Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE: DIS) ABC is in a lose-lose situation regarding Rosie O'Donnell.
If it follows the advice of conservatives and fires her from "The View," liberals will be outraged. But keeping her on will inflame conservatives. If ABC, the network that made George Lopez and Jim Belushi comedy icons, is really clever, it will do nothing at all.
That's right, ABC should keep Rosie. America needs liberals who shoot their mouths off with seemingly little thought as to the consequences, if only as a balance against the many conservatives who do the same thing. It's only fair.
As a card-carrying member of the liberal media, I wish Rosie would check her facts before spouting off ridiculous theories about major news events like 9/11 and the British sailors captured by Iran. Maybe she ought to hire a fact checker or do some more reading.
Unlike the other members of "The View," however, O'Donnell actually has one. Does anyone ever remember anything memorable coming from the mouths of any of the other "View" commentators? That's what makes O'Donnell such a lightening rod for right-wing critics.
"We are not demanding that government or Disney-ABC censor anything she, or anyone else, says. Instead, we wish to let our voices be heard by manipulating the market," says the Stoprosie.com website. "We are not placing the blame for this situation on Disney-ABC, The View, the sponsors of The View, or even Rosie O'Donnell. We are placing the blame on the audience of The View for enabling Disney-ABC to leave Rosie on the air."
I don't quite follow the logic here.
If you are looking for someone to blame, why not blame the network that pays Rosie O'Donnell. The audience didn't elect her to her exalted, presumably very-well compensated position.
Rosie O'Donnell may be many things but she certainly isn't insincere. Her blog has a long, rambling rant that attempts to explain herself:
"America is great in so many ways, one of which is the freedom to speak, and indeed think, freely. I have, of late, begun exercising the rights bestowed upon me by the democratic system I value, and the exercising of these rights has taken the form of an inquiry into what happened five years ago, an inquiry that resists the dominant explanations and that dares to entertain ideas that push me to the edge of what is bearable."
Perhaps she can use professional help or better yet a gig at CNN? Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) lets Glenn Beck spout right-wing nonsense. Why not have O'Donnell spout left-wing drivel? It would be "fair and balanced."
Wait a minute. Isn't that the other cable news channel?
Maybe Rosie should ring up HBO's Bill Maher. Maybe the host of "Real Time with Bill Maher" can give her tips on how to be smart, funny and proactive and still be likeable.
O'Donnell, though, is being held up to an unfair double standard. There are plenty of conservative talk show hosts that say equally stupid and potentially offensive stuff.
Take Don Imus. He called the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team "nappy-headed hoes." Imus, who has said a lot of offensive stuff over the years about blacks, women and Arabs, eventually apologized and doesn't seem to have suffered any adverse consequences.
If people can forgive and forget the stupid stuff that Imus and other conservatives such as Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter have said over the years, they ought to cut Rosie O'Donnell some slack.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-06-2007 @ 7:22PM
Jim Furlong said...
Don Imus is a conservative? Get OUT of here!
4-06-2007 @ 10:05PM
skeptic said...
Now demolition companies can stop wasting money on dangerous explosives, because according to Popular Mechanics, a diesel fire and flying debris can cause a symmetrical, 6.5-second collapse.
Watch the building 7 collapse video FOR YOURSELF- http://www.wtc7.net
4-06-2007 @ 10:03PM
Roy Soules said...
Rosie should be barred from EVER using a microphone! There isn't one good thing that has come from her mouth. Disney/ABC should fire her and all the "View" airheads. You're right on about them ever saying anything worthwhile or intelligent. Myself and the rest of America are queued to turn off at the sound of their theme and the canned applause. You forgot to mention that the 3 networks ABC, NBC, and CBS are all flaming liberal controlled vs one network who's less biased.
4-07-2007 @ 8:54AM
DENNIS said...
I personally have the faintest understanding of why anyone in their right mind would have ever been crazy enough to put that idiot on that show in the first place. He/she's the one that should be fired-interestingly I notice that Disney has not participated with great enthusiasm in the most recent stock market advance-but, I digress. For my part, they can leave her on the show forever, if they wish. It most certainly has no direct effect on me, although she continues to make a fool of herself, and the network that put her there in the first place, and now finds itself in a quandary about what in the hell to do with her now.
This has been fun, but I really do have somewhat more important things to do with my time.
4-07-2007 @ 8:56AM
ThankYouRosie said...
It's always the same stupidity spouted from the "left" and "right" gatekeepers trying to keep the real truth from coming to the average person. Don't be fooled. Even though they may take apart what I say and demonize my thoughts, you know in your heart of hearts that what I say resonates and is true. I'm almost sorry to tell you that it is true. I know it will be hard to go through this journey, but to get to the truth, it is something that you must do. It is something that only you can do for your self. YOU must devote the essential time and investigate this yourself. Others have put the evidence for you to determine the factuality, but ultimately you must decide for yourself. When deciding, please allow yourself to suspend your normal reactions and actually hear the evidence through and then think it through logically. I wish I was a better writer to explain this to you. Have an open mind and remember the disgusting things that these same people and their disgusting accomplices have done.(The Left gatekeeper writer of this article, Jonathan Berr is a supposed liberal. If you were a liberal, you would never question someone's right to free speech. His duplicitous Orwellian double think talk is absurd. Bill Mahr is bs too. Please keep him out of any real discussion. His Bono face having look is an embarrassment to any free thinking "liberal" "progressive" "name the color here" thinker. He's a Left gate keeper, like Amy Goodman and Noam Chompatthebitsky. Never let in the real facts or truth. Kind of like 9/11 Commission. Never even discuss Building 7. Then Hearst's (yellow journalism - see pic in the dictionary!) Popular Mechanics, does a laughable no truth rebuttal about the facts. What about the middle steel coulumm supports. Falling down in Free Fall. Don't let the name calling paid media shills (billions and billions a year!) determine our future. It's that important. Go to http://www.thankyourosie.com for more and to show your opinions.
4-07-2007 @ 10:43AM
Frank said...
Jet fuel fires do NOT melt steel; even really big jet fuel fires can't melt steel. Jet fuel burns at only about 1500 Degrees Fahrenheit in the open air and structural steel does not melt or even get significantly weakened until more than a thousand degrees hotter with a melting point of near 3300 degrees F. That is why diesel engines and jet turbines can sustain internal combustion without melting and why steel workers use acetylene torches, not jet fuel fires, to cut steel.
Rosie was absolutely correct in her comments and many citizens agree with her. The real fools are the sheeple in this country who believe the claptrap from people like Bill O'Reilly.
4-07-2007 @ 10:49AM
Kevin said...
I was never an O'Donnell fan. Until now. Anyone who looks for more than a couple hours at the evidence, will see that there is far more to the story of 911 than what we've been told. It is not about left and right. A horrendous crime was committed on that day.
And we who have looked at the evidence ,say the perpetratores are unknown.But probably members of our own government. Look for yourself.
4-07-2007 @ 12:55PM
barbara said...
I love the View. Don't always agree, but resent O'Reilly and others who think their opinions should be embraced by all. Please let me decide for myself.The last time I checked we still had free speech.
4-07-2007 @ 12:58PM
Blah said...
Keep in mind, it's only liberal idiots that said jet fuel melted steel.
Nobody with any credibility ever said that WTC steel structures were melted.
What they did say was that the jet fuel superheated the steel, causing it to weaken, and lose the strength that it had. At a certain point, it collapsed.
It's basic physics and thermodynamics, and obviously, Rosie (and the rest of you whackjobs) are too simple to grasp that.
4-07-2007 @ 4:07PM
wordtodawise said...
It's amazing how Rosie O'donnell can single handedly shake and rattle the nerves of conservatives. It shows these people for the cowards they are.
The republicans, aka right-wing nuts have spent enormous resources to spread falsehood attempting to spin this country down the cliff to ultimate destruction. They occupy the tubes and airways and fill the air with unfiltered polution that chokes the unwary citizen.
For long the masses have absorbed and endured endless shameless neocon driven propaganda. The events of the past years have awaken people to the truth and the evil that lurks in the vein of this great country. The critical saturation point has been reached and a new political reality has emerged. Rosie O'Donnell represents one of those voices of truth and she must speak on and on and on. Go Rosie, the real America needs your courage. May the force be with you.
4-07-2007 @ 4:06PM
kevin said...
Blah,
Rosie O'Donnell mostly talks about Building Seven which was not hit by a plane ,yet collapsed 4 hours later ,in classic demolition style.
PS.Physics professor Dr. Stephen Jones disagrees with your understanding of basic physics and thermodynamics.
PPS,most 911 truth people are conservatives.
4-08-2007 @ 9:40AM
shawn cooper said...
Why is anyone even talking about Rosie? There are hundreds of political figures, scholars, high ranking military officials and survivors of September 11th that question the official story, Rosie is not the only one. please see www.patriotsquestion911.com .
One thing I would hope for is for anyone that believes the official story of 9/11 to actually investigate the evidence of that day for yourself. The evidence seems to be completely ignored by mainstream media. I have been researching 9/11 for over four years and there are serious unanswered questions from that day. Although, most talking heads on the Fox network and others call anyone that questions the official story a nut job, crazy or unpatriotic I appreciate that you would trully do some investigation. People are attacked for proposing alternative theories without discussing the subject matter of what the person is proposing. see ad hominem logical arguement.
There are many important unanswered questions from 9/11, I will propose 5. I hope you investigate these for yourself.
1) Never in the history of steel structures has a building collapsed from fire yet 3 did on 9/11; WTC tower 1,2 & 7. all three buildings came down at free fall speed with no resistance, tower 7 was never hit by an airplane yet came down symetrically in seven seconds? Additionally odd, tower 2 fell before tower 1 although tower 1 was hit first and tower 2 was hit with a glancing blow. The explosion/ collapse in tower 2 started above where the plane hit the tower?
2) There is no large plane wreckage in front of the Pentagon from the 757 that hit it. Taking from the official story, the 757 that hit the pentagon flew over a highway, parallel and 15 to 20 feet above the ground and impacted the pentagon between the 1st and 2nd floor. (official story) The airplane did not leave any markings or large debris (ex wings) on the front of the pentagon. the 757 suppossedly was sucked into a 16ft by 24ft hole, before the ceiling collapsed a 1/2 hour later, and incinerated. how did this plane hit only 15 ft above the ground after descending so rapidly without ever hitting the ground and flown by an amateur pilot? The 3 slides the pentagon released to the public shows a small shaped device flying horizontally, very low to the ground and leaving a small smoke trail. How come the Pentagon has not released video from the cameras mounted on the roof? lastly, after travelling through three rings of the Pentagon, the plane or whatever it was left a small circular exit hole in the third ring.
3. All four hijacked planes flew for an average of 40 minutes, 1 hour 50 minutes total, without any fighter jet intercept over NY and Washington. As you are aware, NY and Washington are some of the most protected airspace in the world.
4. Where is the plane wreckage from the plane crash in Shanksville, PA? in pictures and video all you see is a small ditch with no fires, plane debris, seats, bodies, etc.?
5. How was the Patriot Act and the War on Terror so quickly developed after 9/11? Was this new program a reaction to 9/11 or something that was worked on before September 11th and just conveniently ready for a terrorist attack?
9/11 was an inside job, a false flag operation. Sadly, the sophistication of this operation points more towards state sponsored terrorism than a small group of bandits inside a cave. As you touched on in your article, how often have our leaders evoked the memory of 9/11 to rally our people for certain causes (i.e. Iraq)?
fight on in peace. I hope you decide to investigate the truth of 9/11 for yourself.
Namaste
Shawn Cooper
PS For a summary and the best documentary of 9/11 I recommend watching Loose Change 2. You can watch it for free here-
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7866929448192753501&q=loose+change+2&hl=en
or visit www.wtc7.net or www.st911.org and start your own research...
4-08-2007 @ 9:21PM
Louis K said...
1.So you think that the pilot was a professional? Yes, they were trained well,but flying isn't that hard (before you ask, yes I have). The hard part is landing, and knowing what to do and how to do it, in an emergency.This whole "conspiracy" talk sounds just like so much crap. True, fuel oil doesn't burn hot enough to melt steel, but it WILL soften it to the point that the 100's of tons it is holding up can crush it. For example, a 50-60 pound kid can't crush a can with two fingers, but if he stands on it and then taps the sides with two fingers, the can will collapse... without explosives!! Plus, the gaping hole in the side, especially at that altitude, would function like a giant forge, drawing in oxygen to feed the flames. Take a large metal (5 gallon) can and cut a hole in the side. fill it with paper and light it and then, with an air compressor, feed air into the hole. The can won't melt, but will get cherry red and become VERY mallable. At this point it would take very little weight to crush it. This is also the reasoning behind "if your house is on fire DON'T open the door!"It will feed the fire making it much stronger.
2. The Pentagon was built to withstand a much stronger impact (like a bomb) than a glass and steel skyscraper is.
3. It's easy to Monday morning quarterback. Before 9/11 no one would have considered the possibility of having to shoot down a commercial, American owned jetliner, so the chain of command red tape to secure clearance to fire on them would have been staggering.
4. Almost, if not ALL of the plane crashes you have ever seen footage of the pilot is trying to SAVE the plane, not destroy it. It was probably nosed straight in at high speed. Toss a watermelon out the door on the ground and then try dropping it from three stories up. The difference in speed makes a huge difference.
5. Concerning how fast they got the patriot act ready, just think how fast the anti-constitution (specifically the second amendment) "lawmakers" like schumer, feinstein, pelosi and kennedy react to come up with a feel-good, kneejerk reaction when someone breaks one of the 20,000 or so existing gun laws.
6. Rosie is just a pathetic idiot. She may be better educated, but my eight year old is more intelligent.
4-09-2007 @ 6:35PM
Ellen Hung said...
What ever happened to FREEDOM OF SPEECH? Love Rosie or not she has every right to question what in the world is going on. So if you AGREE with someone they are wonderful. DISAGREE and they should be fired or worse? Come on people grow up or soon we won't have the right to voice our opinions here..
4-10-2007 @ 4:03AM
Kevin said...
http://patriotsquestion911.com/
http://www.pilotsfor911truth.org/
http://stj911.org/
4-12-2007 @ 7:05PM
ahmed zahmed said...
So much for your comment that Imus "doesn't seem to have suffered any adverse consequences."
He got FIRED today.
Now who's got the double-standard???
FIRE Rosie!!
4-14-2007 @ 4:02PM
Ernest B Hinton said...
You are obviously are not openly gay and have not endured the treachery that black women and men can impose on an openly gay person. Do they apologize for their behavior. No! They think their behavior is acceptable. I have been called FAG, SISSY and every degrading comment known to men. What is most hurtful is when a masculine gay man comes into a room and in front of all his straight friends screams... I don't go that way! Just because I am there. Is he saying it for my benefit or his str8 friends benefit. Nobody asked him if he is straight.
Nobody cares. The sad things about downlow brothers is that they are not down low. Everybody knows. Women will still have babies by them as babies bring money and benefits. The average baby manufacturer does not care what the father is. Just give them some WIC, Section 8 and SSI and they are happy. Trust me!!!!!!
The only mistake that IMUS made was bringing that drag queen AL SHARPTON on his show. This bitch has misled black america for decades. I was his revenue agent in Brooklyn. Al Sharpton owes over $100,000.00 in IRS civil penalties and yet he was low enough to have blacks vote for him for president. Al Sharpton could have never been president of the US. Until he paid that debt off. So he suckered all blacks who voted for him and that other queen "Mrs Jessie Jackson" which I hate and have good reason to. She was at the Newark International Airport and I was walking with a child and the child and I went over to her and wanted to shake hands. Jesse Jackson told his guards to get us out of the way. I will never forgive Jesse for that. That was a child... Despite his feelings against me.
olskoolruffneck wrote:
4-17-2007 @ 9:03AM
wordtodawise said...
Where have all the KKK folks, the skin heads, the Arian nations, the militias and other hate groups gone after all these years?
Well, they have all grown up to be Congressmen, senators, Judges, Lawmen, Academicians, Business execs, military brass, Radio and TV talking heads. In truth, they have not gone away, they are still everywhere.
Today, the white sheets have been replaced by electronic hoods where hate can be spread with sophistication and reckless disregard for simple social justice.
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Shaun Hannaty, Bill O’Reily and the rest of the obscure clones.
Don Imus over the years operated comfortably with the support of the establishment and the passive masses. His attitude as well as others in his position gained strength with the advent of Ronald Reagan and the republican reign of power.
Don Imus can apologize from now till eternity, it doesn't change his soul. He is what he is and he knows it. You can wash a tiger but you can't get rid of its stripes and its desire to hunt and kill.
The recent event where young women are referred to as nappy head hoes is only a small example of the callous nature of these cowards who hide behind the mic to spew garbage upon a hapless society. It's a small ripple that will soon fade into oblivion and life will continue as usual.
The society is sick and there's plenty to be done. It's the duty of every concerned citizen to recognize the problem and work hard to destroy the cancer that is deeply imbedded in the flesh of our great country. Done Imus is down, the rest must follow.
Wordtodawise
4-20-2007 @ 8:03PM
goplove said...
What really eats at my soul, is that there is the huge possiblity that people watching this whale on The View might start buying into her idiotic conspiracy theories.