Fox25 reported that Barack Obama is now calling for Imus's dismissal. I can't find support for that online, so Fox25 might be wrong. Obama should certainly know better. Public officials should not call for anyone to be punished because of speech. I would expect a Harvard Law man to have more respect for the Bill of Rights, so I sort of doubt Obama said that. Deval Patrick got it right - "That's up to the station."
Both men certainly waited to see which way the wind was blowing before setting sail, though. Nothing like strongly-held principles. For my part, I've been angry about his Jew-bashing and misogyny for years. I still listened. One accepts it as comedy. Or, one used to, apparently, before the mainstream media decided to get even with Don Imus.
By the way, the double standard on Imus is astounding. Robert Johnson, BET founder, and as establishment a black man as you'll find in America, said yesterday -essentially- that blacks can have a discussion about the language they use about each other, but whites cannot. I find the hypocrisy galling.
Make no mistake: Imus is done. He won't come back from this. And it couldn't happen to a nicer guy; he's a prick who deserves everything he gets. But it's still a loss.
It is dangerous to silence offensive speech.
Imus, part II
As I write this Tuesday morning, Don Imus is getting thrashed by Matt Lauer on his own show. He's been suspended for two weeks starting next week, has apologized, and has submitted himself willingly to repeated chastisement by the virtueless fraud Al Sharpton. I think that's sufficient.
Sharpton thinks it isn't. Of course, Sharpton forgave Jesse Jackson for "Hymietown."
Imus is an ass. Sharpton is a con.
I'll take Imus any day.
April 10, 2007 in Commentary, Politics, Television | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)