Please K&R my Randi support thread

[SharonRB]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3106496

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Sorry, consider it done, much earlier, that is...

:dunce:

[SeattleGirl]

2. Did that shortly after you posted it, Sharon.

:hi:

[Berry Cool]

3. My two lengthy posts there are the result of a lot of thought.

I think we are living in very dangerous times...none of us more so than media personalities. It's come to the point where it doesn't even matter if we're "on the clock" for an employer or not...anyone with a small but powerful enough cell phone or video camera can make a recording of us saying or doing something someone might find offensive, and plaster it up on YouTube for all the world to see and hear.

Randi was "on the clock" for Air America at this event, in a sense, so she was representing them, and if they want to suspend her for what she said there, well, that's the way it is. I hope she serves it out, and they bring her back.

But here's what scares me.

The day may come when Randi isn't on the clock, when she's just sitting at a bar next to some other patron who happens to recognize her, and she gets into a conversation with that patron. Or maybe she's there with a friend, and she and the friend have a comfortable chat. And the conversation moves onto topics in which she says things that she wouldn't say on air. And I don't just mean four-letter words. She expresses opinions and comments on people in a way she would never do if she thought her employers were listening. Things that might offend people. Things that might offend her employer.

And somehow, a cell phone camera catches it all. And plasters it up on YouTube for all the world to see and hear.

They do. The blogs are full of it. People are calling in to other AA people's radio shows, to wingnut radio shows, talking about it.

Then, what does Air America do? Do you think they're going to keep her employed?

I don't. I don't see how they can.

And yet, what would they be firing her for? Things she said that were not meant for public consumption, that she could have said in the privacy of her home with no camera recording them and still have kept her job, because it would have been none of her employer's damn business, so long as she didn't bring it into the workplace.

And if she's not safe from having this happen, who is? Keith? Don't bet on it.

There's evidence now that there's a group of people actively working to get Randi fired and replaced with Taylor Marsh, who is pro-Hillary. And that they were behind the whole YouTube escapade resulting in her suspension. And that she was just their first media target. They have more...Keith included.

Imagine being Keith, and knowing that not only do you have to watch what you say and do when making a formal appearance (even when it's not on behalf of MSNBC, because you know whatever you do there could affect how people feel about you being on MSNBC), but you also can't afford to discuss certain topics in public, even if you're just talking with people you know.

You want to talk about your REAL feelings about Hillary and Barack, or maybe what it's really like to work with Chris Matthews, with someone at the Yankees game? Someone could be sitting behind you with a cell phone, recording it all. You sure better hope that stadium is noisy. What if it's during batting practice and things are kind of quiet? Could make a pretty good recording.

You thought you had to watch your email? As Tweety would say, "HA!"

You got anything controversial to say? Better say it at home. And if you do, I sure hope you trust Katy not to turn on you and decide to write a tell-all book about the years she spent living with a lefty lunatic before she finally woke up and saw the light.

It's just not a good trend...this idea that if there's anyone in the media someone doesn't like, they can go gunning for 'em. It's bad enough that Olbermann Watch is on Keith's trail, waiting for him to trip up. Now he's got some of the worst Hillary fanatics after him, too, trying to bring him down. They speak of Obama supporters being full of "hate" the same way wingbats say liberals are full of "hate." Yet the venom I see coming from them is the closest to wingbattiness that I've seen in the Dem world.

It really is sad to see the Dems split in half this way. The longer it goes on and the more I see of it, the more convinced I become that I will have to leave the country and find someplace else to live, because President McCain is inevitable. How in the hell did that happen? Last summer the wheels were off his bus. In the winter, the Republican bigwigs hated him and did not want to get behind him...or so it seemed. But now they've all fallen into line, like good schoolkids. The machine has swung into action. And people disgusted by all the Dem bickering are seeing him as this oasis of glowing wonderfulness...

Dear God. Please tell me that isn't going to happen.

[RevCheesehead]

4. Not much different from being a pastor.

Welcome to the fish bowl. :sigh:

[Berry Cool]

5. Yeah, I don't need to tell you, do I?

I am sure you could tell me stories that would curl my hair. I can't imagine what it would be like to be a pastor, especially in a small town, and know that everything I said and did in public was being judged for whether or not it was in keeping with the teachings of my religion, in somebody else's eyes. And knowing that anyone who for some reason didn't like me could make a recording of me saying or doing something that could put me right out of a job, in a world where jobs are not that easy to find and don't pay all that well when you have them.

My understanding now is that Randi was not representing Air America at the event per se, but only in the sense that what she did at it could be SEEN as reflecting on her employer. Now she claims the new management was just looking for an easy way to unload her. I don't know.

But here's what scares me.

I do know that her merely finding another gig elsewhere doesn't solve the bigger problem, and doesn't address the greater issues.

I just hope Keith is smart. There were times, though, when I'd listen to him on Dan Patrick's radio show, thinking "Oh my God, I just know Olbermann Watch is listening in and they're going to try to get him fired for saying this on the radio."

And none of it makes the specter of President McCain go away.