A Confederacy of Dunces

The "national dialogue" is nearly over. No one left to sponsor it, and no network suits willing to put it on the air in any case. Doesn't hit the right demographic any more. Imus is gone, into well-padded retirement or to Rupert Murdoch's morning zoo or to money-bleeding satellite oblivion like Stern. Next week, we'll be on to some other distraction from the obscene, blood-painted alleyways of Iraq. Some other celebrity will fall from grace, or overdose, or reveal a body part.

Imus famously called Dick Cheney a war criminal, hit Halliburton for refusing to contribute to a new hospital for wounded veterans, and has been a long and consistent critic of this dreadful failed war. He's also a gun-toting, Republican, Clinton-bashing apologist for Joe Lieberman. Even at 66, his brand of humor is simple and sophomoric, hearkening back to the some of the coarser skits and voices of the 60s when racial, sexual, and ethnic humor was new and fresh and shocking. Think Rickles and Mason, not Sahl and Newhart.

Yet he insisted on keeping this lame-ass, old shtick even as the rest of his show morphed into an A-list parade of pols and media figures - and even as Imus in the Morning brought the news to the radio each morning with some opinion, some reaction, some juice. Worse, he allowed and encouraged playground bullies like producer Bernard McGuirk to riff crudely on race and gender in the background, while occasionally apologizing with the contrite face of a proud father who really kind of loves his wayward son's antics.

McGuirk killed his sugar daddy, in the end. Killed him dead and put the whole Imus staff on the street. It was McGuirk who regularly used the term "ho" to describe women, particularly black women. See, it wasn't race or gender that lit this spark in the dry tinderbox of aging, old school Imus in the Morning. It was the combination. It was fathers and mothers with daughters who kindled the wider reaction (with a big hand from Al Sharpton). Those Rutgers women, when we all started to actually look at them as real people, were indeed stirring in their poise and accomplishment. Barbara at the Mahablog gets it exactly right, I think:

...there’s a big difference between Imus insulting the political and media elites who are guests on his program and calling the Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy headed ho’s.” If he and his defenders can’t see that, there’s something seriously wrong with the lot of them.

Did Imus deserve to be fired? Yes, of course he "deserved" it - as if morality and ethics played even the tiniest part in the decisions made by the suits. The pure hypocrisy of Viacom's executive suite was stunning; their "outrage" grew in direct proportion to the dwindling of sponsors. When the calculations included Imus's shrinking ratings, his age, his ill health against future earnings and a likely boycott, the corporate chime rang down the hall from Sumner's office and a suitable lackey was dispatched to dispatch the I-Man - right in the middle of his annual charity drive.

I listened to Imus for about 20 minutes most weekdays over the last decade; it seems like pure rear-view mirror self-excusing, but I never enjoyed the stupid skits and the fake voices. I enjoyed the take on the news. Eleanor Clift describes it well:

His acerbic manner was a welcome contrast to the soft news and banal talk that dominated the morning shows. And he was an oddly compelling figure, ravaged by long ago battles with drugs and drink; he was like watching a train wreck in progress.

No excuses: I'm guilty of tolerating the hate speech, the slurs, the misogyny as much as the guests I loved to hear on the Imus hot seat. Nor was I "blind" to the bad stuff, as some regulars now claim; I was not culturally insensitive. I knew what I was doing. I gave Imus a pass because he delivered in other ways; his show was where the action was in morning drive-time politics.

Yeah, we're winding down the national dialogue on race and gender. It's getting as old as Imus. The portable circus that poses as our national news media will move on to the next town shortly. This was one of those stranger-than-fiction episodes - hell, the Governor of New Jersey was almost killed racing to the big Imus-Rutgers Summit. Maya Angelou spoke out in verse. Al Roker weighed in on his blog. Obama and Hillary dueled to see who could get with those power forwards from New Brunswick first. McCain and Giuliani ducked. Harold Ford and Tim Russert turned coat. Imus did the black friends defense. Then he held up the kids with cancer for the cameras. Then the broken soldiers down at Walter Reed. First he shot himself in the foot. Then he turned the gun on the more vital organs, and fired off a few more rounds. What a circus. Did I mention Maya Angelou?

At the middle was a mean old man insisting over and over again, "but I'm a good person." The skids were greased over time, however, and the old shock jock's legendary misanthropism did him no good. All his "friends" - the A-listers in it to sell books or build personal brands - melted away into the night. As David Hinkley wrote today:

The off-air Imus is happy to admit he really doesn't like people all that much. He's irritable, cranky and profane. Asked if Imus was a mean drunk, his friend Kinky Friedman replied, "He's mean when he's not drunk."

The profiles in courage at Viacom, meanwhile, have a big hole to fill. I'm sure it won't be too hard. After all, just down the dial from the spot where Imus was simulcast, Les Moonves and ole Sumner have another show on right now: "Pimp My Ride." Pimps - procurers and exploiters of women; sexual terrorists. Big man, Les Moonves. Big ethics, sitting on Sumner's craggy lap.

But they're probably tired of the national dialogue over at CBS now. The firing was a sure sign of it. I'll leave it here with Lupica:

Imus himself talked Monday morning about context and proportion and happened to be right. But by then nobody was really listening to one of the most famous voices in this country, one of the most famous voices his medium had ever produced.

Now all those who went after him as hard as they could, who acted as if the only solution was his firing, say they don't want this conversation about race and women and what has happened to the airwaves in this country to end with this firing.

Only they don't get to decide that. Because even after those three words and the perfect storm they caused, the best place to have the kind of conversation they are talking about would have been on the show they just got canceled.

Comments

[W Jeff Golightly]

I have a solution to all of Don Imus's problems-
New Name- Rev. Don Imus- All will be forgiven-
Jeff

[blue girl]

This is the best post I've read on this whole mess, Tom. What a circus is right. And Tim Russert is on my last nerve.

Instead of Imus going on Al Sharpton's show, I wish the girls from Rutgers would've gone on Imus' show. (Yeah, I said "girls" because to me, they're just kids.) That would have been a great 3 hours. Like Mike Lupica said, it would have been the best place to have had the conversation.

I like Imus. Could totally have lived without Bernie, though. Most times I liked those two guys who did the impersonations. I can't say that my sense of humor is so evolved and sophisticated that I didn't sometimes snicker at rotten stuff. But, I do think I knew *what it was* -- Jr. High BS and kept it in perspective.

I'm going to miss the show for the same reasons you listened. I watched it every day for 10 years. There was one time when David Gregory was on the phone droning on and on and on and on without taking a breath and Imus kept trying to get a word in edgewise and all of a sudden the camera goes on Imus and he's lying on the floor, all sprawled out, flat on his stomach, like he's dead because Gregory wouldn't shut up.

Makes me laugh just thinking about it. See? Not so sophisticated.

Great post. Thanks for writing it.

[OutOfContext]

This absolutely captures all my feelings about the affair. (I hate writing comments like 'great post', but) Great post.

[p.a.]

McGuirk really is a piece of work; if he never works in radio again it will be more than he deserves. Imus had to go, and the leader is responsible for the acts of his underlings (D.C. excepted), but my impression is that he was like the slightly wild single uncle many families have. The rest of the family knows he shouldn't be left in charge of his nephews/nieces because nothing good can happen; he either encourages or overlooks too much stupidity.
Imus lost me when he bought the ranch; he got boring- a worse sin in his world than racism or sexism. But he did show more stones interviewing pols than most real journalists. Gotta love 21st century America- the most forthright political commentators are a morning drive-time DJ and two comedians with half-hour shows on Comedy Central.

[Ralph]

Too bad the media, and Imus, couldn't bring themselves to start an honest discussion about race and sexism in American culture. Instead we get this lame attempt at blaming black music, and gansta rap in particular. As if Imus has ever been concerned with sexism in music. So what happened to setting the example for others? What happened to the culture of personal responsibility that conservatives have harped about forever?

What's really sick is the Rutger's team is now getting shitloads of hatemail from Imus fans. What does that say about his supporters?

And don't forget Tom Oliphant. A solid liberal who, according to Media Matters, "began his appearance on the April 9 edition of Imus in the Morning by stating: 'Good morning, Mr. Imus, and solidarity forever, by the way.' Oliphant also referred to political pundits like himself who appear on the show as Imus' 'constituency.'"

I am not surprised that these older white men just don't get it, I just expected Oliphant to be different.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200704090007

[Em]

I read somewhere that Imus thought about retiring in 2006, but instead signed another 5 year contract. This is what happens when one stays on past one's time. He should have quit while he was somewhat still ahead. It was only a matter of time before something like this was going to occur.

I used to think the show was amusing and interesting, but then - like the other poster, once he got remarried, bought the ranch and had the son, the show became unbearably boring and stale. It was always about him and his lovesick emotions and his new found importance as a faimly man and great philanthropy. He droned on and on about himself and that ranch to the point where it became "unwatchable" or "unlistenable" - to use his words about other so many other shows. The irony and hypocrisy was deafening.

I'll admit that the show had been getting better in the past couple of years in that regard, at least it seemed so whenever I would occasionally tune it - but it was still clearly evident that it had lost its edge.

Hey - No sweat for him - he's made tons of money and he'll get a big pay off from CBS for getting fired - and go on to write a book and make more millions- and continue to promote his pet causes to rehabilitate his image. Tough breaks for Charles and Bernie though - they will just have to make their own way in the world, since they probably don't have near the money he has - but surely they must have wisley planned for the eventuality of this day.

I'll bet Contessa Brewer was one happy lady - as were so many others he lambasted over the years. He didn't seem to have too many friends in the end - at least not many that would step up and go to bat for him openly (Bo Dietl being an exception - for whatever that is worth). At the end of the day - we all sat back and watched in amazement - essentially - the demise of the career of a drawn, ashen, pathetic "cantankerous old fool" who stepped in his own doo.

[Lance Mannion]

Lupica is right...and wrong, and wrong-headed. Nobody got Imus fired but Imus. And that dialogue Lupica says would have been great on Imus's show could have happened on Imus's show right away if Imus had wanted it, if he hadn't allowed his media elite pals to try to defend him. He could have invited the Rutgers women's team on right away. Instead he had on Howard Fineman to try to help him smooth it all away.

[Annette Cox]

A great post. I've just about given up defending Imus. But glad to see that Lupica, Kinky, and Bo are still at the job. He will be sorely missed. He and his crew were family to many of us out here in radioland. We took the good, the bad, the funny, the unfunny as a whole enchilada, much as we have to take life. Imus was real, authentic, misguided, prone to meanness. So what else is new? There are many,many of us heart-broken at the loss. I predict that MSNBC is over. I've stopped watching Meet the Press. I can't even watch NBC News any more.

[Scott Petersen]

The hypocrisy and mock outrage accompanying Imus' firing is 10 lbs of manure and there isn't a bag in sight. What is equally galling to me, however, is those that seek out those "liberals" who appeared on Imus as being insufficiently pure in their outrage or, worse, defending (!) Imus in the face of the withering poop-storm over his comments. Let's face it, this isn't the first time Imus has made racially-charged statements and anyone who acts "shockedandappalled" because of his comments must not have been listening to his show for the past 10 years. The issue isn't whether Imus said something objectionable. He did. The issue is whether he should be run out of town on a rail because of it and whether people like Lupica and Tom Oliphant should be shunned for saying he shouldn't. Personally, I have greater respect for the likes of Oliphant, Howard Fineman, etc. for defending Imus than I do any of those demanding his head on a platter. As if any of us don’t have at least one friend or relative who consistently makes racist, misogynistic or otherwise offensive comments or jokes. The point is that Imus, as objectionable as he could be at times, was one of the few media figures in this country who would a) openly criticize not only the current administration, but politicians of all stripes, including those he supported, like Senator Kerry and b) call b.s. when it needed to be called, especially when dealing with our increasingly ineffective Beltway journalists. Just because his was a voice that often stepped over the line doesn’t mean that it’s a voice that’s not worth hearing.

[calling all toasters]

As if any of us don’t have at least one friend or relative who consistently makes racist, misogynistic or otherwise offensive comments or jokes.

Indeed. When I go out to dinner with him I always chuckle at the warning he gives to Middle Easterners not to wear the tablecloth on their heads, his offering watermelon (amusingly pronounced "waddymelon") to the black families, and advising the Jews not to try to "Jew down" the menu prices. This way you can tell who has a sense of humor and who hasn't. I often advise him to go on the radio, because his stuff is just killer.

[Peter B]

I stopped listening to Imus a long time ago because I could no longer stomach racism with my corn flakes. But from what I recall, among his other negatives, Imus was a front runner. he was as gung Ho about Iraq as most in the media, but when he saw the national mood changing, he did a quick 180.

I disagree that Harold Ford "turned coat". He publically stated that Imus was a good friend of his, that he felt for Imus and his family, but that what Imus said was "reprehensible" You can't lump him in with Russert.

The real loser here is Lupica. who's going to buy any of his awful books anymore without the Iman around to pimp them?