Some Thoughts on the Imus Debacle

During a series of business trips to the West coast a few years back I found myself wide awake at very early hours, due to the time change. With time to kill at the hotel I found myself watching Don Imus on MSNBC. Since then I've been a fan of the show, catching it intermittently while readying myself and the kids each morning. Despite his spineless politics he can be quite funny in an irascible old man way, and many of his guests (usually from the highest echelons of liberal media) seem to relish a format in which they can speak with relative candor.

Now they are letting him twist in the wind.

They could have seen this coming. His show has always been ablaze with abusive trash talk in every direction. Just last week there was a skit involving a Catholic bishop character and the very personal anatomy of Imus' own wife. As a Catholic myself I can say it was actually quite offensive, but hardly worth getting upset about, and the double standard of political correctness would prevent me from lodging a complaint. Besides, I understand that when you try to be spontaneously funny it can involve loosening some social filters, and permitting a few outlandish remarks. On Imus' show, the way he did business, everything was fair game.

None of that excuses Imus' remarks about the women's Basketball team from Rutgers. Sure it was an offhand remark, but it was incredibly offensive. Setting aside the double standards and selective outrage - there are some sensitive issues in America. And young women like the girls on this basketball team should be celebrated for their genuine accomplishments - which is the real source of the much-abused notion of self esteem. With three daughters in my family I can tell you they appear to be worthy role models, and worth emulating.

And now Imus is paying the price, watching the David Gregories and Evan Thomases and Chris Matthews and the other bright lights of the Martha's Vineyard circuit abandon him in droves. So Imus is reacting partly by anxiously scrambling to prove he is part of their tribe. This morning his guest was Paul Begala, the rodent-like former Clinton consultant. Begala said something innocuous, like "Well, you have guests from both sides, guys like me and right wingers." Imus responded by disavowing himself of any pretensions of nonpartisanship by sputtering defensively "How many right wingers? Come on. Not a lot."

So ... even while your hardcore liberal friends are hanging you out to dry you're attempting to disassciate yourself with any folks on the Right? Those people are the ones who are most likely to point out the incredible hipocricy of your accusers - critics who can't spare much indignation abusive rap music (because those "artists" are just being creative about the "reality" of their experience); and likewise the charalatan demgoguery of self-promoting "leaders" like Reverand Sharpton, who (Tawana Brawley aside) has much to gain by targeting a big icon like Don Imus - especially in light of his much-publicized frosty relations with Barack Obama, a leader who actually got elected and appears to have a bright poltical future. The Reverand knows that one way to stay relevant is to prove he can take somebody down. Are the talking heads on NBC going to point that out? Of course not.

Don Imus has wanted all of the benefits of an association with the cultural elites while also playing loose with free speech for entertainment. It can't be done, especially if you're an old white dude who very occassionally can be seen in remote association with non-PC folks who are ever-slightly to the political Right. Imus deserves everything he gets from the Rutger's team, great kids who have suffered an terrific insult. He may not completely deserve the rest of it, but he's sure getting it, and finding out who his friends are - or might have been.