.com, traffic on
Draftgore.com surpassed that of Hillary Clinton’s official campaign
Web site by more than two-to-one that day," the group said yesterday.
The group also plans more print, radio and TV ads urging Mr. Gore to
jump into the race – including a radio spot titled "Florida" that will
run there.
The group has 200,000 signatures on its petition, found at
Draftgore.com, a jump of 70,000 signatures in four days. The site
received nearly 100,000 hits on Friday, giving it the spike to surpass
Mrs. Clinton.
Also, more than 12,000 liberal activists voted at DailyKos.com, and 41
percent think it is "definitely not" too late for Mr. Gore to get in
the race.
Hard to tell
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, famous for donning a head scarf earlier
this year to commune for peace with the Syrians, has now concluded
that this is the perfect moment to pass a congressional resolution
condemning Turkey for the Armenian genocide of 1915. Problem is,
Turkey in 2007 has it within its power to damage the growing success
of the U.S. effort in Iraq. We would like to assume this is not
Speaker Pelosi’s goal," the Wall Street Journal says in an editorial.
"To be clear: We write that we would like to assume, rather than that
we do assume, because we are no longer able to discern whether the
speaker’s foreign-policy intrusions are merely misguided or are
consciously intended to cause a U.S. policy failure in Iraq."
Another retirement
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas Republican, yesterday said she will
not seek re-election when her term expires in 2012 and is considering
retiring early, to run for governor in 2010, according to Cox News
Service.
In a hastily called press conference outside the Senate chamber, the
64-year-old lawmaker acknowledged that she has been mulling over a
governor’s race, but called it premature to say more than that. She
had said while running for re-election in 2006 that this would be her
last Senate term.
"I’m not going to say anything more than I have stated in answer to
the question ‘Am I looking at the option of running for governor?’ And
the answer is ‘Yes,’ " Mrs. Hutchison concluded. "I’m not looking at
who is running. I’m not looking at opponents. I’m not looking at
timetables. That’s it."
– Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or gpierce@washingtontimes .com.
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