Imus Reactions

Don Imus
Colbert I. King, WaPo: Standing Up to Imus

Still, Don Imus's media friends find ways to keep him in their good graces.

Those colleagues proved to be more devoted to Imus than to the people he has slandered. They silently averted their gaze from his record to go on his popular show and sell themselves.

LATimes: A talk powerhouse is shut down
The firing of Don Imus by CBS brings an abrupt end to a radio forum that attracted media and political heavies.
This article contains Don Imus's final shot at women (which CLANKS OFF THE BACKBOARD, like all the rest of shots):

But Imus made it clear elsewhere that he didn't intend to fade out quietly. He called the "Conway & Whitman" show on Los Angeles radio station KLSX (97.1 FM) Thursday and complained that he had been fired while he was doing a charity show. He vowed: "I plan to be on the radio. I plan to work again. I'm not going to sit around like an old woman."

LATimes: EDITORIAL
Responding to racism with dignity
The Rutgers women's basketball team shows class.

Independent (uk): The sacking of Don Imus: The rise (and fall) of the shock jock
The right-wing US broadcasters who fill the air with invective operate way beyond the conventions of good taste. But now one of them has gone too far

Times (uk) Online: The ‘perfect storm’ that brought a shocking radio career to an end
Don Imus was a renowned shock jock — then he insulted a black girls' sports team
In England, they're still girls.

Anderson (IN) Herald-Bulletin: EDITORIAL: Imus should have been fired long ago
Out there in the heartland, they get it.

Patriot-Ledger: OPINION
OUR VIEW: It was always about the green
Their final analysis: Blame the audience. (Right! We made him say those things. Sheesh.)

Rich Lowry, NYPost:
BONFIRE OF PROFANITIES
WHY LIBERALS GAVE SHOCK JOCK A FREE PASS
Still thinks the corporate media is liberal. Not.

theday.com: Go Right Ahead And Filet Don Imus, Just Be Sure To Skin His Corporate Bosses, Too
Excellent suggestion: Make Imus advertisers give to the United Negro College Fund!

Apology Accepted

Don Imus, at left on steps, leaves the governor's mansion in Princeton Township, N.J., Thursday, April 12, 2007, after meeting with the Rutgers University women's basketball team. Imus was fired Thursday from his CBS radio show over remarks he made on the air about the team. Imus left without commenting to reporters, but C. Vivian Stringer, the team's coach, spoke briefly on the mansion's steps. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)
MSNBC: Rutgers coach, players accept Imus’s apology
Deidre Imus says fired radio host told team ‘I feel awful’ about comments

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - The Rutgers women’s basketball team accepted radio host Don Imus’ apology Friday for insulting them on the air, saying that he deserves a chance to move on but that they hope the furor his words caused will be a catalyst for change.

“We, the Rutgers University Scarlet Knight basketball team, accept — accept — Mr. Imus’ apology, and we are in the process of forgiving,” coach C. Vivian Stringer read from a team statement a day after the women met personally with Imus and his wife.

“We still find his statements to be unacceptable, and this is an experience that we will never forget,” the statement read.

Things I Shout At The TV

Armstrong Williams says, Al Sharpton has never apologized for Tawana Brawley.

I Shout: "Some people take payola from the Bush Administration for paid opinions, yet they're back on TV as if they're serious journalists! Some people are stone hypocrites!"

David Gregory says, People are upset that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson brought Don Imus down.

I Shout: "PEOPLE! You're upset, Imus-buddy. Don Imus CHOSE to go on the Al Sharpton radio show! Don Imus conferred this credibility on Al Sharpton and now all Don Imus's friends are mad about it! Why didn't Don Imus call all his black female guests! Because he didn't have any! Why didn't Don Imus go on a woman's radio show? Because there isn't a woman's radio show!"

MSNBC host says, Why should black rappers be allowed to use the word ho.

I Shout: "Don Imus is 67 fucking years old, for Christ's sake! Is his conduct guided by stupid guys in their 20s? Didn't your mother teach you what my mother taught me? If everyone else jumped off the cliff, would you have to, too? I don't care what everyone else does. I care what you do!"

Craig Crawford says, These women at Rutgers didn't even know who Don Imus was before he said this. They never even heard it.

I Shout: "You moron, YOU didn't know who the Rutgers women's basketball team were until your buddy Don Imus was losing his job! You didn't care who Don Imus hurt until he got caught! I don't care who you are, either! Get off my TV!"

Don Imus Ousted By CBS Radio

Don Imus

CNN reporting that Don Imus has been fired by CBS Radio.

Bye bye.

Can't Get Enough Imus

Can you? That's why you searched for more. Here are some interesting articles.

The American Prospect, TAPPED: MSNBC had panels and panels of white men discussing the firing of Imus last night. Hmmm.

Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins thinks Imus should buy a season ticket to Rutgers women's basketball and sit in the front row for every game next year. I think Sally Jenkins, who appeared on Imus's show in the past and never made a peep about his racist or sexist remarks before the Rutgers comment, should go to those Rutgers games. Why should those kids have to be reminded of what Imus said about them at every game? Why shouldn't ol' Sally herself do a little penance? She also thinks he should have kept his job so he could keep the 'conversation' going. I'm a little sick of white people saying Imus should be teaching the nation about race. Just stop that. Now.

NAYABA ARINDE at the Amsterdam News says Don Imus fumbled his mea culpa; that's what doomed him.

Bob Hebert in the New York Times (TimesSelect wall, also here and here) says it was the outrage of women within NBC who forced the cancellation of the Imus show.

Slate: Imus in the Twilight: How the DJ found his niche—and lost it.

Newark Star-Ledger: It's the other 'N' word that's still hair-raising
'Nappy' retains its harsh sting in the black community

North Jersey Record: RU gives Imus a lesson in class

North Jersey Record: Carson is a leader speaking up for 'what's right'

Bye Bye Slime Man

Don Imus
MSNBC drops Imus. CBS Radio and WFAN still on the fence. (Steve Capus, NBC News President, on Hardball tonight says, C. Vivian Stringer's speech at the press conference yesterday really affected everyone. Viv! Rutgers women's basketball!)

I hope every stupid white man who went on TV in the past week and defended Imus now thinks long and hard. Why are so many of the rest of us so offended? Why were they so quick to let Imus off the hook? How could they let years of racist, sexist, crude and cruel jokes go by? I hope they look into their hearts and really think about that. Tom Oliphant, Howard Fineman, Jonathan Alter, Craig Crawford, David Gregory, James Carville, Paul Begala. (Look at that group. What do they have in common? Hmmm.)

At heart, I am an idealist.

NYTimes: NBC News Drops Imus Show Over Racial Remark

NBC News dropped Don Imus yesterday, canceling his talk show on its MSNBC cable news channel a week after Mr. Imus made a racially disparaging remark about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

WaPo: MSNBC Drops Imus's Morning Program

Mewark Star-Ledger: MSNBC says it will drop Imus show

This may have had as much to do with the decision as anything:

Reuters: Don Imus show loses more advertisers

NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Motors and drug maker GlaxoSmithKline pulled their advertising from shows hosted by Don Imus on Wednesday, striking a blow to the shock-jock and broadcasters who carry him.

American Express and Home loans Web site Ditech.com also said they would withdraw their ads.

They joined companies including household products maker Procter & Gamble Co. and office supplies retailer Staples Inc. in pulling their support amid an outcry over an on-air racial slur by Imus about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

'He's crossed the line'

NYTimes (AP): CBS Director Hopes Imus Will Be Fired

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bruce Gordon, former head of the NAACP and a director of CBS Corp., said Wednesday the broadcasting company needs a ''zero tolerance policy'' on racism and hopes talk-show host Don Imus is fired for his demeaning remarks about the mostly black Rutgers women's basketball team.

''He's crossed the line, he's violated our community,'' Gordon said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. ''He needs to face the consequence of that violation.''

Gordon, a longtime telecommunications executive, stepped down in March after 19 months as head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, one of the foremost U.S. civil rights organizations.

He said he had spoken with CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves and hoped the company, after reviewing the situation, would ''make the smart decision'' by firing Imus rather than letting him return to the air at the end of a two-week suspension beginning next Monday.

''We should have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to what I see as irresponsible, racist behavior,'' Gordon said. ''The Imus comments go beyond humor. Maybe he thought it was funny, but that's not what occurred. There has to be a consequence for that behavior.''

'These Women Are Human Beings'

Jesus' General: Oliphant's Children

These young women didn't need to be degraded in that way by Imus, especially on the day following their greatest achievement thus far, taking second place in the National Woman's College Basketball Championship. They were terribly wronged. Not only were they insulted in one of the most vile and despicable ways possible, but it may have very well ruined one of the greatest moments of their lives.

I doubt Russert, Fineman, or Oliphant give a damn about these women's feelings. The Rutgers players can't help them sell their books or promote their projects like Imus does. But god damn it Tim, Howie, and Tom, these women are human beings. Really. They're actual people with the same feelings the rest of us have.

Take a look at these beautiful, accomplished young women and think about the violence Imus and his toadies committed against them:

Go look at all of them.

Here's the captain:

ESSENCE CARSON
Junior
Music Major
A gifted musician who plays the piano, bass guitar, drums and saxophone
Gold Medal winner With Team USA
Daughter of Stacey Robinson and the late Joseph Carson and second of three children.

Free Speech

I keep reading and hearing people defending Don Imus's right to free speech. Why are we attacking his right to free speech? We're not. We're attacking what he said, not his right to say it. He can say it all he wants. But I don't want to support it, and I don't want it spewing into my home every day. So I'm speaking out.

This dispute over Imus's remarks is the epitome of free speech. Free speech is about the marketplace of ideas. Everyone gets the right to speak. But then that speech is evaluated by the community.

Imus spoke and expressed his opinion. He placed his speech out there into the marketplace, and we are exercising our right to free speech by complaining about what he said. He can say as much sexist and racist crap as he wants. And WE have every right to say to his employer, We won't watch your programs any more if you continue to employ this hater. And WE have every right to say to his sponsors, We won't buy your products any more if you continue to place your ads on this hater's program. And we can say to the FCC, This speech has no place on the public airwaves, because it does not respect all people.

Don Imus can say all he wants to. And we as a community, we as a people, we get to speak out about what he said. And if that means that he doesn't get paid millions of dollars to speak, so be it. In the marketplace of ideas, I think his opinions are worth about two cents. He can say all he wants to. And I'll continue to exercise my right to free speech to say his speech is hateful.

Or to quote Coach Stringer: "racist and sexist remarks [] are deplorable, despicable, abominable and unconscionable."

Imus's Long, Sad History

Courts often use the phrase "long, sad history" in talking about our country's history of racial discrimination.

Timothy Noah of Slate Magazine has compiled some of Imus's long, sad history. This latest incident is just the culmination of decades of hate speech. He must be fired.

Timothy Noah, Slate: The Wit and Wisdom of Don Imus
A guide for Washington's power crowd. (go to the article for links to citations)

On blacks:

"William Cohen, the Mandingo deal."
(Former Defense Secretary Cohen's wife is African-American.)

"Wasn't in a woodpile, was he?"
(Responding to news that former black militant H. Rap Brown, subsequently known as Abdullah Al-Amin, was found hiding in a shed in Alabama after exchanging gunfire with police. Imus is here alluding to the expression "nigger in the woodpile.")

"Knuckle-dragging moron."
(Description of basketball player Patrick Ewing.)

"We all have 12-inch penises."
(After being asked what he has in common with Nat Turner, Malcolm X, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Latrell Sprewell from the New York Knicks, and Al Sharpton.)

"Chest-thumping pimps."
(Description of the New York Knicks.)

"A cleaning lady."
(Reference to journalist Gwen Ifill, possibly out of pique that she wouldn't appear on his show. "I certainly don't know any black journalists who will," she wrote in the April 10 New York Times. The Chicago Tribune's Clarence Page used to appear, but after he made Imus pledge not to make offensive comments in the future, he was never asked back.)

On Jews:

"I remember when I first had [the Blind Boys of Alabama] on a few years ago, how the Jewish management at whatever, whoever we work for, CBS, or whatever it is, were bitching at me about it. […] I tried to put it in terms that these money-grubbing bastards could understand."

"Boner-nosed … beanie-wearing Jewboy."
(Description of Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post, a frequent guest.)

On women:

"That buck-tooth witch Satan, Hillary Clinton." […] "I never admitted it when I went down there and got in all that big jam, insulting Bill Clinton and his fat ugly wife, Satan. Did I? Did I ever say I was sorry for that?"

On Native Americans:

"The guy from F-Troop, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell."
(This is a reference to the zany Indian characters on the 1960s TV sitcom F-Troop. They had names like "Roaring Chicken," "Crazy Cat," and "Chief Wild Eagle.")

On Japanese:

"Old Kabuki's in a coma and the market's going up. […] How old is the boy? The battery's running down on that boy."
(Reference to Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who died the following week.)

On gays:

"I didn't know that Allan Bloom was coming in from the back end."
(The homosexuality of the author of The Closing of the American Mind became widely known when Saul Bellow published Ravelstein, a novel whose protagonist was based on Bloom, who by then was deceased.)

"The enormously attractive [NBC political correspondent] Chip Reid, I can say without being accused of being some limp-wristed 'mo."

On the handicapped:

"Janet Reno's having a press conference. Ms. Reno, of course, has Parkinson's disease, has a noticeable tremor. […] I don't know how she gets that lipstick on (laughter) looking like a rodeo clown."

Every one of these statements came directly out of Imus' mouth on his program. That's striking because Imus usually leaves it to other show regulars (especially McGuirk, the aforementioned point man on "nigger" jokes) to say the most offensive stuff, with Imus feeding them straight lines. It's safer that way.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Reuters: Some advertisers yank ads from Imus show
Staples and Procter & Gamble have pulled ads after racial slur

LOS ANGELES - Companies including Procter & Gamble Co. and Staples Inc. are pulling advertisements from Don Imus’ show due to the shock jock’s on-air racial slur about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

His Buds Are Desperate To Save Imus

I am thoroughly disgusted as I watch Hardball tonight. David Gregory (Bush's pal 'Stretch') tells Rev. Al Sharpton that given Don Imus's history of doing good work, couldn't he keep the promise he made on the Today show this morning and have a black person on the show every day, to change how America talks about race.

So ridiculous. Why does America need a moron who doesn't realize that the phrase "nappy-headed hos" is offensive in 2007 to be given a bully pulpit to teach the country about race? What does he know about it? Is he going to teach us as he learns? Sheesh.

They see a 'teachable moment' and they want Imus, the racist, to be the teacher. Completely absurd.

It reminds me of Mark McGwire's testimony before the Congressional committee investigating steroids in baseball, where (besides telling us he was not there to talk about the past) he kept offering to be a national spokesperson against steroids.

Like McGwire on steroids, Imus has proven himself uniquely unsuited to be a spokesperson against racism. But that's the job all his white male friends think he should be given.

None of these jamokes have ever counted the people in the room to find out how many looked like them. Never. Clueless.

"Paid For By Al Sharpton's Family"

Darth Cheney traveled in style to and from Pakistan this week. The name of the C-17 military transport in which he traveled is "The Spirit of Strom Thurmond."

Given this week's news that Thurmond's family owned members of Sharpton's family, shouldn't the plane be re-christened, "Paid For By Al Sharpton's Family". Or at least have that added as a coda to the name?

Wouldn't It Be Great If Al Sharpton Inherited Strom Thurmond's Estate?

Over the weekend I read that the New York Daily News hired genealogists to look into Al Sharpton's family history, and through that he learned that his family had been owned by Strom Thurmond's family.

Today's news is just as interesting:

WaPo: Sharpton wants DNA test

Wouldn't it be awesome if Al Sharpton is the heir to Strom Thurmond? OK, it's almost impossible, they're probably just fourth cousins once removed, but isn't it fun to imagine ol' Strom's reaction to that one? Tee hee.

Stories I Missed While I Was On Vacation

Photo via 750 Volts

The U.S. drop-shipped 363 tons of cold, hard cash, the long green, on pallets to Baghdad in the days before the Coalition Provisional Government turned the reins over to the Iraqis. That's 4 BILLION dollars in $100 bills for those of you keeping score at home, the largest ever shipment by the Federal Reserve Bank. Think about that when you're paying your taxes in April. Think harder about that when you're voting in November!

Boston freaks out over a guerrilla marketing scheme involving light boxes. Do terrorists usually put brightly colored lights on their bombs?

Tim Russert's reputation in tatters: Dick Cheney's press flack testifies that they go to Press the Meat so they can control their message (Timmuh won't ask any hard questions); Pumpkinhead himself testifies that all his conversations with government officials are presumptively off the record. As Dan Froomkin says, that's not reporting, that's enabling.

Joe Biden calls Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy". Obama was not amused: "I didn't take Senator Biden's comments personally, but obviously they are historically inaccurate. After all, we've had presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Mosely Braun and Al Sharpton. They gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns and no one would call them inarticulate."

Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) is reportedly reading news reports and doing some work from the hospital.

Creepy chuckle by Crawford Caligula, as UPI reports:

At a farewell reception at Blair House for the retiring chief of protocol, Don Ensenat, who was President Bush's Yale roommate, the president shook hands with Washington Life Magazine's Soroush Shehabi. "I'm the grandson of one of the late Shah's ministers," said Soroush, "and I simply want to say one U.S. bomb on Iran and the regime we all despise will remain in power for another 20 or 30 years and 70 million Iranians will become radicalized."

"I know," President Bush answered.

"But does Vice President Cheney know?" asked Soroush.

President Bush chuckled and walked away.

Lefty Mishmash

Steve Gilliard (The News Blog) captures my response to the anti-war rally in Washington yesterday. Who let all those other people on the stage, to the microphone? Speakers were screeching about myriad other issues, which wasn't the point of the day. I had to keep turning off the TV in disgust.

Communication is not what you say, it's what the other person heard, and I heard a lot of lefty mishmash. Focus on the message, people!

Let's have a parade

I just want to see a protest where there is only one topic, Iraq, the only speakers are talking about Iraq and all the signs are about Iraq. That anyone who mentions some nonsense like the "Popular Front" is shoved off the stage with a flying tackle. Talk about Iraq. But leave the other causes at home. I don't really care about what a Israeli refusenik has to say if the topic isn't Iraq.

Look at this list of speakers:

Jessica Lange, actor

* George Galloway, British Member of Parliament
* Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general
* Cindy Sheehan** Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder, United Farm Workers of America
* Malik Rahim, New Orleans community activist who survived Hurricane Katrina
* Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney
* Ralph Nader
* Mahdi Bray, Exec. Dir., Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation
* Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney/co-founder, Partnership for Civil Justice, National Lawyers Guild
* Elias Rashmawi, National Council of Arab Americans
* Brian Becker, National Coordinator, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
* Lynne Stewart, human rights attorney
* Rev. Al Sharpton*
* Anita Dennis, mother of Iraq War veteran / resister
* Clayola Brown, President of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, Vice President of UNITE HERE*
* Ben Dupuy, Former Ambassador At Large for the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
* Jos Williams, President, President of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO
* Michael Berg, father of Nicholas Berg
* Christine Araquel, Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines
* Andy Thayer, Equality Campaign
* Curtis Muhammed, Community Labor Union of New Orleans
* Margaret Prescod, Global Women's Strike
* Hadi Jawad, founder of Crawford Peace House
* Chris Silvera, Teamsters Black Caucus
* Musa Al-Hindi, Al-Awda National
* Michel Shehadeh, L.A-8 defendant, a Palestinian activist framed COINTELPRO-style
* Nancy Wolforth, Executive Vice President, AFL-CIO
* Manuel Santos, Socialist Front of Puerto Rico
* Brenda Stokely, Million Worker March, New York City Labor Against the War
* Peta Lindsay, Youth and Student A.N.S.W.E.R. Student, Howard University student
* Mounzer Sleiman, National Council of Arab Americans
* Macrina Cardenas, Mexicanos Sin Fronteras
* Jeanette Caceres, Spoken word artist from New York University
* Gloria La Riva, National Committee to Free the Five
* Riya Ortiz, Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines, Campaign for Justice Not War
* Larry Holmes, Troops Out Now Coalition
* Chuck Kaufman, Nicaragua Network
* Women's Anti-Imperialist League
* Representative of Bayan USA
* Eugene Puryear, Youth and Student A.N.S.W.E.R. Student, Howard University student" link

Let's face facts. ANSWER are parasites who use our good intentions to push their agenda. So instead of rejoicing about the massive turnout, a hint that Bush's war is extremely unpopular, we're debating the speaker list and their abuse of their audience.