Holding Imus to a higher standard than elected officials

[ProSense]

The format of Imus' show, the shock jock format, should be done away with. It should never have become as popular as it did, giving rise to Howard Stern, Imus and others.

Still, the outrage by some, not all (the Rutgers basketball team definitely should be outraged), over his comments is clearly hypocritical. In fact, Imus is being held more accountable than elected officials like Trent Lott then and http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/28/lott-iraq">now. George Allen against Jim Webb is a classic example of this hypocrisy. Allen was a sitting U.S. Senator. Imus is a radio personality. When Allen was exposed as a racist, black leaders in VA were announcing support for him. As a result, the outrage was completely downplayed by the media, allowing Allen to continue his campaign, even going so far as to launch a smear campaign against Webb.

Obama has issued a statement about Imus, but I don't remember him issuing one about Allen.

Imus is d***head by trade, and deserves all the heat he gets for this. I read his statements and think he was making disgusting ghetto jokes (yeah they're out there, and should never be condoned) as opposed to being a racist. He is a d***head. He deserves the pressure. Still, there are so many racists on the air and no one is demanding their heads. As far as media personalities go, why aren't they calling for the heads of racists like Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Tucker Carlson, and despicable characters like Rush Limbaugh?

George Allen should never have been allowed to continue campaigning. Did Hillary's Ghandi comment make her a racist? There is a difference between the intentional racist comments, such as those by likes of Lott and Allen, and the stupid, idiotic and insensitive comments of Imus. Doesn't make it right. Imus has been saying this stuff for years. The outrage could have come three weeks or a year ago. His comments are base and always have been. I think it's disingenuous to launch a full assault on Imus when others have been given a pass. I hear racists comment by so-called legitimate journalist damn near everyday. Imus is not Glen Beck, they are not in the same category. The most blunt e-mail I've ever sent to anyone regarding a racist comment was sent to Tucker Carlson during the Katrina coverage. Imus was one of the few calling the Bush admin's response racist. Everyone from Carlson to Scarborough (his coverage later shifted to criticism of the Bush admin.) were blaming the victims, and some of their comments were extremely racist. I'm not defending Imus, he's a d***, and after the outrage, maybe it's best he does go off air. It would be awful if the likes of Beck used him as an excuse for their racism. There are more people outraged by Imus' tasteless comment than were outraged by all the instances in the past year alone that Rush Limbaugh insulted an African American, and the Bush admin is still doing exclusive interviews with him that is being picked up by all the media now having a field day with the Imus story. Everyone from Fox News to the wingnut Michelle Malkin is piling on because Imus is a critic of the war and Bush/Cheney (whose comparison of a Senate committee as Stalinists caused no stir). No one can seem to mount an effective campaign to get Ann Coulter off the air.

Racism and racist slur shouldn't be a part of our culture. If Imus goes, then I expect to see a few others follow: Glen Beck, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, etc.


Keep the outrage going

[Eugene]

1. Virginia's voters fired George Allen.

Elected officials have to answer to the voters.
That's how the Constitution says it works.
Virginia's voters did their job. Voters in
Mississippi did not. Anyhow there was no
legal way to stop George Allen from running
for reelection.

Just because others got away with it does
not make it excusable.

[ProSense]

3. Yeah, well he went on campaigning! Results:

Webb 50% and Allen 40%.

Allen almost pulled it off. What about Lott?

[Eugene]

7. Lott was demoted from his majority leader post.

Yes, he made a comeback after a fashion.
Democracy is imperfect that way.

As for George Allen, he was favored to win and
was considered a viable presidential candidate
before the "macaca" episode. He turned a
10-point lead into a 10-point loss.

Before Rush Libaugh came along, media people
who made bigoted remarks got canned as a matter
of course. Imus' remarks were beyond the pale.
The CNN-Faux race to the bottom is a very low
place to set a standard.

[ProSense]

9. The second comment by Lott was only a couple of months before

he became Senate minority leader. Agree, it's a race to the bottom, but they need to start holding all of them, especially journalists and elected officials, accountable.

[Eric J in MN]

14. That should be 49%, not 40%. (NT)

NT

[karynnj]

2. This coverage does seem to be overkill

Imus is an obnoxious insensitive jerk - and he has been for decades. He and other shock jocks have lower the level of discourse as have the screaming intolerant RW hate jocks.

[eagleswing963]

6. Stupid thing is.

He will probably get paid for the two weeks, come back on the air after he gets a tan at his "ranch" and this crap storm, will blow over cause Bush will f*** up somewhere else.

Ont he bright side at least it stopped them from pouring over who is the daddy of Anna Nicole "No Talent" Smith's kid, like I give a shit!!

[EVDebs]

8. Maybe Imus can have Sharpton come on his show and apologize for the Brawley hoax

The Worst of Al Sharpton--A troubling tale from his past. Is it true?
By William Saletan, Ben Jacobs, and Avi Zenilman
Posted Monday, Sept. 8, 2003

http://www.slate.com/id/2087557

Imus is an ass but I don't think he'll lose his "job" whatever that is. Is he really to be taken seriously ? Is Sharpton, either ?

[jhrobbins]

4. I totally agree - I have emailed MSNBC many times about Imus, but

he is not the real problem that we are facing, just a bilp on the radar. We have many more pressing problems to deal with, not the least of which is, Who is Dannielynn's father. Let's keep our eyes on the ball, folks.

:eyes:

[eagleswing963]

5. Wingnut Michelle Malkin

My Asian girlfriend has said on more then one occaasion she would love to kick Michelle Malkin's ass!

I'd pay to see that happen.

Maybe I can get Ann Coutler to do a tag team and we can get both bitches out of the equation!

What morons listen to these two pieces of shit anyway??

[Clark2008]

17. Without taking away from the sentiment of your post, I'd

tone the anti-female language down just a wee bit or your Asian girlfriend might kick YOUR ass.

:hi: Welcome to DU, anywho!

[goclark]

10. And what about Rush nt

[Warren Stupidity]

11. "stupid, idiotic and insensitive" and massively racist

and quite intentional. Imus should be fired. Better yet he should keep his job and lose all of his sponsors and then get fired. Oh and I am quite tired of the 'he's just a shock jock, like howard stern' nonsense. First of all, Howard Stern is funny and original and would never call the Rutgers basketball team a bunch of nappy haired hos, as he is not a viscious nasty asshole, and secondly Imus has spent the last ten years attempting to establish his radio show as a serious political venue where mainstream politicians regularly appear to get morning drive air time.

[ProSense]

12. Really?

http://www.west.net/~westcott/UNCFletters.html
http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~watrous/stern.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Howard_Stern_Show
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9114581/Stern-Howard

[Warren Stupidity]

13. yes really.

Stern said two very unpleasant things over 20 years. Have you ever listened to Imus? It is a non-stop hate fest. One show is likely to contain dozens of attacks on gays, on minorities, on 'libruls'. Why are you defending this idiot?

But this isn't about Howard Stern, who does not pretend to be a serious political pundit, a part of the political talk show circuit, it is about Imus, who does have those pretensions.

[ProSense]

15. Who care is it was once or twice, and it wasn't?

I could give two shits about Imus or Stern, they are both obnoxious. This is about hypocrisy. When are the other racists going to have their Imus moment?

[ProSense]

16. Then there is

Bill Bennett:

You can count on that one. Imus has been very outspoken against the war, Bush, Cheney, the troops, the veterans, autism, etc. What he said was horrible...no doubt. But it appears he is being ousted for more than what he said. Even NBC is crucifying him. Makes me wonder why him and not someone like Bill Bennett who said if we aborted more black babies, the crime rate would go down. I don't like Imus at all whatsoever. But something stinks here....If he gets fired, they should all be fired. If the other racists get away with this crap and we just single out one offender, it will not improve the racial tensions in this country.

Media Matters.

[malaise]

18. It's a start.

Others will have to behave or there go the ads.