The Imus firing had NOTHING to do with the racist remarks; it had to do with the money

[Horse with no Name]

MSNBC stood to lose.
So much for principles.
On a side note...when Rush Limbaugh called Mayor Ray Nagin a "nigger", I wrote the FCC about allowing hate speech on the airwaves.
I received back a canned reply about the First Amendment.
Now...the FCC is going to investigate Imus for the same type of comment? Yet Rush has the cover of the First Amendment?
What kind of cluster fuck is that?

[Connie_Corleone]

1. It's always the money.

Gotta hit them in the pocketbook by having the advertisers pull their ads.

[Bjornsdotter]

2. Spot on

...I agree. It's about the money and only the money.

Cheers

[malaise]

3. Correct

Advertisers pulled the plug.

[babylonsister]

4. You got it; money talks and racism had nothing to do with it. nt

[malaise]

25. True but he really messed with

the wrong group of women. Rutgers has power.

[babylonsister]

30. Rutgers was willing to give him his say; his firing happened first.

I don't know how much power Rutgers really used.

[WinkyDink]

5. One down. It's a start. What's to complain about?

[Cha]

6. But their advertisers pulled because

of the pressure of the people..we didn't like the hateful racist, sexist slurs of ol' imus and mcquirk.

[NormanYorkstein]

24. yep - *we* did this - I say we keep it up

Who's next? I vote for Michael Savage!

[Cha]

29. The is the beginning of the

end of hatemongers on our airwaves. :toast:

[AspenRose]

7. Maybe now the momentum will turn its attention to reich-wing radio now.

They need to be put on notice.

[Tom Joad]

8. He was fired?

[Horse with no Name]

Yep. Breaking news now. n/t

[Tom Joad]

22. yep, way cool. i suppose cbs will not keep him either. or at least he won't be on tv.

[Connie_Corleone]

14. MSNBC will no longer simulcast his show on their network.

[City Lights]

9. We should contact every sponsor who bailed on Imus and put pressure

on them to be consistent. No advertising on any hate monger's program. Period.

So far I've only written to Bigelow Tea and Staples.

[slackmaster]

10. Of course you are correct

I find it amusing when people say Imus' "freedom of speech" is being infringed. Only governments can infringe on your rights. People can only harass you, and when that goes beyond a certain threshold it becomes criminal.

With the exercise of freedoms come consequences. One has to be accountable for one's actions.

The consequences of making racist remarks sometimes include getting Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in your face, which in turn has economic consequences as your advertisers flee the sinking ship.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Um, well, yes.

And advertisers pulled their money because they didn't want to be associated with that racist.

[in_cog_ni_to]

12. When did he get fired? I thought he was just suspended for 2 weeks? n/t

[Connie_Corleone]

19. Just announced on MSNBC

[DeepModem Mom]

13. That's fine. There was a principle behind the losing of that money.

For once, the corps did the right thing. Rush could be next. This could be a turning.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

15. Proctor and Gamble and Staples carry huge sticks. eom

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. If CBS radio (?) has any class, they will fire him COMPLETELY! n/t

[Joe Fields]

36. The CBS board of directors is weighing the situation and mulling things over.

In other words, determining how much revenue will be lost from embarrassed advertisers.

My opinion? He's toast at CBS, also.

Hopefully he will head down to New Mexico permanently and get a job at some redneck radio station, where he can play Lucinda Williams and Big and Rich to his heart's content, and still spew his venom in between.

[Missy Vixen]

17. You know it's about the money

His two biggest advertisers cancelled. I'm sure there were many more than haven't been announced yet.

It's all about the money, and evidently, according to FDL, this has been turned over to the FCC as well.

Julie

[Warpy]

18. You can't lose a sponsor like Procter & Gamble and expect

your show to survive for long. I almost feel sorry for him. Almost.

The question for MSNBC is whether they'll replace him with some right wing hack from talk radio or if they'll search for another Olberman.

Imus still has radio, doesn't he?

[KamaAina]

20. Oh, lay off Rush, for crying out loud.

when Rush Limbaugh called Mayor Ray Nagin a "nigger",

All the OxyMoron ever did was refer to America's Worst Mayor(TM) as "Mayor 'Nayger'". That's not at all the same thing as calling him the N-word so stop saying that! :sarcasm:

[slackmaster]

31. There's nobody to lay off Rush but Rush himself

He's self-employed.

[Marie26]

21. Sure it did

But the public pressure was what made the advertisers leave. Normal people can make a difference by using their First Amendment rights to speak out, protest, and boycott. It was about principles, in a roundabout way. MSNBC & the advertisers had to drop Imus, because people said they weren't going to stand for his hatefulness anymore. You don't like Rush Limbaugh? Do the same thing - organize, pressure, boycott guests & advertisers on his show.

[Skidmore]

23. So start demanding that money be pulled from backing the likes

of O'Reilly and Beck and Limbaugh and Hannity. Malkin, Coulter, Boortz and Smerconish. There are tons of them out there. Marginalize them and drive them out. There needs to be this level of outcry every time one of those divisive hatemongers lob a grenade out there. Shut them down from the public air waves.

[AZBlue]

26. I don't care why they did it as long as they did it.

eom

[oregonjen]

27. Why wasn't Rush fired after making those awful comments

about Michael J. Fox? The video of him shaking and saying Fox was faking it made me so sick. The outcry at that time was pretty strong.

[INdemo]

28. The difference between the Slimebaugh show and Imus is

the Rush Slimbeaugh show is more or less subsidized by the right wing corporations and probably the RNC contributes a few dollars..the times I have caught his show while scanning the stations he just doesn't have those high caliber sponsors..
The FCC is run by a Bush appointee and like every other department head is no doubt a yes man..Of course they wouldn't touch Slimebaugh.....
And as many times as O'liely has made racial comments nothing was said..and the list goes on ..Beck,Savage,Insanity.....

[Imagevision]

32. Now we need to pay more attention to Hannity & Limbaugh

[pretzel4gore]

33. if limbah-humbug called ray 'nigger' then there must be record of it...

i doubt that boor would make such a mistake, but if he did, then we should destroy him...
the pig selectively employs the rules.
back during reagan era, a huge story happened. Reagan's tax lawyer, roy miller's 20 year old son tortured, raped them murdered HIS MOTHER, roy miller's wife and reagan friend. It was the biggest story in history up til then, and overf a mile of satelite trucks were on highway near palo alto calif...then POOF! the story disappeared. Totally. Few people have even heard of it. Even the alternative press suddenly dropped it. There was a very good book about the case, which never even tried to explain why the story died suddenly and totally. Mike Miller got sent to mental hospital- his mother was instantly forgotten. note: this was before reagan killed the 'fairness doctrine'
------
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/sex_crimes/index.html?s=oldest&query=MENTAL%20HEALTH%20AND%20DISORDERS&field=des&match=exact

NATIONAL DESK
Killing Suspect Called Sane
UPI
Michael David Miller, the son of President Reagan's personal attorney, Roy Miller, is mentally fit to stand trial on charges that he raped and murdered his mother, according to psychiatrists. Michael Miller, 20 years old, was arrested March 25, a day after his mother, Marguerite, 52, was found dead by her husband. After the psychiatrists' findings were announced Friday, Judge Thomas Fredericks scheduled a Dec. 13 hearing in Superior Court to decide if the trial should proceed.

October 30, 1983 Health News
MORE ON SEX CRIMES AND: MURDERS AND ATTEMPTED MURDERS, CHILDREN AND YOUTH, MILLER, MARGUERITE, MILLER, MICHAEL DAVID, MILLER, ROY, CALIFORNIA

[Horse with no Name]

34. Here you go.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4766876&mesg_id=4766876
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4711786&mesg_id=4711786
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4716224&mesg_id=4716224

[pretzel4gore]

37. thank you! now that you guys mention it, i remember....

n/t

[Imagevision]

35. Can MSNBC be held responsible for libel in a lawsuit?