Posted on 03/26/2006 5:06:59 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
A 'tension convention' - that's how Don Imus would have described the ill-concealed ill will on this morning's Fox & Friends Weekend between Juliet Huddy and Julian Phillips.
Huddy is a former host of the show who was making a guest co-hosting appearance. She wasted no time in setting the confrontational tone. In her opening comments, Juliet congratulated host Gretchen Carlson on "doing a fantastic job" then pointed to Phillips saying "and Julian, you're doing a . . . " as her voice trailed off in a sarcastic riff.
"I decided to come back to harrass you," Huddy continued, as Phillips replied "I'm looking forward to getting into a fight." Carlson, evidently aware of the prevailing state of hostilities observed "I'm sure we're going to get into something between the two of you."
It was later in the opening coffee klatsch, when talk turned to the Natalee Holloway case, that Julian threw gasoline on the racial fire. Discussion centered on new allegations by the Aruban Deputy Chief of Police that Natalee died as the result of an overdose of alcohol and drugs. Huddy and Carlson were clearly offended by this blame-the-victim theory. Carlson went so far as to call the investigator's allegation that Holloway had drugs in her possession 'blasphemous' [presumably meaning to say 'slanderous'], and Huddy sardonically observed "I hope [the deputy chief] has a way to back all that up."
Far from being offended by the allegations, Phillips was happy to offer up a theory consistent with them: "could it possibly mean that she was so impaired that she might have drowned or something? That certainly has been a theory out there."
And while Phillips blithely proclaimed that "you don't want to see anybody die," it was clear that he was less concerned for Holloway's fate than he is for what he sees as the perceived mistreatment . . . of Aruba. "My whole problem with this case is that it's kind of held an entire country hostage. I just don't believe one person missing should hold an entire country hostage." Your 'whole problem,' Julian?
Phillips wasn't appeased when Carlson replied that Arubans should be angry "at the fact their government has no clue what the heck they're doing in this case." He shot back: "We have thousands of missing people in this country. Does anybody hold the United States hostage?"
When Huddy argued that much of the continued focus on the case is due to the relentless efforts of Natalee's mother to keep the story in the news, Phillips' argument took an even more sharply-defined racial turn. He replied: "there are other people who have been relentless. There's a case here in New York where a Hunter College student was missing and the mother was relentless and no one paid any attention to her."
Phillips was referring to the case of Romona Moore. Although Moore's killers were apprehended and convicted, her mother has sued NYC claiming that "the NYPD has a policy of not making a prompt investigation of missing person claims of African-Americans, while making a prompt investigation for white individuals."
Here's a link to a NY Daily News story on the case: http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/403188p-341399c.html
With his "no one paid any attention to her" comment, Phillips was clearly taking at face value the explosive claims of the mother, who is seeking more than $1 million in damages.
Fox & Friends Weekend race-card ping to Today show list.
According to this same bunch this morning, the country of Aruba has decriminalized at least some of the drugs that are illegal in this country. Apparently parents don't know about this. Or do they, and they send their kids down there anyway? In any case, it's no wonder why Aruba is such a draw. And yeah, I can hold that against them.
Right now they are discussing the money spent on proms and sweet 16 parties.
Oh, lucky me. I still get to hear Natalie's uncle.
I guess this is a sign I should go make my husband some breakfast. LOL!
Jullian Phillips is a racist, and should be called on it.
I'm beginning to think Fox is determined to cram Julian Phillips down viewers throats even though their ratings must take a nose dive on the weekends. He's the type that would sue and claim discrimination if he got the axe.
The guy repulses me and I refuse to watch anytime he's on. WAKE UP, FOX!
What is this woman talking about. They got the bad guys in this case. They were charged , tried & convicted. What more does this mother want?? I just can't imagine. /sarc.
Thanks. I know I'm not missing much.
I give you high marks for independence of mind. But do you think it was appropriate for Phillips to play the race card in the way he did, suggesting that the search for a white girl gets attention while the pleas of the mother of a missing black girl allegedly were ignored?
I was hoping that Rebbecca Gomez would be back today so the subject could go back to big boobs like yesterday. And like yesterday Julian could stare at her t*ts throughout the show.
That lady is stacked. She knows it - and is proud of it. (hubba-hubba)
I bet you had the audio muted.
Come on. This is as real as wrestling on TV. The producers told the weekend crew to mix it up or your job is on the line in this low rated show. You can tell what kind of money a TV show is making by the kinds of advertisements it carries.
I am still wondering why a stupid parent signed a paper giving no power to the real adults on the trip.
The article doesn't mention the critical issue with Huddy. Did she wear the fishnets?
You might be right in that the producers are happy to see the hosts come out swinging, but my two cents says the animosity between Juliet and Julian is real. In any case, there was no denying the way Phillips played the race card on the Holloway case.
You have a point.
I am very sympathetic to Natalee's family, and by now they should know definitively what happened to their daughter.
BUT you just wonder what it is in today's parents who think that an 18-year-old, just graduated from high school, has the critical thinking skills which could possibly prevent her from ending up God-knows-where.
SOMEBODY has to be the parent, SOMEBODY has to set the rules. And one rule should be you don't go for a week's vacation basically unchaperoned on a tempting Caribbean island full of legal goodies not legal at home.
My mother would not let me go to our senior class picnic at Lake Logan Martin (from Birmingham). She threw a loud, long fit at the very idea of a senior trip to Panama City, FL.
Guess she would have stroked out at the very thought of Aruba.
No she didn't, Damn it!
I have thought all along that Natalee died of a drug overdose. Her mother said early on that she knew she didn't run away because she took nothing with her . All her things including her inhaler were in her room. If she used an inhaler she was asthmatic, that means she had allergies. If she had severe allergies she could easily have had an allergic reaction to a drug she was given by Joren. I have severe drug allergies and given the wrong thing, I could be dead in 15 minutes. Then the boys panicked and because they had been raping her they buried her instead of taking her to an emergency room, Jorens father was called and he helped. Hang them all!
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