Randi asked a great question today: "Why go after Imus now? Why now?"

[jazzjunkysue]

He's always been disgusting, as has Glenn Beck and Savage and Limbaugh and O'Reilly and the bunch of them. This is nothing new. Of course he deserves it, that's not the question. He always deserves it. The question is the timing. It's vile and almost illegal, but why choose to attack him now?

My theory:

To take the * administration scandals off the headlines. Anna Nicole's almost over, Michael and Janet Jackson got away with it. The Duke lacrosse players are old, no one fell off a cruise ship this week and there aren't any blonde southern belles getting washed up on caribbean beaches, and so we need a new diversion.

Don't forget that KO is clobbering Fox's ratings. The right wingers want to catch MSNBC doing the bad so we can all sit on our barstools and proclaim: "See! The candidates, the parties, and the stations (say it with me, now ) ARE ALL THE SAME!"

Do not fall for the red herring du jour.

Imus is an asshole, and only assholes listen to him. If anything, this will boost his ratings, but it certainly won't get him fired, with all this attention. The stations love this.

And, just to stop the onslaught, of course he's disgusting and wrong. He always was, and that's why I never listen to him.

[Kagemusha]

1. So did Rove put him up to calling black athletes such-and-such?

Because the timing of this was Imus' choice.

[dflprincess]

7. I don't think the suggestion is that Rove put Imus up to it

I think the question is why is the MSM making such a deal over this when they ignore equally offensive comments by other commentators.

[jazzjunkysue]

12. Exactly. They ignore this daily. This is not news. There's nothing new about it.

[LiberalHeart]

19. Yeah, there is something new about it.

Suppose someone said what he did about Mrs. Perkin's nursery school class?

Or the kids with cancer who visit Imus's ranch.

Or the Bush twins.

Or your daughter.

Or your mother.

His was not a victimless comment. This time it had real live people in the bulls eye.

[Vexatious Ape]

9. There's nothing behind this.

Just a random bigoted asshole, that got called on it. It happens every once in a while. The media thrives on shit like this. Sex or race always sells. This one is just race. When the 2 are combined, then they go full tilt Bozo--think OJ, Duke lacross...

[jazzjunkysue]

10. Not Imus, but the media who are making this the crime of the century.

The question is not the reason, but the timing. Why send out the media to attack him now?

To get the Gonzalez story off the headlines.

You've got to admit that it worked.

[RufusTFirefly]

11. And Rove didn't kill Anna Nicole Smith either

But that's not the point.

The point is a proportional response.

These stories effectively hijack the media bandwidth, squeezing out everything else. Yes, end-of-life decisions are important, but was that any reason to make it All-Terri-Schiavo-All-The-Time?

[jazzjunkysue]

13. Exactly. They've been told to cover something else. Period. Not Gonzalez.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

Uhhhhh...... Is he "faking" one for the team??? n/t

[NormanYorkstein]

2. It has nothing to do with Bush

I am surprised to see all these media people - even Randi? - jumping to defend this guy.

A few years ago when Imus said sexist racist things people complained but they couldn't do anything about it. With the internet we can organize and boycott very easily.

Imus won't be able to get away with his crap anymore.

[bdamomma]

5. I only wish Imus wasn't the only one to focus on.

There are many like Imus out there.

[NormanYorkstein]

6. don't worry - they are next

:) we're just getting started

[jazzjunkysue]

14. Of course he will. That's what shock jocks do. Daily. This will help his ratings.

[rodeodance]

3. 'for everything there is a season"

[Junkdrawer]

4. I haven't posted on the Imus threads. Imus may be "taking one for the team".

It will be interesting to see his audience size when he returns.

[jazzjunkysue]

15. Betcha it doubles. n/t.

[Cha]

8. Why not?

[Berry Cool]

16. Because he is losing advertisers now.

That makes all the difference.

[Cha]

17. What I'm sayin'...why not?

..now is as good a time as any.

[El Supremo]

18. What finally was Randi's conclusion?

I turned her off when she started interrupting and shouting at a black lady caller with a plausible explanation.

My reason? It has been a slow week for new scandals.

[orleans]

22. i missed randi's "theory" too--had to go to work. but i'm

interested in hearing what she thinks.

(and re the op, why would al sharpton want to take the headlines off the bush crime family? i don't think that is his intent.)

[tnlefty]

25. She repeated many times during her show that Imus is a bigot,

and that he's been one for the 20+ years that he's been on the radio. She didn't defend Imus in any way shape or form, but did mention frequently that he's an old, bigoted white guy who thinks (sadly enough) that what he says is funny, as opposed to Rush, Hannity, Boortz, Coultergeist, Bennett, Savage, etc., complete with clips from some of them, who spew their crap to promote hate.

Anyway by the end of the show she drove home the difference between an old bigot who thinks he's funny (still not acceptable) as opposed to bigots who spew to incite hatred, but to also drive home the point that a lot of people don't think that Imus is a bigot in the same light. She did mention that if she or someone else mentioned something on Faux news, or on one of the other shows, people basically accept it because they're used to thinking that they're going to hear bigoted crap from these people. However, fewer people are aware of Imus and he appears to be 'the new guy' to a lot of people and when his bigotry is exposed that people will rethink what the others spew to just incite hatred.

I do hope that this makes some sort of sense.

[El Supremo]

27. Thanks

So Imus is the unexpected recently rediscovered standard bearer of bigotry? I don't know - he's done this before. I still think that the media didn't have anyone else to negatively promote this week.

[LSK]

29. hes done this before but nobody knew he existed until this week

[tnlefty]

30. Unfortunately, the few times that I've come across his show

and stopped because it was resembling a trainwreck I realized what he and his crew were about. The point that was being made today was that if one doesn't live in NYC and hadn't heard him on the radio for the past 20+ years, and if one doesn't get up early in the morning to watch the simulcast on MSNBC, that he is the 'new guy' to a lot of people.

[LSK]

28. Randi said that Imus was being made an example of

Most people know that Rush, Hannity, Savage say this type of garbage.

But now we have Imus who is new to many folks and has this national radio show and is on MSNBC and that it is not acceptable for someone of his ilk to be saying these sort of things anymore.

I think thats what she was trying to say.

[ShortnFiery]

20. It's clear: The parents and athletes were made aware of Imus's comments over the weekend ...

they are hurt and outraged. As they should be. Imus specifically keyed out these women (Rutgers Womens Basketball team) and called them, "Nappy headed hos."

If you were these young women's parents, how would you feel? :shrug:

[katsy]

24. I know how I feel as a parent.

Outraged.

I said this before... the young women have every right to sue his misogynist ass off for slander.

To let this outrage drop is as good as forcing these young, smart, talented women to add "nappy headed hos" to their resumes. Their reputations and futures have been besmirched and threatened by a maggot.

Instead of congratulating these women on their accomplishments, academically and as athletes, that pig forcibly dragged them into his gutter.

This isn't about Randi or rove or their opinions. This is about all of our children.

Here's the lesson, however inconvenient the timing be for the talking heads: If you discourage our kids from participating in any visible social activity by attacking them personally, a lawsuit will be on your desk the next morning (hopefully) and you'll loose your filthy microphone. Crawl away and drink yourself stupid.

[Elidor]

21. On the other hand, why NOT now?

He's overdue for a comeuppance. I don't see anything wrong with making an asshole miserable. It's not like we can't pay attention to more than one thing at a time. So fuck Imus. He's finally paying the price for his big mouth. It's a good thing, and it in no way detracts from the scandals of Bushco to anyone who's paying attention.

[jazzjunkysue]

23. Gonzalez was subpoenaed today, but all the "news" was "Imus, the bigot."

So it pushed the politics off the TV and in the process they hammered the right wing competition.

Fox knows its losing in the ratings and MSNBC is winning. That's what's really making it all happen today.

In other words, if Iraq were a success and the judiciary was solid and Katrina haden't been a disaster and all the other scandals were not happening, the main stream media would never have made so much of this.

[ShortnFiery]

26. Yeah and we're still being forced to hear The Anna Nicole Saga. So ... n/t

[Manifestor_of_Light]

31. Imus called Gwen Ifill "the cleaning lady" back in the Reagan years.

I believe Ed Schultz said that.

[Garbo 2004]

32. Imus claimed that on Today show. Said it was part of a skit. Only it wasn't a skit and

it happened while Ifill was covering the Clinton White House for the New York Times.

Imus was all pissed off when Lauer mentioned the Ifill remarks and Imus responded by claiming it was a skit and during the Reagan years. It was neither.

[radfringe]

33. Why go after Imus?

because he's not a Faux host, and not considered in the same mold as limbaugh, beck, hannity, savage etc.

where was the same level of outrage and 24-7 coverage when limbaugh mocked Michael Fox? or when any of the other right-winger blather heads do the same thing? It wouldn't be 'shocking' if Limbaugh (et. al.) had said it - it would have been shrugged off as his 'style'.

as for me - I don't like Imus, never have, don't listen to him at all - I don't find him entertaining or informative. he has the same level of credibility as the rest of the shock-jocks and blather heads - someone with an opinion, a few hours monopolizing a microphone and a big ego that demands to be fed.

[jazzjunkysue]

34. Right. He's a grumpy child who makes 10M$/year who needs to pick on

black teenage women.

The sickest thing is why a man this rich and famous still isn't happy. He still feels bad enough about himself that he needs to belittle young college students because they're from a disenfranchised race.

And spewing this on TV makes him a man. And he makes losers all over the country feel a little better about themselves.

The pathetic thing is alot of those losers won't even attempt a college education, let alone one at such a prestigeous university.

I'd like to see the team captain challenge him to a match, and wipe the floor with him. And put any of their college transcripts up against his, if he even has any.

[radfringe]

35. Heard last night - Imus show canceled

ok - so it appears MSNBC is "attempting" to show some consideration for social issues... :eyes:

Will MSM follow suit and fire Beck, Savage, Limbaugh etc. when they spout their hate speech? I doubt it