Imus crucified
Without going into my feelings on the matter. (it's complete and utter overkill) since it's dominated the news for several days, here's a spot to express your feelings about the insensitive remarks of Don Imus and the subsequent uproar and his show being cancelled on MSNBC.
I've been a regular viewer of his show, watching it nearly every morning, so I have a different view than those who simply hear or read his comments out of context.
There's also the bizarre fact that while Imus says such things in an attempt at misguided humor, there are more than a few right wing radio hosts who regularly say far worse, and are entirely serious. Their intent is not to get laughs, but purely to denigrate and inspire hatred towards minorities.
Yet they get a free pass from the Revs. and their networks. Why is that?
Anyway, how do you see the situation? Did he get what he deserved, or are outside forces making a mountain out of a molehill?
posted by The Inside Dope @ 4/12/2007
10 comments
10 Comments:
Amazingly, some in the liberal media like Media Matters and Air America are claiming Imus is a conservative! Good luck with that!
Probably because Imus IS a conservative. He's backed John McCain in a big way, endorsed Joe Leiberman, and consistently referred to Hilary Clinton as "satan" and refused to ever allow her on his show.
What evidence do you have that he's not a conservative? The fact that he thinks Iraq is a disaster and that Bush is a collossal failure?
Good luck with that.
My evidence would be that Imus is probably the only "conservative" in the country who backed Kerry in '04.
PS: Neither John McCain nor Joe Lieberman are "conservatives".
PSS: I think Kos calls Hillary worse than "satan". Is Kos a "conservative"?
PSSS: People like Paul Begala and Chris Dodd are among the few defending Imus. Are they "conservatives"?
PSSSS: I would be interested in knowing your definition of "conservative". I think we have a major failure to communicate here, if you really believe Imus is a "conservative".
And Imus backed Bush in 2000 and relentlessly tore up Gore.
So no, he's not a liberal by any stretch. He's not some fire breathing conservative if your idea of conservative is Sean Hanity or Rush Limbaugh. I certainly include people to the left of those two zealots as conservatives.
Having watched Imus for years, ever since MSNBC first started simulcasting his show, I'd say that without question he leans conservative, and backs Republicans more often than Dems.
Of course he has guests from both sides of the political spectrum on his show. As I say, he's not some FOX nutcase.
But as to his personal views, they're decidedly conservative on most issues.
Please give a few examples of which "right wing radio hosts" said somethings far worse and were serious?
Specifics please...
Did you really think that would be tough? That right wing radio mouth-breathers DON'T say vicious, racist, and sexist things on a regular basis?
My pleasure to enlighten you. There's too many to list here, but I'll give you a few examples and a link to many more.
>On the March 31, 2006, broadcast of his radio program, Neil Boortz said that then-Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) "looks like a ghetto slut." Boortz was commenting on a March 29 incident in which McKinney allegedly struck a police officer at a Capitol Hill security checkpoint. Boortz said that McKinney's "new hair-do" makes her look "like a ghetto slut," like "an explosion at a Brillo pad factory," like "Tina Turner peeing on an electric fence," and like "a shih tzu." McKinney is the first African-American woman elected to Congress from Georgia.
>In a February 27, 2006, conversation with a caller about the disproportionately few jobs and contracts that have gone to locals in the rebuilding of New Orleans, Bill O'Reilly said: "[T]he homies, you know ... I mean, they're just not going to get the job."
>On the June 21, 2004, broadcast of The Radio Factor, O'Reilly referred to Lis Wiehl as "eye candy ... for me," telling Wiehl that she is on the show "because you're good-looking, so I got somebody to look over" while he's on the air.
>On the November 14, 2006, edition of his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck said to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim ever elected to Congress: "OK. No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. ... With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, 'Let's cut and run.' And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' "
>On the January 10, 2006, broadcast of his radio show, Beck called anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan "a pretty big prostitute," later amending, at the behest of his executive producer, Steve "Stu" Burguiere, that "tragedy pimp" would be "the most accurate description."
>On the September 9, 2005, edition of his radio show, Beck referred to survivors of Hurricane Katrina who remained in New Orleans as "scumbags." Also, after acknowledging that nobody "in their right mind is going to say this out loud," Beck attacked victims of the disaster and the families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, saying: "I didn't think I could hate victims faster than the 9-11 victims."
And of course, Limbaugh does it so often it's hard to count, including of course referring to a pre-teen Chelsea Clinton as "the White House dog." among many other lovely statements, such as, "My "cat's taught me more about women, than anything my whole life" because his pet cat "comes to me when she wants to be fed," and "[s]he's smart enough to know she can't feed herself. She's actually [a] very smart cat. She gets loved. She gets adoration. She gets petted. She gets fed. And she doesn't have to do anything for it."
Need more?
Go here. But carve out some time. It's a long list.
I think Imus took this one in the face for one reason: because his comments were directed at the Rutgers women's basketball team.
The Rutgers women's basketball team are local to the NYC area--AND--intelligent role models. Victims of Katrina are not local and Cynthia McKinney is none of the above.
I think Imus lost his job because the corporate sponsors and broadcasters live in the NJ area around Rutgers and felt the pressure because it was directed at a very successful local area team.
As much as we think CBS and MSNBC are national, internally they are still local to the NYC-NJ area.
Interesting theory, but Imus is anything but a local talent. He's been broadcast and syndicated nationally for at least a decade.
Hard to pin it on "local" corporate heads. They run national corporations, global, in reality. They're not that parochial in their judgements.
With the pantheon of A-list politicians and celebrities that Imus regularly featured, it's even more amazing that he went down as he did.
Now all the same regular buddy-buddy guests like Tim Russert, et. al. are all busily wringing their hands and stewing over Imus's bones for the big "lesson".
Kind of pathetic, in that nothing whatsoever will come of any of it and within a few months, it will all be forgotten.
It is a sad commentary on our national news media because all they talked about last week was this Don Imus and "Sanjaya". Meanwhile, on 4/11/07 an Al-Quaida sleeper agent named Christopher Paul was busted in Columbus, Ohio. The news media should have had this as the top story, but it got very little attention, if at all. This isn't "responsible journalism".
Don Imus is not that well-known. Maybe he is to the punditocracy, but not to ordinary folks. I don't think the tv and radio stations in downstate Illinois even carried his show. Yet we are made to believe that that this is important. It's not.
The simulcast of Imus' radio show was one of MSNBC's highest rated shows, aired around here from 5 to 8 a.m.
The reason this supposed "al Queda sleeper" wasn't reported was that, like all the other false alarms, this had no connection to al Queda.
There have been numerous attempts to try to over-publicize the arrest of supposed "terrorists" in this country. Every single one of them have turned out to be either one or a group of misguided goof-balls with no real association with al Queda or bin Laden whatsoever.
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