A Savagely Bad Defense

A sure sign that Don Imus's career is over. Michael Savage comes to his defense. Although, if Savage really wanted to help Imus, he should have been more vocal before the firings.

On the July 20 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage said Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson "lynched [radio host Don] Imus" over racially charged comments he made during his April 4 show. Savage, commenting on the subsequent firing of Imus, went on to say, "This is what was done in Nazi Germany to Jews."

Savage compares the deaths of blacks and Jews to the termination of a well-paid talk radio host. It takes serious wingnut talent to offend two ethnic groups. Even Ann Coulter would be impressed.

Savage lays out his reasons for why Jackson and Sharpton (he fails to mention the blogosphere) protested Imus's racist comments.

They didn't do so, so much for racial reasons, they did it for commercial reasons. They did it A, to shake down CBS, and number 2, they did it because Imus was a more successful talk-show host than they were. They have loser shows on the weekend that no one listens to. Now, how do you move up if you're a talentless demagogue? What you do is you attack talented white men, and you say that we need to have fairness in America, in the American media. So put us in their seats.

Another way for a talentless talk show host to "move up" is to change his name from Michael Alan Weiner to Michael Savage and spew racist banter to appeal to the lowest denominator. Savage and Imus have both done it for years. Until their MSNBC and CBS received to much heat. They hired and fired Savage and Imus because they create controversy. Not because they had something intelligent to say.

If Savage thinks Jackson and Sharpton got Imus fired then he is deluded. Both have slipped in the political landscape and ran failed predidential campaigns. Jackson's and Sharpton's political clout is near zero. Al Franken makes fun of Jackson.

David Gregory: Fair and Balanced

Hardball host David Gregory gives an extremely slanted question to Al Sharpton that favor Don Imus. This isn't surprising. Gregory has been on Imus's show and made fun of Harry Whittington being shot by Dick Cheney.

Gregory: ... McClellan will come out there and not be straight up about what he knew about the guy's condition. And there was even a question on the floor from a reporter about, you know, Is there a sense of relief within the White House because this guy appears to be fine?

Imus: You guys hope Harry dies, don't you?

Gregory: No. That's actually... that's not funny. Absolutely not.

Imus: I'm not trying to be funny.

Gregory: Well, no, absolutely not.

IMUS: ... You want Harry to pull through and be OK.

Gregory: Obviously.

[laughter]

Gregory: God, you're an awful person.

[laughter]

Gregory is a frequent caller to Imus In the Morning. Gregory covering Imus is the journalistic equivalent of Tim Russert's fair and balanced reporting on the Valerie Plame leak.

In other news: Imus has been fired by CBS.

Quote of the Day

"I don't -- his record -- I've seen efforts to try to construct a racist background, and it's a little skimpy."

Brit Hume on Don Imus.

Read this post if anyone has doubts about Don Imus making racist statements.

MSNBC Pulls Plug On Imus

MSNBC will no longer simulcast Imus In the Morning.

"This decision comes as a result of an ongoing review process, which initially included the announcement of a suspension. It also takes into account many conversations with our own employees," NBC News said in a statement.

"Once again, we apologize to the women of the Rutgers basketball team and to our viewers. We deeply regret the pain that this incident has caused."

CBS Radio is sticking with the two week suspension. General Motors has pulled ads from Imus's show.

The Rutgers women's basketball team publicly responded to Imus's comments. Cue video.

"I would like to express our team's great hurt, anger and disgust toward the words of Mr. Don Imus," said Rutgers playerEssence Carson. ""We are highly angered at his remarks but deeply saddened with the racial characterization they entailed."

Imus will meet with the Rutgers basketball team to apologize to them. The meating (I kid you not) will be at an undisclosed location. Judging by Imus's performance on The Today Show - this is a disaster in the making.

The Don Imus Files

Don Imus has referred to two black journalists as a "cleaning lady" and a "quota hire." He has also publicly compared black men to apes.

Imus called the gay-themed movie Brokeback Mountain "'Fudgepack Mountain." The radio jock has a long history of bashing gays.

Imus then had his Ann Coulter at CPAC moment.

IMUS: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --
McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.

IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know.

McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.

...ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors.

Imus has been suspended for two weeks.

The suspensions will take effect starting on Monday.

But NBC, which simulcasts Mr. Imus’s program on its cable news network MSNBC, also served notice that it will not tolerate another insensitive remark from the host. It said that Mr. Imus had promised to change the tenor of the program, and that he agreed the suspension was an appropriate action.

“Our future relationship with Imus is contingent on his ability to live up to his word,” NBC said in an official statement.

I wonder if Imus can live up to his word. I would be more than happy for any person to change their hateful ways. It certainly wouldn't be good for Imus or anyone else to go through life without unnneeded rage towards minorities. We shall see.

Pam Spalding wonders if politicians will keep going on Imus's show. I say after the contoversy blows over things will be back to normal. Politicians love free air-time.

I'm amazes me that people like Don Imus and Michael Savage are hired because they are controversial. MSNBC didn't hire them to elevate discourse. MSNBC then goes into panic mode for saying controversial things. MSNBC bears a level of responsibility for Imus and the fired Savage.

Update: JC Christian offers a hysterical defense of Imus. For those who don't know: JC Christian is a parody of the conserative movement.