The Best Take on the Imus Fiasco

Courtesy of Mark Steyn:

It's a good rule of thumb in American scandals that, no matter how big an idiot someone is, the outrage over him will always be more idiotic. Let us take the easiest ones first. "I've received hundreds, if not thousands of e-mails, both internal and external, from people with very strong views about what should happen," said Steve Capus, president of NBC News. "And many of them are people who have worked at NBC News for decades, people who put their lives on the line covering wars and things like that." Is that a lobby group yet? War Correspondents Against Racism? Capus was taking no chances. "This decision was made after listening to the people who work for NBC News, who have placed a trust and respect the trust that America has given us."

Is it written somewhere in the Media Code of Ethics that you're not allowed to fire anyone without sounding like a pompous self-regarding bore? Playing catch-up and terminating Imus 24 hours after MSNBC, CBS chairman Les Moonves left NBC's "trust" and "respect" and "respect for the trust" in the dust: "We are now presented with a significant opportunity to expand on our record on issues of diversity, race and gender. We intend to seize that opportunity as we move forward together." That sounds like a helluva morning show you're developing there, Mr. Chairman. Unless it's just off-the-peg meaningless pap to be forgotten as soon as the press release is shoved in the filing cabinet.

Needless to say, Moonves fired Imus after first meeting with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton. I have a dream that my children will one day live in a nation where a white guy can be fired for racist remarks without his employers having to prostrate themselves before clapped out professional grievance mongers and shakedown artists. But dream on. Two men who slandered the Duke lacrosse players not just as racists but as rapists (by the way, has the Rev. Jackson come through on his promise to pay for the "victim" to go to college?) are the go-to guys when it comes to judging rhetorical excess in respect of varsity sports teams. Surely even a network president isn't such a craven squish he can go through a meeting like that with a straight face?

Imus' sin was the one the Left consider to be the greatest of all sins, when not directed at whites or Jews: bigotry. To liberals, anything that smacks of racism brings out the punditry Inquisition more quickly than Nancy Pelosi can don a dhimmi scarf. They do not care about murder, infanticide, terrorism, or comparable crimes against humanity to anywhere near the frantic, knee-jerk, calling-all-cars frenzy they get into when some over-the-hill white guy says something racist.

Of course, Imus has said such things before, many times. He usually directed them toward whites and Jews, but ask Gwen Ifill about his "cleaning lady" remark if you want to hear about egregious comments about blacks too. And despite his bigotry, all the Lefty media pantheon turned out regularly to appear on his show.

Of course, it would not do to have a racist Lefty, so look for stepped-up efforts in coming months to transform Imus into a Rove-programmed neocon.

Meanwhile, bigots like Al Sharpton will continue to spew liberal-approved hate speech from secure ramparts in the LWM. After all, what are a few slandered cops, rape victims called "whore", or dead Jews compared to the "dialogue" the Left Reverend Sharpton fosters?