UPDATED: Link to petition to fire Liz Trotta (Thanks to tnichlsn for pointing out the need for this link.)
I haven't seen this diaried yet. It's another example of the colossal and offensive ignorance we've been hearing lately from some public figures.
From the Washington Post today, Rightfully Let Go, But Not Soon Enough:
Unless you've been living in Pittsburgh in recent years, you've probably never heard of Mark Madden, let alone had the displeasure of hearing his highly rated low-brow sports talk show on the city's ESPN-owned and operated radio station..........
And better yet, no one except the people in the same room with him will be listening to Madden any time soon in Pittsburgh, and perhaps anywhere else. On Tuesday, he was permanently taken off the air of 1250 ESPN, six days after making despicably vile comments concerning the news last week that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has been diagnosed with brain cancer.
"I'm very disappointed to hear that Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts is near death because of a brain tumor," Madden said during the opening of his popular afternoon drive time show from 3-7 p.m. "I always hoped Sen. Kennedy would live long enough to be assassinated. I wonder if he got a card from the Kopechnes."
According to the article, Madden has a history of on-air stupidity.
"He's wished death on people before, even said on the air he hoped their planes crashed. He's told listeners he had sex with their wives.....But this one was pretty bad, the worst of anything he's ever said."
But what about Liz Trotta?
From BET:
Although Liz Trotta has half-heartedly apologized for stating on live TV that she wished somebody would assassinate presidential candidate Barack Obama, critics are calling on Fox News to fire her. During an on-air conversation Sunday with Fox News anchor Eric Shawn, the journalist, who is a former editor at the Washington Times and a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, laughed, "And now we have what some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama, um uh, Obama - well, both if we could." ..........
Petitions for her removal are circulating on the Web, but so far FOX has taken no action.
Here's Trotta's half-assed apology:
She said, " Oh yes, I am so sorry about what happened yesterday and the lame attempt at humor. I fell all over myself, making it appear that I wished Barack Obama harm or any other candidate, for that matter, and I sincerely regret it and apologize to anybody I have offended. It is a very colorful political season"-- she chuckled at this point--"and many of us are making mistakes and saying things we wish we had not said."
Should people who make these kind of remarks be fired from their jobs? Arrested by the Secret Service? Fined? Given an unpaid leave of absence? Or ignored and allowed to rant on in the name of "free speech"?