Captain's Quarters -

Captain,
What we have done, by allowing Sharpton and JAckson to 'lead' this cleansing of the airwaves, is to empower to of the most successful and dangerous racists this nation has produced in its modern history to assume a leadership position. The bitter irony of a guy who bragged about spititng in white poeple's food, and a guy who literally egged on a mob to commit racist murder is not likely to bring good for us all.
Sharpton sees his success against Imus as a wedge to get the Federal govt. to censor free speech. It is clear that a corrupt, libelous race baiter llike Sharpton will not have our best good as part of his agenda.
We ahd best be careful here, or we will see radio censorship, internet censorship and all under people like Sharpton.
It is a dangerous bit of history we are living in.

Cap'n Ed wrote:

The market spoke in a very loud voice, and both CBS and NBC heard it.

Did it? Or did C-BS and NBC hear other voices, those of Upper West Side libs "tut-tutting" in faux outrage? Because you're absolutely right:

Had Imus directed that comment at a political figure -- say, Condoleezza Rice -- he still would have his radio show.

There are "safe" targets for the lowest and vilest invective in the human language, and Imus would have had no problem had he aimed at them. Indeed, he'd probably be lauded for his "edgy" commentary. It's my understanding that he's been an offensive jerk for years, but this time he stepped on the wrong toes.

Should he have been fired? Given the free pass he's gotten all his career, it seems a bit of an overreaction for him to be canned now. This isn't to say that his masters at C-BS and NBC don't have the right to fire him; they certainly do. But I find it a bit stomach-turning to listen to self-righteous harangues given Imus' history... and the history of some of the loudest of his critics in this case.

I would also like to echo hunter's comments: I don't think this is the end. Having discovered that they can get a well-known figure like Imus canned for "offensive" speech, the libs will start turning their sights on other thorns in their side: Rush, Hannity, Boortz, Ingraham, FNC. As we saw with the Michael J. Fox brouhaha last year, it's easy for the MSM to take a commentator's remarks out of context and whip up a frenzy. Then Smilin' Al and Pimp Daddy Jackson show up with a herd of camera crews in their wake, wave their dirty fingers in the air, scream that somebody's been "offended", threaten a boycott, and voila: no more nasty ol' reichwing hate speech.

By the way, anybody heard anything out of the ACLU lately? Or are they, like all libs, interested in free speech only when it's something they agree with?

Another "liberal" conspiracy to oust Imus???? How about the ADVERTISERS leaving in droves. Not everything is a "liberal" conspiracy. And docjim, funny how the ACLU defended Maha-reesha El Rushbo when his illegal pill buying scandal erupted. Selective memory maybe? Imus brought this upon himself, he was crude and vile. Don't blame Rev Jackson and Sharpton, thats just trying to find a scapegoat for Imus.Remember, you guys are all about PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, remember?

I think that Sharpton and Jackson are going to get a backlash on this. Two reasons; as pointed out the double standard re: rap music and the racist statements that both Shapton and Jackson have made in the past.
There's a talk station out of LA - KFI, a couple of the shows have already called attention to the double standard being applied.
I'm only hoping that this will stir the pot so much that the MSM will be forced face the issue.

conservative democrat,
Can you explain me, a simple progressive conservative, on what basis exactly black people can use the "n" word, but not the white people?
You democrats are all big, racist hypocrites, being for the freedom of speech only when it suits YOU.

On NPR last night, after a series of tut-tuts on Imus, they opened the phone lines. Interestingly, the parade of callers said that the Spike Jones lead-in seemed in their mind to mitigate Imus's crime. One of the callers, a black woman, said she saw no racism at all in Imus' diatribe, just hard edged humor; the response by the panel, after she had given up the line, was that she probably wouldn't feel the same if SHE were called a 'ho. While the panel made their point, I did notice a certain braggado in their speech which made the moment an Imus one.

Now that Imus is gone for doing this, let's turn our attention to all those rappers who use the same word in their songs, and let us turn to other cases in which race-baiting causes pain and damage, such as Sharpton's own run-in with the Duke Lacross team.

I'm wondering if CBS Chairman Moonves won from Sharpton an apology for his behavior at Duke. And, while Jackson has apologized for 'hymietown', I note that he did not have to give up his job.

Two wrongs don't make a right, but perhaps the punishment for Imus' wrong should be commensurate to that given to Sharpton and Jackson.

"Now that Imus got scalped, temporarily, maybe we can talk about the pimp chic that our culture has produced and its effect. Imus didn't come up with that formulation out of thin air. "

Fugedeaboutit. Sharpton et al got their white scalp. CBS, NBC and the rest of them are not even remotely intertested in taking on the black rappers and their disgusting, filthy lyrics --- and neither is Sharpton and the rest of the black racist cabal.

There's gold in them the hills of rap and they are not about to cut their own throats. This is not about propriety, respect, proper demeanor, --- this is about power and money. Imus was in the wrong place at the wrong time --- and he's white.

Oh, I think Don Imus will land on his feet, here.

He was, as a matter of fact, very up front about his apology. (As if sports fans don't yell worse stuff out loud.)

What I do find interesting, though, is that he's put Rutger's, the (Rotgut U of New Jersey), up on the map has having a bunch of girl players LOSING a basketball game.

Girl players.

Nobody said he was a freak for watching or even commenting on GIRL basketball players! Who knew they even had pickup games? Or a coach who'd have a bunch of black girls lose to another school's team, full of white girls. Something like that, about basketball, I suppose is news. But then the only basketball I watched, when I was young, were the Harlem Globetrotters. Before the game got famous; those guys could do amazing things with a baskball!

Anyway, C-BS' Les Moonves should have fired himself; for spending so much money on Katie Couric!

But the elites "in da business" have changed some of da rules?

Once upon a time you lost your job when you scared away business.

Don Imus? He scared away business? In the world of talk radio? And, shock jocks?

What will be more surprising is that no other radio operator figures out that Don Imus has a following.

Yeah. He really does.

As to nappy? Since when is this now a word on the thought-police's list?

No. I'm not impressed with WHAT Don Imus said. I didn't even know you had to be Black to play baseketball well. But there are those who claim that this is a sport dominated by black players. Ah. I guess not female ones though? And, I wonder why. Where's "equal opportunity" dictums, when you need them?

Besides. Most of the times you hear someone's fired, you feel sad.

Didn't happen when Dan Rather finally got put out to pasture.

Only this time, C-BS put "out" their cash cow.

The "Imus Ranch" kids charity, in a way, may have made Don Imus more vulnerable to getting fired. It probably lured some image-conscious advertisers to the radio show that wouldn't normally touch something as crude as the Imus Show. But, once they're buying an image--of helping kids--and not just the raw audience numbers, then the show has to maintain that image. If not, then first the image advertisers run for the door, then the other advertisers get nervous and run for the door, and then MSNBC and CBS decide they want to be on the other side of that door too, with all those people paying the bills. It's kind of like the run on a bank. Once it starts, you don't want to be the last one supporting old Don.

In retrospect, I have a sense of racism from CBS as well. Why would the Chairman caucus with Sharpton and Jackson (who were not the target of Imus' ill chosen words) rather than the women of the Rutgers team that Imus maligned?

If those women said "Imus must go", that would be a somewhat fitting penance. But the caucus with Jackson and Sharpton seems to have CBS CYB'ing their previous allowances for Imus' humor by hobnobbing with two self-appointed spokesmen for blacks who (obviously) aren't even female like the aggrieved women.

Are black people interchangeable in that way? Those who think so seem to have a bit of a race problem as well, I think. Or maybe its not an individualism thing, and I'm just looking at this incorrectly.

People get fired every day. Mostly, without having a radio microphone attached to ya. Where YOUR VOICE brings in BIG BUCKS.

Les Moonves? Is an idiot.

But good people get pink slipped all of the time.

I think this gives IMUS chances ahead; because there is no bad publicity, once you have to hit the hustings. And, find a "new home."

IMUS goes homeless? Give me a break.

Captain, please excuse the trackback from js cafenette.com. I was teaching a new blogger how to do trackbacks and I hit publish by mistake. So sorry.

Look, I know what I'm about to say has been said so many times that it's trite, but it's true.

Had Imus only taken on safe offensive speech he'd be okay. Hurl invectives against Jews or Christians, people with developmental disabilities, Americans who live in red states, people who live south of the Mason-Dixon Line, the President, or the Republicans as a party or individually and you're fine.

Refences to people as "retards" or "tards" is fine. Stereotyping Southerners as intermarrying, toothless rednecks is fine. There isn't room here to list the other viscious terms that are not subject to censorship in the realm of the bottom line.

There is no question that Imus was was incredibly ignorant, offensive and rascist. I have never liked or listened to him and never will. It's a good thing that the marketplace finally responded to his outrageousness. However, I wish the marketplace was similarly responsive to the equally pervasive media sludge. (And strangely, I don't notice people on the right trying to censor those who commit outrages against them.)

I don't listen to Imus so it is hard for me to judge his comments against the general tone of his show.

Ed brings up a excellent point about about the raunch culture which seems to be so pervasive in America these days.

conservative democrat stated: "How about the ADVERTISERS leaving in droves"

Which leads me to ask the question...why would advertisers pull out of Imus' show in 1 or 2 days while the same advertisers have not pulled out of their contracts with The View? (some may say that Rosie O' Donnell's claim that 9/11 was a govt conspiracy constitutes an afront to many people).

And if i'm not mistaken, there are some coordinated efforts by Americans to reach The View's advertisers but to date, not a single "View" advertiser has pulled out. Some may say it's because The View's ratings remain high. I beg to differ.

The difference is the advertisers of Imus' Show didn't fear the American public, they feared the Jesse Jackson machinery, his "organization" that would coordinate an uncomfortable situation for those advertisers. Ask Toyota what Jesse Jackson's machine and his threats can do.

CBS didn't ax Imus for what he said. They didn't ax Imus because of advertiser backouts. They didn't ax Imus because it was the right thing to do. They simply...paid their ransom.

Michelle Malkin displayed that she is every inch a lady, regardless of the circumstances, or the buffoon who is attempted to insult her by showing the world what a donkey 's rear end he is.

Meanwhile, Al Sharpton still has HIS radio show, in spite of the fact that among other things he has down such as Tawana Brawley, he was also convicted of inciting a riot that killed a man and burned his business down, after it was looted, of course.

Last I heard, he had NOT ever paid the judgement against him due to the family of the man he got killed.

I think that is worse than nappiness.

Anyone see the very cute little white teddy bears for sale with "nappy headed ho" written on their bellies?

I think that was on Drudge, I think.

I think if the thought police are gonna burn Imus, they have to take Sharpton, Farakhan, and Jesse Jackson and Robert Byrd with them, too.

Remember, you guys are all about PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, remember?

Posted by: conservative democrat

**********************

And CLEARLY, the DIM LIBERALS are NOT about personal responsibility - they are also about DOUBLE STANDARDS and NOT for JUSTICE .

CLEARLY!

After all, Sharpton has a dead small business owner who was willing to do business in a risky part of town, under his belt - but nobody is supposed to notice THAT when he complains about a comment on the quality of someone's hair which millions of people without an ounce of "Black" blood in their bodies also share.

This won't be so easy for the racist blacks to sweep under the carpet as just another blackmailing scheme.

I think they've reached the point where if they squeal about others, they'll have to toe the same mark, themselves.

This could indeed cost them the foul-mouthed black rappers.

Michelle was right - you cannot say THEY have "ARTISTIC PRIVILEGE" and then get furious when the language drifts into the general population!

And you cannot blame George Washington for THIS.

He used to order the soldiers to be beaten if they uttered one word of foul language.

These black rappers would be in public gazing stocks if he were around these days. NOT getting multi-million dollar recording contracts!

Apparently the Black Panthers do not know this about our Founding Fathers.

CBS's Les Moonves will fire someone in 2 days for saying something that hurts CBS advertising revenue, but will defend for months someone who touts blatantly forged documents in an attempt to sway a presidential election.

A litle reality jolt: people like Moonves decide what you see on TV, and what you don't.

Most interesting...

Where are all the Democrats who were aided by Imus on his show?

Where is Kerry, was endorsed and promoted by Imus for President?

Imus even endorsed Hillary for the Senate (although he later admitted he couldn't vote for her), and helped her husband a great deal back in 1992.

Where is Ford Jr.?

Democrats will run away from anything...

Russert, Gregory, Matthews, Mitchell, Barnicle all repeatedly made appearances on the Imus show, often just to bash Republicans and push for the Democrat Party.

They are part of the Imus Program, and it is really amusing to see them silently abandon their guy.

It is all quite amusing...

Democrats have lost a morning poltiical push program, which gave these Elite liberals some platform to pretennt to be more like middle America.

Imus had a bit of influence on the political scene in the 90s, which is over...

His daily debasing of the Bush Administration, and the admirable endeavor in the GWOT, battling for Iraq, has ended.

CBS didn't ax Imus for what he said. They didn't ax Imus because of advertiser backouts. They didn't ax Imus because it was the right thing to do. They simply...paid their ransom.

Posted by: Fight4TheRight

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DEAD RIGHT!

Cap'n Ed: Now that Imus got scalped, temporarily, maybe we can talk about the pimp chic that our culture has produced and its effect. Imus didn't come up with that formulation out of thin air.

As long as there are people like you and me who find it irritating, Cap'n, it will be easy to find people who find it fun to irritate us.

Don't sweat the small stuff.

The Good Captain gave this update:

"UPDATE: Michelle gets called a "ho" on national TV. Well, actually, "political prostitute" by New Black Panther Party leader Malik Shabazz. Michelle knocks points off for skipping the obligatory ping-pong slur, and in the process shows how people can choose not to act as victims of idiots."

Have to admit I haven't been much of a Michelle Malkin fan, but the way the lady handled herself in that segment was most impressive. She's matured quite well as a commentator, and her poise and insight and grace under fire were a sight to behold.

cd wrote (April 12, 2007 08:07 PM):

Another "liberal" conspiracy to oust Imus???? How about the ADVERTISERS leaving in droves. Not everything is a "liberal" conspiracy. And docjim, funny how the ACLU defended Maha-reesha El Rushbo when his illegal pill buying scandal erupted.

Please try hard to marshal the small amount of cognitive ability you have. First of all, I didn't use the word "conspiracy"; neither did the Cap'n. BUT, the advertizers left in droves because libs, notably Smilin' Al and Pimp Daddy J, raised a hypocritical stink about Imus' remarks. Those same libs, as the Cap'n points out, are silent in other cases of "outrageous" speech. For example, will they jump on Malik Shabbaz for calling Michelle Malkin a whore?* Somehow, I doubt it.

And docjim, funny how the ACLU defended Maha-reesha El Rushbo when his illegal pill buying scandal erupted. Selective memory maybe?

I don't recall the ACLU involving themselves with Rush's case. And perhaps it is selective memory, as I don't have much trouble recalling them fighting for the rights of the KKK, the nazis, etc (which I, with great reluctance, admit are necessary fights that should have been waged).

obladioblada wrote (April 12, 2007 10:10 PM):

Stereotyping Southerners as intermarrying, toothless rednecks is fine.

Yeah, we get that a lot. And we dish it out. The vast majority of us don't go screaming for a lawyer when somebody makes such jokes, nor do we threaten boycotts. We also don't have self-appointed "Southern advocates" who feather their shoddy nests and further their political aspirations by shaking down "anti-Southern" businesses or inciting riots when some poor Southerner is the "victim" of "intolerance".

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(*) If you want to see a hard-core bigot in action, watch the clip of Malkin vs. Shabazz. The only difference between him and a klansman is skin color: their own and the one they hate.

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/04/12/open-thread-fireworks-on-the-factor-with-michelle-hosting/

The party of free speech for everyone that's willing to be censored strikes again.

Pay attention, folks. This is only the first shot across the bow: Rush, Glenn Beck, John Gibson, Michelle Malkin have big bullseyes on them. Does Sharpton? Does Jesee Jackson? Does Rosie O Donnell?

Word control = thought control. The Dems want to pacify the populace so that we will be pliable, mindless sheep. They accuse the GOP of attacking free speech with no evidence, while putting into practice themselves what they rail against.

It's okay for minorities to be offensive to whites, particularly white men. But white men lose their jobs if they go after that one.

Check out the Bring Imus Back! website. This site includes names, positions and telephone numbers for senior executives inside CBS and Viacom to allow Imus listeners to contact CBS and express their support for Imus. The URL for the website is:

http://www.imusback.com

The site also includes an online survey, a Guestbook, a Forum and a Petition to bring Imus back!

The Democratic Nation is a nation of tribes. They include such large and powerful tribes as the Union Tribe, the Journalism Tribe, the Gay Tribe and the Abortion Tribe. Imus is a case of one of their tribes, the Black-as-Victim Tribe, acting against the interest of the nation as a whole.

Those who postulate the woes of Imus morphing into problems for Limbaugh and Hannity and other should pay close attention to some essential differences that make that unlikely--Rush and Sean don't use harsh language as a humor element, a fact that makes them less vulnerable to such tactics. Also, the "Big Two" have a staggering fan base of strong conservatives. That means that any advertiser who abandons Rush Limbaugh at the behest of Al Sharpton will loose more business to outraged conservatives than they've saved from outraged Dems. Blacks are a significant part of the American population and a powerful force in politics, but they do not all belong to the Black-as-Victim Tribe and only a small number would ever go out of their way to honor a boycott against an advertiser who sponsors a family-friendly radio host. I would dare say that the surge of conservative support such an advertisor would see would more than overcome the impact.

Immolate wrote (April 13, 2007 09:48 AM):

Those who postulate the woes of Imus morphing into problems for Limbaugh and Hannity and other should pay close attention to some essential differences that make that unlikely--Rush and Sean don't use harsh language as a humor element, a fact that makes them less vulnerable to such tactics.

In a sane world, you'd be absolutely right. But we're not talking about just "harsh" language: we're talking about "offensive" language. Remember that Rush got canned from ESPN (?) because of his comments about McNab, which were hardly harsh. Further, while you, I, and anybody with more than one active brain cell (whichexcludes 99.99% of liberals) knows that Rush and Hannity don't engage in gutter language, but if you ask the average lib, they'll tell you that El Rushbo and Sean spew only the vilest racist, sexist, homophobic hate speech for a total of six hours per day. The American people shouldn't have to be subjected to this kind of thing!

Remember: "offensive" is in the eye of the beholder.

Also, the "Big Two" have a staggering fan base of strong conservatives. That means that any advertiser who abandons Rush Limbaugh at the behest of Al Sharpton will loose more business to outraged conservatives than they've saved from outraged Dems. Blacks are a significant part of the American population and a powerful force in politics, but they do not all belong to the Black-as-Victim Tribe and only a small number would ever go out of their way to honor a boycott against an advertiser who sponsors a family-friendly radio host. I would dare say that the surge of conservative support such an advertisor would see would more than overcome the impact.

If the only worry was about boycotts, I'd absolutely agree with you: Rush and Sean have little to worry about. But listen to what Smilin' Al says: they want the FCC to "regulate" offensive speech. As I see it, all Smilin' Al or Pimp Daddy J or any other professional victim has to do is listen to Rush or Sean, pick something (anything) that "offends" them, then rush to the FCC to complain and demand that the program be yanked off the air.

And, o' course, if the libs in Congress have their way, we'll have the Fairness Doctrine v2.0 to push Rush et al off the air because they don't give "equal time" to libs. As we've seen from Air America and other libs attempts at talk radio, nobody really wants to hear it (why bother? You can get it 24/7 on CNN), and so AM will go back to all elevator music, all the time.

Next up: targetting blogs for "offensive" content.

Now here is a guy who get's it right...

http://news.aol.com/entertainment/tv/articles/_a/after-imus-delay-calls-for-rosie-to-be/20070413103809990001

and what kind of show calls the new black panther party for in-studio comment? Sharpton and Jackson are bad enough, but the new black panther party? (Gosh, they must represent 200, 300 people.) What kind of show? A show that wants a sideshow of extremes, spectacle, and easy targets. Who will next speak for African Americans, Flavor Flav?