(Randi) Rhodes' rage retains fury on new national stage left

[russian33]

NEW YORK -- On the biggest day of her professional life, radio talk-show host Randi Rhodes, the liberal firebrand who's been a fixture on South Florida's airwaves for more than a decade, did what she does best.

She ranted about a pricey pair of shoes. With independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, no less.

The occasion was the late March debut of the Air America Radio network, the fledgling left-wing counterpunch to Rush Limbaugh and the wave of conservative talkers who have long dominated the AM band.

It was also Rhodes' national debut: After years of honing her craft at West Palm Beach's WJNO-AM 1290, the fast-talking Brooklyn native was being given the chance of a lifetime: to take her 3-7 p.m. top-rated show to New York-based Air America, the network that was otherwise relying on political satirist Al Franken and actress and activist Janeane Garofalo to preach the liberal gospel.

Rhodes' conversation with Nader wasn't really about shoes, of course. It was about Nader's campaign and how it might siphon votes from John Kerry, the presumed Democratic candidate. But given Rhodes' signature way of melding the political with the personal, it was only a matter of time before she got around to footwear.

"Listen, Ralph," she said in her been-around-the-block-a-couple-of-times manner. "Sometimes I look at a really fabulous pair of shoes, but I can't afford them. I can't afford you. I'm not saying you're not fabulous. I can't afford you! Why you don't get this, I don't know."

Within a few seconds, Nader hung up the phone in disgust.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/monday/news_04bf8381417d8034008f.html

[mzmolly]

1. Love this quote:

"It wasn't planned, it really wasn't," she explains of the Nader exchange during a recent dinner at her Park Avenue apartment, itself a sign of her newfound success. "I heard his voice and it was like a visceral reaction to hear him be so cocky.... The nerve of this creature."