According to Randi Rhodes, you bet they did.

BRIAN LAMB: Go back to the meeting, how long were you there?

RANDI RHODES: Where?

LAMB: With the Senators?

RHODES: I think they gave me an hour or so. And it was very – we ate lunch, which of course, I didn‘t eat, because I was terrified. But 30 Senators showed up. I was amazed. For me it was like, I kept saying, when I got on the air, I talked about it and I said it was like being at Walt Disney World. Do you ever got to like the good Disney hotels in Disney and you see your favorite characters? Like Mickey comes out and Donald comes out. I go, well I watch C-SPAN, so like these are my characters – these are my TV characters. And it was like, you know, here comes (INAUDIBLE). And you know, let‘s face it a lot of Senators aren't recognized by people.

I was going oh my God, that‘s (INAUDIBLE). Oh my God, that's Dick Durbin. Oh my god, that's Dorgan. Oh my God, that's Tom Daschle. Oh my god, and, you know, everybody knows Hillary, obviously, she was First Lady of the United States. But how many recognize Barbara Mikulski and know that she makes a mean crab cake.

You know, so it was fantastic. I was too nervous to eat. I guess they liked me. And so then they organized a lunch at Mary Landrieu's house. And I was invited to this lunch. And again, it was, you know, democrat senators with an interest in media and getting our message out. And they thought that – they had had 30 people that they had spoken two, and it came down to two that they really liked and thought could do it. And it was me and this guy at Schultz.

LAMB: From North Dakota?

RHODES: Yes. And he was there because Daschle was scared.

LAMB: He's South Dakota, but he's from that area.

RHODES: Yes, I do that too. Anyway, I …

LAMB: And they were going to select one of the two of you?

RHODES: They were – I don't know exactly what the plan was, I do now. I didn‘t that day. And all I know is that Ed got up and he made this big presentation. And then they looked at me and I thought was just there to have lunch. And I remember being terrific. I don't like public speaking, all that much. It‘s weird with people, you know, I'm so used to my little cubicle.

And so I remember, I didn't even get up to the front of the room, I was too scared. I was sitting next to Senator Durbin who's very funny. I mean he was – he had me entertained the whole lunch. On the other side of me, I won‘t say who it was, it wasn‘t a politician, there was a man who explaining my lunch to me, like oh you poor sweet little country mouse, you won‘t understand the fancy Washington food. This is squash.
LAMB: In the Senate?

RHODES: No. It wasn't a politician.

LAMB: This is Mary Landrieu's house.

RHODES: It was at her house. It wasn't a servant either. It was an invited guest. And he was saying OK, this is a squash, and in it is squash soup. And they just serve it in the squash. And I was like, I was so insulted, plus I was nervous. And then all of a sudden I hear my name, and applause, and I‘m like so I put my knee on my chair, and I just – I stood up and I was like I was shaking. I didn't even know what I was supposed to be talking about. And the next thing I know I hear 250, 350. I hear and I think they‘re giving dollars, a silent auction, a charity. You know, they‘re giving to rescue aid. It turns out it was 250,000, 350,000.

LAMB: So these are business people in the…

RHODES: What it was, it was the best donors that the Senate could find for me. And this is the way Washington operates, so they were being kind.

LAMB: Did you like that when you saw that all of that?

RHODES: I hated it. I actually got on the air, and said I feel like I just got off the Amistad. I feel like I‘ve just been on the slave auction block. Now I know what it feels like to be auctioned off.

LAMB: What were they going to do with the money?

RHODES: They were going to start a syndication for us. They were going to give us, you know, the money we needed to start it up.

Now we always hear from the Left about certain talkers being the voice of the GOP, and Fox News being a GOP media outlet. Such charges are clearly untrue, for the GOP does not control any of them, nor is it the source of financing for their broadcasts. On the other hand, it is clear that the Democrat Party bought their own talk show host – and that today he sits in the studio of MSNBC – a supposedly “objective” media outlet – spewing the Democrat propaganda that the Democrats bought and paid for at the start of his national career. Frankly, I find that really disturbing. And I have to ask – does the way in which the original Err UnAmeria network and the Ed Schultz show were created constitute illegal activity under our nation’s campaign laws – after all it seems to involve some corporate funds, doesn’t it?