Vice Presidential Debate on Saturday Night Live

Tina Fey once again skewers Sarah Palin on last night's Saturday Night Live. Bonus appearance by Queen Latifah as Gwen Ifill.

Q: How would you solve the financial crisis, being a maverick?

A: You know we're gonna take every aspect of the crisis and look at it, and then we're gonna ask ourselves, what would a maverick do in this situation? And then you know, we'll do that.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

Gwen Ifill, still not invited on morning TV
Gwen Ifill, moderator of PBS's "Washington Week", listens during a taping of "Meet the Press" at the NBC Studios in Washington April 15, 2007. REUTERS/Meet The Press/Alex Wong/Handout (UNITED STATES).

I turn on the TV this morning to see whether Abu Gonzales has had the good sense to resign yet. (Silly me! He is an idiot and will never resign. Bush will never leave Iraq. Gonzales will never resign.)

On MSNBC, David Gregory is now hosting the morning show. He is interviewing Tim Russert. Stretch and LilRuss.

So do I have this right? Don Imus lost his job because he made offensive sexist and racist remarks, and now his show has been replaced by his old white male guests?

When we come back, David Gregory will be joined by Dr. Keith Ablow. The following hour, Mary Matalin. Then Mike Barnicle. White men and a white woman who was one of Imus's regular guests.

What happened to all those new faces we saw on TV last week discussing the demise of Imus?

A Few More Perspectives on Imus

Members of the Rutgers women's basketball team are shown during a news conference held on campus in Piscataway, N.J., Tuesday, April 10, 2007, to react to derogatory remarks directed at their team made on air by radio personality Don Imus. The team said they would meet privately with Imus. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)

Lisa Olson, NYDailyNews: Two weeks? He needs at least a summer vacation

-- Lisa Olson is famous herself; as a reporter for the Boston Herald in 1990, she was graphically sexually harassed by a group of naked players while trying to do interviews in the New England Patriots dressing room.

slamonline.com: Enough Is Enough
[NBA Washington] Wizards center and SLAMonline columnist Etan Thomas calls for the firing of radio host Don Imus.

NYDailyNews: WNBA's prez blasts Imus

Steve Politi, Newark Star-Ledger (NJ): Imus should get to know these young stars

Paul Franklin, Home News Tribune (central NJ): This team towers over Don Imus
Great 'meet the team' article.

Tim Keown, ESPN Page2: Congratulations, Don Imus

Jemele Hill, ESPN Page 2: Take a stand against indecency and cruelty

NYDailyNews: No suspending a mother's anger
Vaughn's mom wants Imus off air for good

No wonder Kia Vaughn kept saying 'No. Comment.' during the press conference when she was asked whether Imus should be fired.

Essence Carson Rocks The House

Rutgers junior guard Essence Carson beams during a news conference Monday, April 2, 2007 in Cleveland. Rutgers plays Tennessee for the women's college basketball national championship Tuesday night.
(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
Essence Carson is answering most of the questions for the Rutgers women's basketball team press conference today.

If MSNBC needs someone to fill in the two weeks of Imus's absence, why not give Essence Carson the gig? She's smart, has thought a lot about the issues of sexism and racism, and thinks before she speaks. Far more interesting than some newsreader. I bet some prof at Rutgers would give her three credits for that, not that she needs them.

NCAA: The Essence of Being a Student-Athlete

Thank You C. Vivian Stringer

Don Imus
She just stuck a fork in Don Imus. But good. See why everyone in women's college basketball loves and respects her?

There was a fantastic program on PBS about her three years ago called "This Is A Game, Ladies." And despite the title PBS gave their documentary, Stringer removed "Ladies" from the team title. They're the Scarlet Knights, not the Lady Scarlet Knights.

When Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer arrived in New Jersey 12 years ago, she immediately removed the "Lady" from Scarlet Knights.

"I understand that that's something more regional or southern," Stringer said. "And with all due respect, I just believe that basketball is basketball and you don't need to make a distinction…I think that it's time to just drop the 'lady' thing, let's play basketball."

You can listen to Tavis Smiley's interview with C. Vivian Stringer here.

Rutgers Press Conference On Now

Cable channels only. NBC does not deign to carry it live.

More Perspectives on Imus

Philadelphia Daily News: Elmer Smith | Imus is a stone-cold racist - & don't you forget it!

Eugene Robinson, WaPo: Misogyny in the Morning

Rochelle Riley, Detroit Free Press: Get rid of Imus -- and sexist rap, too

Al Roker, Today's Family Blog: 'it is time for him to go.'

Gwen Knapp, San Francisco Chronicle: Women need to raise voices on Imus insult

Editorial, Milwaukee Journal: Vile remark was racist

Mike Kelly, northjersey.com: Slime us in the morning

Dayton Daily News: Mary McCarty: Don Imus' 'joke' is ugly, hurtful and not funny

Don Imus has the freedom to say whatever he wants, and MSNBC has the freedom to say, "We no longer want your product."

If they keep him on, they're sending a very different message:

"Racism sells."

Gwen Ifill Speaks

Imus has been running around claiming he never called Gwen Ifill a cleaning lady. I'm sure that's technically true. Imus' schtick works like this: one of his crew, usually his producer, Bernard Mcuirk, makes an offensive statement. There's a brief moment of silence, then they all begin laughing like hyenas. Imus pretends to be outraged, and they all begin repeating the offensive statement, in the guise of remonstrating with Bernard. But actually, they're all enjoying the joke. Ha ha. Frat boy humor. Snap that towel, laugh at the pain that follows. Ha ha.

I don't think Gwen Ifill has ever spoken publicly about the cleaning lady incident before. She has a column in today's New York Times.

Gwen Ifill, NYTimes: Trash Talk Radio

I was covering the White House for this newspaper in 1993, when Mr. Imus’s producer began calling to invite me on his radio program. I didn’t return his calls. I had my hands plenty full covering Bill Clinton.

Soon enough, the phone calls stopped. Then quizzical colleagues began asking me why Don Imus seemed to have a problem with me. I had no idea what they were talking about because I never listened to the program.

It was not until five years later, when Mr. Imus and I were both working under the NBC News umbrella — his show was being simulcast on MSNBC; I was a Capitol Hill correspondent for the network — that I discovered why people were asking those questions. It took Lars-Erik Nelson, a columnist for The New York Daily News, to finally explain what no one else had wanted to repeat.

“Isn’t The Times wonderful,” Mr. Nelson quoted Mr. Imus as saying on the radio. “It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House.”

I was taken aback but not outraged. I’d certainly been called worse and indeed jumped at the chance to use the old insult to explain to my NBC bosses why I did not want to appear on the Imus show.

I haven’t talked about this much. I’m a big girl. I have a platform. I have a voice. I’ve been working in journalism long enough that there is little danger that a radio D.J.’s juvenile slap will define or scar me. Yesterday, he began telling people he never actually called me a cleaning lady. Whatever. This is not about me.

It is about the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. That game had to be the biggest moment of their lives, and the outcome the biggest disappointment. They are not old enough, or established enough, to have built up the sort of carapace many women I know — black women in particular — develop to guard themselves against casual insult.

Why do my journalistic colleagues appear on Mr. Imus’s program? That’s for them to defend, and others to argue about. I certainly don’t know any black journalists who will. To his credit, Mr. Imus told the Rev. Al Sharpton yesterday he realizes that, this time, he went way too far.

Yes, he did. Every time a young black girl shyly approaches me for an autograph or writes or calls or stops me on the street to ask how she can become a journalist, I feel an enormous responsibility. It’s more than simply being a role model. I know I have to be a voice for them as well.

So here’s what this voice has to say for people who cannot grasp the notion of picking on people their own size: This country will only flourish once we consistently learn to applaud and encourage the young people who have to work harder just to achieve balance on the unequal playing field.

Let’s see if we can manage to build them up and reward them, rather than opting for the cheapest, easiest, most despicable shots.