Liberals Now Link Imus To Conservatism!

"Media Matters " is to conservative radio what The Media Research Center is to liberal bias in the mainstream media. I have placed both in the "info sources" blogroll.
Media Matters thinks the firing of Don Imus ought to be just the beginning of a broader termination of other radio broadcasters. The only problem with that is that Imus was to the left on many more issues than not, and all the other radio personalities listed as "racist" or "sexist" are all suspiciously conservative. That's the sad part of the Imus saga, he thought he was one of the accepted/protected class because he's a liberal and raised a LOT of money, especially for children's cancer charities. Not one of his "friends" or any of the folks he helped to make big bucks stepped up to offer anything resembling a defense. And it didn't take long for them all to abandon him.

It's not just Imus
On April 11, NBC News announced that it was dropping MSNBC's simulcast of Imus in the Morning in the wake of the controversy that erupted over host Don Imus' reference to the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." The following day, CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves announced that CBS -- which owns both the radio station that broadcast Imus' program and Westwood One, which syndicated the program -- has fired Imus and would cease broadcasting his radio show. But as Media Matters for America has extensively documented, bigotry and hate speech targeting, among other characteristics, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity continue to permeate the airwaves through personalities such as Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Michael Smerconish, and John Gibson.

Keith Olberman or Jesse Jackson could call Rush any name they want (and they do) and no one would lift an eyebrow - because Rush is a public figure. He's in the public eye and it's quite normal for us to form an opinion of him, and our right to express that opinion is not only protected, but EXPECTED. He INVITES one and all to form an opinion about him. Same with Rosie, Anna Nichole, or Al's Franken and Sharpton. The Duke Lacrosse and Rutgers Women's Basketball teams are different stories. They don't do what they do as professionals or to draw attention. They are amateurs in their sports. Criticism is protected under the constitution but so is a company's right to disengage sponsorship.
A corporate sponsor isn't normally obligated to any length of time to continue their relationship with a given program. But if they are going to place ads on a program like Imus in the Morning they know what to expect. So a new standard, of sorts, has been set.
Regardless of any attempt to make Imus's a conservative gaffe, it's ridiculous to go there. Certainly the left is so reliant on the simplistic liberal/good - conservative/bad view of reality that they have no choice but to distance themselves and try to associate Imus with Rush or Neil Boortz. The stunning speed with which the media judged the three Lacrosse players and allowed the Sharpton/Jackson sphere of the "perpetually offended" to take out Imus reaffirms my desire to distance myself from the left in any case. Those folks are crazy. The dangerous kind.