# Air America gunshot joke a crime? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2005, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508 "2005-04-28T06:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/21 "2005-04-28T14:54:34Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > I agree that Air America has sunk really low. Yes, because the entire network may fairly be judged by a single example on a single show. FWIW, and not that I frequent threads on a regular basis where I see Rush mentioned, the reason why the Chelsea “joke” was so appalling is that it was a grown man attacking a teenage girl who had done nothing, because he hated her parents. While this bit was not, based on the descriptions I’ve read, funny, at least the target was an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/22 "2005-04-28T14:59:34Z")
Is Randi Rhodes the one who told a Republican caller to “hang up and go open a vein”? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/23 "2005-04-28T15:10:53Z")
Randi Rhode’s comments were stupid and wrong. What really angered me, however, was that MSNBC had G Gprdon Liddy on to talk about the incident. He said that he never stooped to such tactics on his show, and no one challenged him!! In case you don’t remember: > [@](#): > > Liddy told listeners how to kill federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents: “They’ve got a big target on there, ATF. Don’t shoot at that because they’ve got a vest on underneath that. Head shot, head shots.” see [http://www.publiceye.org/eyes/gunsammo.html](http://www.publiceye.org/eyes/gunsammo.html). ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/24 "2005-04-28T15:14:22Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Is Randi Rhodes the one who told a Republican caller to “hang up and go open a vein”? I think that was Mike Malloy, the other Air America host who’s been doing liberal talk for many years before Air America came about. Randi Rhodes is the one whom Ralph Nadar hung up on. By the way, the “gunshot” skit was produced by someone at the Air America office, not Randi Rhodes and her crew. Randi said she didn’t even know about it until after it aired. > [@DanBlather](#): > > Randi Rhode’s comments were stupid and wrong. Are you referring to the original skit, or something she said afterwards? ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/25 "2005-04-28T15:20:28Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Are you referring to the original skit, or something she said afterwards? The skit. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/26 "2005-04-28T15:37:32Z")
I heard both the Monday show and the apologies live. They’ve been doing these “skits” or “bits” or whatever every day. They’re all bad and unfunny, and even Rhodes herself usually says so. I don’t know why they do this. If I were in the Secret Service, I would investigate any possible threat, regardless of my political opinions. (They did this at an art exhibit in NY.) The day before Ronald Regan was first elected president, he was at a rally at a mall parking lot in San Diego. I and a friend decided to go down a small river that was close to the speaking area in an inflatable kayak. (I don’t remember why we did that.) The Secret Service stopped us, and asked us questions, but they didn’t arrest us. What we did wasn’t a crime, but they still had to investigate. The Rhodes show was obviously a joke–not a crime–but they have to investigate anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/27 "2005-04-28T15:42:37Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > But I must point out that Rush’s reference to Chelsea as the ‘White House dog’ was _not_ an adlibbed crack – it was on his TV show, and it involved the use of a picture put onscreen by a technician. (I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve pointed this out to someone). And it wasn’t live, it was filmed and then aired. I forgot that Rush had that TV show. I simply assumed that the crack was from his radio show, which is what I associate with “Rush”. Thanks for pointing that out. I apologize for making this bad assumption. So, they were both planned, but clearly the Air America joke was in poorer taste. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/28 "2005-04-28T15:52:14Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > I forgot that Rush had that TV show. I simply assumed that the crack was from his radio show, which is what I associate with “Rush”. > > Thanks for pointing that out. I apologize for making this bad assumption. You’re welcome – thanks for being so decent about it. > [@](#): > > So, they were both planned, but clearly the Air America joke was in poorer taste. I would agree. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/29 "2005-04-28T17:08:48Z")
The joke incident on the Randi Rhodes show went down like this, according to my understanding: The voice being broadcast, the one saying “Here’s your answer, you ungrateful whelp”, was not presented as being the radio personality “in character”. It was prefaced by a discussion of how the Republicans are opposed to gun controls, making it easier for anyone to get a gun\*, and are also endangering Social Security. So imagine there are all these senior citizens with guns, see? And from there proceeds to do a skit, in which the radio personality is acting out as the character of a hypothetical armed senior citizen. Hence the “spoiled child” and “whelp” references. If Saturday Night Live runs a skit in which an actor plays the part of a crazed assassin or a mass murderer, we don’t tend to think SNL or the network is endorsing assassination or murder. The problem with the Air America Radio skit was that it’s obviously a very partisan show, the political sympathies are with seniors concerned about losing their social security benefits (if not necessarily also with senior citizens desiring to own assault weaponry), and it could be too easily construed as a “gee wouldn’t it be great if… / would sure serve the SOB right if…” kind of thing. I think Rhodes is right to apologize, but for those of you saying this was in horribly bad taste or represents a real low for liberal radio: get a fucking grip. It _is_ a funny juxtaposition, it was _not_ an endorsement of shooting the prez or anyone (it is, in fact, an on-message liberal warning\* about lax firearms controls as well as an anticipation that lots of people on social security are angry about what the administration is trying to do), and it sure as hell wasn’t a direct threat. - disclaimer: I am not a gun control advocate myself, I just favor the rest of the politics of many of those who are and understand the statement they were making. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/30 "2005-04-28T17:34:10Z")
Am I the only one who is remembering the sketch from MTV’s **The State** with a classroom of kids in a civics class, and the teacher is talking about how the secret service is there to protect the president or something, and one kid goes, “so you mean, if I say, for example, oh, ‘I’m going to kill the president…’,” at which point guys in black suits bust in and haul the kid away? ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/31 "2005-04-28T18:58:33Z")
Well not quite. My friend was questioned by the Secret Service for a satirical article he wrote in The Press, the features newspaper for SUNY Stony Brook University. In the article he prayed to Jesus to smite Bush. Apparently asking a higher power to do the dirty work is still considered a threat. No further action other than the questioning was taken, however. ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/32 "2005-04-28T20:55:20Z")
[QUOTE=beagledave] Helms WAS investigated (as are hundreds of similar episodes every year). Do you have a cite for Helms? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/33 "2005-04-28T21:23:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Liddy told listeners how to kill federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents: “They’ve got a big target on there, ATF. Don’t shoot at that because they’ve got a vest on underneath that. Head shot, head shots.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but AFAIK Liddy _wasn’t_ joking when he said this. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/34 "2005-04-28T21:53:00Z")
The Secret Service investigating doesn’t mean there is a threat. It just means there _may_ be a threat. They have to investigate to see if it WAS a threat. Most of the time they are not, I’d suppose. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/35 "2005-04-28T23:18:38Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > I don’t see “the President” or “President Bush” mentioned in the excerpt, do you? > > That said, I fully expect the right-wing spin machine to try and make a mountain out of this molehill. [Moderator hat ON] I’m getting pretty tired of the constant political sniping and hijacking of threads in **General Questions**. This WILL stop. **rjung**. You started the hijack of this thread. You’re about as guilty of this kind of behavior as anyone on the boards. It’s getting tiresome. And you’ve been here a long time. Don’t do this anymore. **Debaser**. As far as I can tell, you were the second to hijack/politicize the thread. The OP did NOT require you to compare and contrast Liberal/Conservative talk shows and how they treat political subjects. Don’t do this anymore. To those of you who tried to offer comments actually related to the OP, thank you. Any factual, non-political further evidence is welcome in this thread. [Moderator hat OFF] ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/36 "2005-04-29T02:30:59Z")
[QUOTE=Thin Ice] > [@beagledave](#): > > Helms WAS investigated (as are hundreds of similar episodes every year). > > Do you have a cite for Helms? One from the right [http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleid.16866/article\_detail.asp](http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleid.16866/article_detail.asp) > [@](#): > > “Helms then added: 'Mr. Clinton better watch out if he comes down here. He better have a bodyguard.” The News and Observer ran just the Clinton reference without the joke that preceded it, and the Associated Press picked up the story. Soon the media were reporting that the Secret Service was investigating Helms’ comments, and the editorial page of the New York Times called for Helms to step aside as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. One from the left > **[Jesse Helms to retire from US Senate: a career based on racism, bigotry and...](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2001/08/helm-a31.html)** > > The announcement by North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms that he will retire rather than run for reelection in 2002 has produced the outpouring of clichés, designed to conceal rather than illuminate, that is generally churned out by the American media... > [@](#): > > “Mr. Clinton better watch out if he comes down here,” Helms said. “He’d better have a bodyguard.” > When this incitement to violence was referred to the Secret Service, Helms issued a brief retraction. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508/37 "2005-04-29T02:36:40Z")
The Helms event is a bit dated for me to find at regular news archives (which is why I could only find second hand accounts above) …but here is another [cite](http://groups-beta.google.com/group/bit.listserv.politics/browse_thread/thread/cc10afca80a785fe/77f8987dc8994a6e?q=secret+service+helms&rnum=1#77f8987dc8994a6e) for Helms investigation…from Reuters > [@](#): > > The Secret Service said it had asked for a transcript of Helms > interview to review it. “As you know, we protect the president 24 > hours a day wherever he goes,” a spokesman said. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-america-gunshot-joke-a-crime/301508.md?page=1)