Media World: Defending Rosie O'Donnell's right to be wrong


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.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-89.2312,801.23
NASDAQ-23.352,903.88
S&P 500-9.311,342.64

Last updated: February 13, 2012: 05:36 AM

Hot Stocks

General Electric

18.875-0.255(-1.33)

Alcoa

10.29-0.35(-3.29)

Apple Inc

493.42+0.25(+0.05)

Google Inc 'A'

605.91-5.55(-0.91)

Bank of America

8.07-0.11(-1.34)

Wal-Mart Stores

61.90-0.06(-0.10)

Exxon Mobil Corp

83.80-1.08(-1.27)

Ford

12.44-0.25(-1.97)

Citigroup

32.925-0.735(-2.18)

IBM

192.42-0.71(-0.37)

Yahoo

16.14+0.14(+0.88)

Starbucks

48.82-0.38(-0.77)

Microsoft

30.495-0.275(-0.89)

Home Depot

45.33+0.06(+0.13)

DailyFinance Headlines

Benzinga Headlines

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

BioHealth Investor Headlines

WalletPop Headlines

DailyFinance BlackBerry App

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Page Loaded in 1329129409428 ms.