The always-heartless Howie Carr sank to new levels to today, when he mocked two (alleged) victims of sexual assault at the OWS protest in New York– including an 18 year-old Massachusetts native who has told the police she was raped. I happen to catch this in the car and, though I am well aware of what a cruel jerk Howie is, I was literally nauseated. The full segment is available on the WRKO website (4min 18 sec in) and I have uploaded the relevant portion to BMG for posterity. Listen to a man who has absolutely no empathy and prepare to be disgusted:
There’s not much that can be said about sickness like this, but the fact that Howie has daughters around the age of this poor girl makes his total callousness here somehow even more disturbing. In addition to a total lack of empathy, this clip also reveals what a total lazy hack Howie is- as he does what he does for virtually every person he doesn’t like and speculates that the victim probably has a “trust fund”. Granted, that he has zero empathy and is a lazy hack are well known facts, but they could never be on more stark display than they are here.
Seriously, the ongoing reality that this slime still has paid jobs WRKO and the Herald and is often welcomed on other Boston media (Emily Rooney, talking to you) as though he is an even remotely respectable human being is a disgrace.
No thank you. I have better things to do. You do, also.
I heard this comment, thought it was despicable even for Howie, and thought it was worth drawing attention to- rather than just letting it off into the ether. I figured it was possible that even some people who have accepted Howie’s usual schtick would find this sickening and it would alter their overall opinion. Unfortunately, Howie exists. So it is worthwhile to point out & highlight what a black hole his humanity is when he makes it so nakedly apparent.
It took a little over and hour to put all this together (much of which was spent trying to get the audio uploaded to BMG to play in the post, which I never managed to do and so uploaded to another site and embedded from there). And the total time to listen to what Howie said is 1min 47sec. I’m genuinely curious if you have any concrete suggestions for a better use of that time…or if you would like to share what you did that was better (though there’s no reason everyone has to be doing the exact same thing, many things are worthwhile). I agree with some of what you wrote in your comment that you linked to, but there is significant irony in an outraged blog comment decrying outraged blog posts.
Anyway, Howie’s disgusting comment (highlighted above) has already gotten some national play, so I’m pretty confident the time spent to draw attention to it was worthwhile.
Scout, Thanks for putting this together. Between these comments and Howie’s disgusting hit piece on Tim Murray today, I have no respect remaining for Carr.
… spent an hour discovering something you already knew about somebody you knew you didn’t like in order to feel a blood pressure rise your doctor’ll probably give you a pill to lower… Hmn.
Why don’t you just skip the blood pressure spike and stay calm? It’s interesting that you’ve chosen the moniker ‘scout’, which calls to mind Harper Lee’s magnificent book To Kill A Mockingbird and here you are advocating the Boo Radley solution… My path is Atticus’ path. As he says:
But I find this post is important. Yes, Howie is an attention whore, and yes, he probably says something awful at least 10 times an episode. But this is particularly egregious, and I think it’s time for the media to really evaluate whether or not they want to be associated with this guy.
I’m offended by your dismissal of this, frankly, petr.
I just changed the settings of that sound from private to public. If you try to embed again it might work now.
respond (or not) in your chosen way, and let scout respond as s/he sees fit? Politics encompasses head, heart, guts, and everything in between. Why do you insist on belittling those whose responses do not precisely track your own? Seems a rather illiberal approach to me.
There is a line, however slim I’ll grant, between pointing out when people are being little and actively belittling people. I’ve certainly been guilty of crossing that line in the past but I don’t think I’ve crossed it here. And I certainly wouldn’t so much as flirt with the line if I didn’t think the conversant was being little by (misguided) choice.
I, of course, have no real way of knowing, but I took the guess that ‘scout’ was a reference to the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” and pointed out that ‘scout’ was acting and expostulating in such a manner as to be contrary to the great heart of that great book… which, after all, deals with a great many of the same themes and topics. So, you see, I’m not worried about whether scouts responses track my own, but rather whether they track the book associated with that name. A name s/he chose with, one hopes, great deliberation.
The other side of this argument is the wider, more recent, and quite sudden, explosion of outrage I’ve seen here at BMG (two separate posts on Howie Carr, one on Bob Hedlund, Herman Cain, etc…) and which I pointed out in the comment I linked above: there’s a general change in tone recently that I find poisonous and I said so. I’ll say it again if I feel it. It is, of course, your site so you can let it devolve into anything you wish. Just don’t be surprised to have that devolution pointed out to you. “look at what those nasty republicans are doing now!” might be a rallying cry for a sewing circle but it’s a harder sell for the “reality based community”
…in your repeatedly, urgently and angrily telling other people to be calm? You need to take your own advice and “be the calm you imagine.” I’m perfectly calm, but this still is a perfectly appropriate cause of outrage. And no, I didn’t put this up in order to be outraged, but to (hopefully) illustrate to other people what a despicable excuse for a human being Howie Carr is.
Curiously, you just joined the unestimable John Howard in recent speculation about the source of the name Scout (www.redmassgroup.com/diary/13246/boycott-cvim). You are both wrong, though I’m really not sure whether to think I’m doing something right or doing something wrong that it’s attracting such fervid speculation.
Repeatedly? Yes.
Urgently? Yes.
Angrily? Nope.
You’ve made my case for me: the outrage you wallow in poisons your perception.
…you did so deliberately, you evoked a classic novel that explores particularly relevant themes: specifically with how decent people deal with despicable people and their outrageous acts. If you haven’t read it I suggest you do
It’s verging on bizarre how dedicated you are wallowing here to criticize an effort to draw attention to the disgusting things Howie Carr said about 17 & 18 year old sexual assault victims- yet have nothing at all to say about the comments or situation that is the focus of this post. Has it not occurred to you that outrage my effect different people differently? I’m not the one who has been driven by this discussion into lashing out with sexist language (it is admirable you admitted it though). My perception is fine.
Finally, and at the risk of opening a new can of off-topic worms, if you don’t think Boo Radley is a character to be admired…you need to re-read that great book you keep bringing up.
You’re of course entitled to your opinion. As are we all.
This is truly a dismissive and insulting comment. First of all, the “sewing circle” crack is sexist and completely inappropriate. Women who sew together are perfectly capable of discussing the contemporary political landscape, having informed and educated opinions on contemporary politics, and taking action based on their discussions. Perhaps you haven’t been to enough “sewing circles” or knitting groups in your life, but I suggest you try some. As a matter of fact, many Democratic town committees in Masschusetts look an awful lot like a “sewing circle” on the surface–I dare you to come to my meeting and make a crack like the one you just wrote. BTW, many of those women (and men) sitting in Elizabeth Warren’s audiences sew and knit together. Indeed, most of them are beyond the insulting “nasty republicans!” stage in their political evolution and could run circles, excuse the play on words, around you and many other here. Being female or liking to sew has little to do with being informed and active.
Second, trying to hold the Howie Carrs or Jay Severins accountable for their on-air comments is good activism and citizenship. While you may not care much about what is broadcast these days, there are plenty of people who do care and with good reason. And this is the perfect forum for concerned people to articulate their feelings about these issues with people who voluntarily jump in to discuss.
BMG has been around a long time now and has survived all many of fluctuations in “climate.” It’ll survive quite well without the tone police.
I would withdraw the comment if I could. It was sexist and I am sorry
I appreciate that tremendously. 🙂
Couldn’t embed the audio but put in a link for people to come here. I am livid with rage over this. My post has a call to action to call WRKO and the Herald.
Also, if someone could compile a list of advertisers, I’d help to get a list of phone #s to call them and tell them to boycott that goddamned asshat.
At least one of them is on your home turf:
West Lynn Financial, Water Saver Grass Seed, Cushing & Dolan (law firm), Kars for Kids, Network Capital, New England Associates (hair transplants), 5 Hour Energy, Home Depot, goutinfo.com, Sherwin Williams, Olsen Cadillac
Do we know that the person who confronted EW in Brockton is a Scott Brown supporter? I wouldn’t be surprised, but to label him as such almost suggests a tie to the Brown campaign and therefore Brown’s responsibility that I’m not sure is warranted.
We know that the person who confronted Ms. Warren chose to attend a political meet, and seemed to be prepared to give his “speech”. I think it’s therefore a short step to say that he is interested in politics. His epithet, coupled with his “foreign born” comment about President Obama, strongly suggest that he identifies with the Tea Party more than any other party.
If you’ll agree that this man is a “political person”, can you suggest any OTHER candidate besides Scott Brown that this political person supports?
I think this is PRECISELY the kind of scum that Scott Brown — together with Herman Cain and the rest of the GOP — both pander to and attract.
I think the promotion comment is just fine.
No it doesn’t – no such suggestion was made or implied. Nobody holds candidates responsible for the sometimes-kooky views of all their supporters. We do, however, appropriately expect candidates to disavow those views.