Edwards On Imus Spat: 'I Believe In Forgiveness'

[seriousstan]

Source: wcbstv

CBS) MAMARONECK, N.Y. Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards' spoke exclusively to CBS 2 on Wednesday morning about the Don Imus and Rutgers University controversy, and though he feels Imus deserves a second chance, he wasn't so sure about his future on Imus' popular radio show.

Edwards' campaign trail took a stop in New York today where he worked side-by-side with health care aides in a Westchester nursing. There, he took time to talk to CBS 2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer about the Imus fallout.

"I believe in redemption, I believe in forgiveness," Edwards said of Imus, who was suspended earlier in the week after calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy headed hos." Since then, Imus has repeatedly apologized for his comments and met with Rev. Al Sharpton, who called for the outspoken radio host's firing. Imus has also agreed to meet with the Rutgers team, who would not comment on whether or not they believed he should be fired.

Unlike candidates Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, who say they will continue to appear on Imus' radio show, Edwards says he hasn't seen enough from the shock jock to make that decision just yet.


Read more: http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_101052815.html

[shaniqua6392]

1. That is a wonderful attitude.

Life is too short and forgiveness is the best way to promote change. I agree with John Edwards.

[Imagevision]

2. Forgiveness? yeah, or um... why can't we all just get along?!! fire his ass!!!

[JerseygirlCT]

6. Forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean he gets to go back

to the status quo, with a slap on the wrist.

Forgiveness usually also requires repentence. Since he's done this sort of thing before, and acted contrite, then done it again, I remain a bit skeptical about just how deeply repentant Imus is.

It's really for those young women to forgive him. But that's a different thing than what happens to him professionally.

[yurbud]

10. the priest can forgive someone on death row right before they electrocute him

doesn't mean the guy won't get the chair.

[plasticsundance]

12. Repentence? Really?

Where did Jesus talk about that part?

Way to go Edwards! Good man!

Now ... excuse me ... I'm quite a sinner ... and I do enjoy a good flogging!

[iverglas]

17. er ... eh?

Where did Jesus talk about that part?

You're serious? Sometimes I do miss a good bit of sarcasm, I admit.

Gospel o' Luke, it was. In the King James version of my Sunday-school teaching youth:

"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish"

Pretty fundamental part of the whole concept, as I always understood it.

It's always open to someone to forgive someone else for whatever reason s/he might have, but nobody gets to actually ask for forgiveness without engaging in that repenting business. Them's the rules.

Oxford Concise notes an element of the thing that's sometimes neglected, too:

1. feel deep sorrow about one's actions etc.
2. wish one had not done; regret; resolve not to continue

A person being asked for forgiveness might just want to contemplate the credibility of the resolution being expressed.

[plasticsundance]

32. Give it a rest. You're not here to teach me.

You didn't want to give Imus a chance to repent. You wanted his scalp, because you think it will claim some victory to make you enforce a delusion you have about conquering what you perceive as bad.

Imus said that he promised to bring race issues to the forefront in the future as a way of making amends for his faux pas. If that isn't good enough for you, then, "judge not, lest you be judged."

[iverglas]

54. whoa horsey!

You didn't want to give Imus a chance to repent. You wanted his scalp, because you think it will claim some victory to make you enforce a delusion you have about conquering what you perceive as bad.

Yer gonna have to teach me how to read minds like that. I imagine it's a skill that comes in pretty handy.

"judge not, lest you be judged."

Well, I don't mind, as long as it isn't by somebody whose evidence evidently comes from a broken crystal ball ...

[JerseygirlCT]

30. Yes, the idea is that you should feel some remorse,

other than for your career, and try to make ammends, if you ask to be forgiven.

[plasticsundance]

31. Yeah ... right

And Sharpton isn't worried about his name sake, and I'm sure he'll go after Rush, Hannity, and Beck with the same vigor. :sarcasm:

[JerseygirlCT]

33. I'm confused

Who is Sharpton's name sake?

[plasticsundance]

50. No. I'm confused.

I would imagine that Sharpton feels a sense of pride in his name, as it refers to the things he thinks he stands for ... just as Imus does. If one is worried about one's career, as you accuse and relate it as being Imus' concern, one would imagine one's namesake is involved. What's the mystery?

[JerseygirlCT]

51. Maybe we're defining "namesake" dfiferently

name·sake
–noun 1. a person named after another.
2. a person having the same name as another.

[Cha]

18. Yeah, I forgive

him..now fire his ass before he does it again!

Oh yeah, his ass is already fired.

[ronnykmarshall]

3. Oh dear.

:popcorn:

[William769]

5. It's not about Hillary so their won't be a flame up.

Put your popcorn away till the next Hillary thread comes along.

[ronnykmarshall]

7. I keep an extra bag handy at all times.

Had Hillary said this .......... :nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke:

[BeyondGeography]

4. Advantage, Obama

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3031317&page=1

[stray cat]

13. Advantage Edwards in my book

Obama looks like he might be pandering..after seeing the pile on. I like Obama but advantage Edwards.

[BeyondGeography]

14. It's about more than Imus

I like that he is using the issue to talk about bigger things:

<"Insults, humor that degrades women, humor that is based in racism and racial stereotypes isn't fun," the senator told ABC News.

"And the notion that somehow it's cute or amusing, or a useful diversion, I think, is something that all of us have to recognize is just not the case. We all have First Amendment rights. And I am a constitutional lawyer and strongly believe in free speech, but as a culture, we really have to do some soul-searching to think about what kind of toxic information are we feeding our kids," he concluded.>

[Cha]

19. Actually knowing about imus

all these years I like Obama's comment better.

And I'm in the Edwards camp so to speak.

[Catchawave]

22. I agree.

Obama was just parroting Hillary, Edwards speaks for me.

[LibraLiz1973]

29. I agree with everything you just said

Edwards just showed some true cajones right then and I admire that.

[SayitAintSo]

35. I agree - I thought Obama was pandering as well

Edwards seemed more genuine (Hillary did too for that matter :))

[yurbud]

8. I would say I defer to the judgment of the black community on this--you can't forgive if you aren't

the injured party.

[stray cat]

9. A rationale voice amidst the pile on

I like Edwards more every day....

[Pharaoh]

11. I don't Know

this whole thing seems to be totally blown out of proportion,I do also believe in forgiveness and am amazed more outrage isn't directed at what Bush Co. is doing to the country/world, I believe one "intention" is of the utmost importance when words are used and (not a fan of Imus myself) I didn't see it as malicious, When that Kramer guy did it that was definitely malicious.

[pokercat999]

49. "blown out of proportion", no kidding. The country is

"led" by a fucking war criminal who has killed several HUNDRED THOUSAND Iraqis and now what 3000+ of our troops with another 20,000+ wounded. We're worried about some irrelevant disk jockey with 3 seconds of bad manners?

We should shut down this economy/country until Bush and Chaney are removed period. Fuck Imus he's a putz. We got much bigger problems and this is just a sideshow for the media.

Racism in America? Of course, it's not as blatant as it used to be but it's still rampant and it should have been properly addressed a hundred years ago but right now we got much bigger problems for everyone. Imus should devote whatever forum he has left to addressing the race problems in our country. Fine, that would seem like repentance to me but really we got much bigger problems.

[DURHAM D]

15. Forgiveness is not Edward's to provide or decide.

He is not a young athlete, a female or black. That is the insensitive comment of a white male.

I am sure Elizabeth will take him to the woodshed on this when they get in the same room.

[Cha]

20. This is true.

I liked Obama's comment better on the imus tragedy and I'm Edwards supporter.

[DURHAM D]

24. I do to - re: Obama's comment.

I have not made my primary choice but found this comment by Edwards to be very disappointing.

[Cha]

25. I guess I haven't made my

final choice yet, either..it's not like 2004 when I knew and then that was taken and I supported Kerry all the way.

[Mend]

16. Mr. Edwards apparently doesn't remember the jokes about

breast cancer and how a woman looked after a mastectomy on Imus' show. True the guy who said it was fired, but the fact that the guy thought he could say it and get away with it says it all.....fire Imus or boycott his sponsors if he returns.

[Cha]

21. Imus is Fired.

Yay!

[emilyg]

27. get over it

move on with life.

[leQ]

23. well, GE doesn't believe in it.... they dropped the simulcast effective immediately.

so no more imus in the morning on msnbc. i for one will miss the show.

[Colobo]

26. Edwards probably knows a lot about being discriminated...

:sarcasm:

[David Zephyr]

28. "It has to be condemned." --- John Edwards

I read John Edwards complete statement, not just the "forgiveness" part and it is clearly a stern rebuke. He says it should be "taken very seriously" because it is a "very serious matter." And GE/NBC has now taken it seriously and fired him beyond just the two weeks.

Reading just the "forgiveness" part makes Edwards falsely appear soft on Imus. Imus apologized and he should be forgiven, but forgiven doesn't mean that he gets to keep his job. Two different things.

"What he said is wrong because it's wrong. It has to be condemned, we have to speak out when people use this kind of language," Edwards said. "This is a very serious matter, it should be taken very seriously."

[UTUSN]

34. I don't. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

36. We can all forgive but we can't all forgive to the same degree as those directly offended.

ALSO, it doesn't do any good to forgive someone if they are not sincere and they continue to offend.

Imus will have to do more than just say he is sorry. He will have to modify his behavior to justify anyone forgiving him.

[Tarheel_Dem]

37. I agree with you LF......

Let me just say that as an african american, who has six beautiful, educated, well-heeled professional nieces, I found these comments hurtful & way out of line. And for days now, I have heard rich middle aged white men defend Imus' remarks by trying to deflect blame to the hip-hop community. And let me say, I'm neither of fan of hip-hop nor Don Imus, but having heard in recent days the history of Imus' racial insensitivity, I say kudos to NBC.

When this story first broke, I was torn between my love of the first amendment, and my love & respect for my beautiful nieces. But after learning that his racist & sexist comments toward these young women were far from his first, helped me come to the conclusion, that he should indeed go.

[mainer]

38. I think this is a courageous stand by Edwards.

And believe it or not, folks, most of America is probably saying that behind closed doors. We hear a lot of outrage against Imus on this board, but when I talk to my Democratic friends, we're all aghast at how much the media has played this up, to the detriment of other news coverage. We're all starting to feel sympathetic toward Imus -- not becaues of his contrition but because of the hatred and the piling on that the media has launched against him. Sharpton and Jackson have pushed this so far that Imus has become the victim. Yes, that's what DEMOCRATS are saying quietly, in the quiet corners of cafes. This has blown up so big that it has backfired on any chance to talk about race.

And when you start calling basketball-playing women HEROES just because someone called them a bad name - well, there are a lot of us who are shaking our heads over that. They're not heroes. They're victims. Stop making victimhood a reason for automatic sainthood.

[Bluebear]

39. Not in my circles. Calling girls whores on TV is not gaining Imus "sympathy" here.

Sorry, racism lost one round in this battle. Your cafe people will get over it just as surely as they told the young women called whores to get over it.

[mainer]

40. And I'm female and nonwhite. In my circles, we're tired of this.

Racism? I got called racist names all my life. I think I have a right to forgive better than most.

[Bluebear]

41. Fine, you forgive him. As for me, good riddance to him.

[mainer]

42. Did you forgive Jackson for using the term "Hymies"?

Why is he still getting airtime?

[Bluebear]

44. OK , what next, that they say "ho" in gangsta rap?

I have heard all the apologists arguments.

Repeat: he called 10 young women, mostly of color, whores on national TV. Finally there is consequence for racist speech. Your concerned and troubled cafe pals will have to move on somehow.

Here, print this out for them, since they are Democrats:

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/04/11/imus_and_beyond.php

But this is not just about Imus. It may be too much to expect that the dozens of radio and TV personalities who serve up on-air bigotry as pseudo-news and entertainment will be reasonably constrained by the corporations that sign their paychecks. But what we can do is deny them continued legitimacy. Politicians who want our votes and journalists who want our trust should not be appearing on their shows; if they do, ask why they consented to be on a program that has regularly broadcast slurs against people of color, women and gays and lesbians. Make advertisers feel uncomfortable for being associated with such shows, especially those that have refused to support progressive radio alternatives.

Finally, the next time Imus or another one of these jocks utters a slur, let’s not leave the targets of the slur alone to fend for themselves. When Imus slandered those Rutgers players, he wasn’t simply denigrating young women on a basketball court with one of the foulest of slurs. Anyone who believes that every person should be treated with dignity should feel the defamation and be moved to act on their outrage. That’s what progressives do.


Have a great day!

[mainer]

45. Jackson engaged in racist talk, aimed at all Jews.

I'm not talking about gangsta rap. Jackson attacked an entire race, and yet he's been forgiven. (which he should have been.) He's being hypocritical here.
Are you saying what he did is okay?

[Bluebear]

46. Here, print this out for your cafe pals, since they are 'all DEMOCRATS':

Surely this will resonate them, since they are members of our party:

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/04/11/imus_and_beyond.php

But this is not just about Imus. It may be too much to expect that the dozens of radio and TV personalities who serve up on-air bigotry as pseudo-news and entertainment will be reasonably constrained by the corporations that sign their paychecks. But what we can do is deny them continued legitimacy. Politicians who want our votes and journalists who want our trust should not be appearing on their shows; if they do, ask why they consented to be on a program that has regularly broadcast slurs against people of color, women and gays and lesbians. Make advertisers feel uncomfortable for being associated with such shows, especially those that have refused to support progressive radio alternatives.

Finally, the next time Imus or another one of these jocks utters a slur, let’s not leave the targets of the slur alone to fend for themselves. When Imus slandered those Rutgers players, he wasn’t simply denigrating young women on a basketball court with one of the foulest of slurs. Anyone who believes that every person should be treated with dignity should feel the defamation and be moved to act on their outrage. That’s what progressives do.


Have a great day!

[trumad]

47. Jacskon made a mistake

But as you know but won't admit on this forum, he hasn't made that mistake again--- Imus on the other hand has done it over and over and over again.

I think you're some big old red neck dude with a pointy hat.

[mainer]

48. I'm a nonwhite female. But anyone who disagrees with you is a bigot, right?

I'm amazed by how the voicing of a particular opinion (which, as you'll hear from John Edwards and Bill Maher is not all that unusual among Democrats) suddenly inspires personal attacks.

If this is the way you deal with a dissenting opinion, then I guess there's nothing much more to say to you.

[trumad]

52. Nah---you're a big white guy... admit it.

[mainer]

53. Heh heh. It'll be a surprise to my husband. n/t

[ShortnFiery]

43. Yes, but don't give him a national venue because he's been sexist and racist for years

and Imus will have a difficult time, even IF he truly wants to change. He's been spewing this filth for years unchecked. The only difference is that he did not make his targets innocent victims.

Forgive but punish according to what is deserved. He's a multi-millionaire and I seriously doubt that he will change. IMO, he doesn't have the capacity nor demonstrated any true or genuine desire. All he cares about NOW are his blessed shows. :thumbsdown:

[frogmarch]

55. This was the last straw

I guess Edwards isn't aware of all the racist, sexist crap Imus spewed over the years. Imus has been called out before, and he vowed to clean up his act, but he always returned to the same vile rhetoric.

I'm glad Imus got the axe. IMO, it should have happened a long time ago.

[Dr Fate]

56. No problem w/ forgiving- but I wish Edwards had said he would not go on the show.

If I were his advisor- I'd have him say the thing about redemption, but also say that he wouldnt be appearing on the show until he saw some real change in the tone- or just say he is not going on at all.