Rush Limbaugh

http://mediamatters.org/items/200608240003




Bill O'Reilly
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1147




Ann Coulter
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=%5CCulture%5Carchive%5C200602%5CCUL20060213b.html




Glenn Beck
http://mediamatters.org/items/200603210003




Neal Boortz
http://mediamatters.org/items/200603310005



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While Mr. Imus has a legitimate defense when he says he didn't mean what he said - that it was not in a hateful or vindictive manner, but rather was meant to be a joke - the above examples do not have such a defense.

I can't help but wonder whether or not there are other forces in play here. I hear Mr. Imus has been extremely critical of George W. Bush over the last few years. While the other radio "personalities" have gotten away with worse in the past, Mr. Imus is most likely going to be fired, all over what Bill Maher would call a "brain fart".

Take a good look at the above links. These George W. Bush supporters make no claims to be comedians, and indeed, are not. All of their racist statements (with the possible exception of O'Reilly) were said with a serious tone, in the context of a serious discussion, and without consequences. Say what you will about Mr. Imus' comments, they were not uttered in the context of anything other than a misguided attempt at comedy. Mr. Imus is being "Dixie Chicked".

The purpose of this thread is not to debate whether or not Imus should be fired or deserves to be fired. The purpose of this thread is to ask the question: Why is Mr. Imus, a George W. Bush critic, being held accountable for his comments, while the George W. Bush supporters get a free pass?

Next question.

It's true. Just ask any conservative.

say you're sorry or be held accountable for the crap that comes out of your own mouth.

The question is how is the blowback delivered.

If Imus has a base among those on the left, he lost them in droves due to his comments. He base on the right couldn't possibly care.

Limbaugh, Boortz, and O'Reilly are grand wizards for the knuckledragger set, and hideous comments by them will more likely draw applause than criticism.

and they mean it.

:wtf:

however, I do agree with you that from his actions he clearly is not a racist. I keep pointing this out, Imus was one of the very few people in big media that stood up and defended Kanye West's comment.

Anyway, K&R

Revenue.

I work in broadcasting on the management side and I can tell you without a doubt that that one word sums up the situation. Imus was fired because MSNBC advertisers were threatening to pull out and take their money somewhere else, plain and simple, he was a threat to revenue. Sholud Limpknob's advertisers ever do the same, he'll hot the bricks too.

Unfortunately, Flush's audience is a bunch of redneck nazi pigs who lap his slop up with relish, so I don't see anything changing there unfortunately.

Simple as that. Imus' advertisers bailed, all of these dorks' advertisers haven't.

Yet.

I believe that in the wake of the Imus episode, the companies who advertise on the above shows are going to be a little more skittish about what these hosts are actually saying, and we can use that to put pressure on the Becks and Savages of the world, too.

Another possible reason is that Imus was on TV, these other jokers (with the exception of Hannity, who is in safe harbor on Fox) are not. That's a much higher-profile gig than being on the radio in 100 second- and third-level radio markets. Remember that Limbaugh and Savage were both bounced from their TV gigs in the wake of public outrage.

I disagree with your 'misguided joke' statement, though. Imus thought he could get away with saying what he said, and he miscalculated badly. His fault, IMO.

- as

The fire storm that has developed over Imus' racist and hurful comment, as opposed to all the stuff said by * supporters, is due in large part by Al Sharpton having latched onto the issue and continually fanning the flames. It really is too bad he hasn't been as focused on all the other racist comments made by the people you mentioned in the past....

...he might not be invited back on their shows (O'Reilly, Hannity, etc).

but if he mobilized against them with the same force, they might not be so free to spew their garbage like they do.

mind you, i actually think the chances of sharpton, or anyone for that matter, getting clearchannel, faux news, or the other bush-loving media outlets to remove the likes of o'reilly, hannity, etc., from the airwaves is next to nil. it comes down to simple economics - those hatemongers have developed such a rabid following of ditto-heads, who consider them as speaking the gospel, that there is little chance, short of them being filmed having gay sex with osama bin laden while simultaneously performing an abortion by the glow of a burning american flag, that advertisers would threaten to pull their support or otherwise cause their networks to do anything to upset the listeners/viewers.

at the end of the day, their fans tune in regardless of how racist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc., what they say is, the advertisers pay, and murdoch and pals get richer.

Thinking back, I find it funny how Sharpton said that he couldn't in good faith appear on the Imus show after asking for people not to watch it, yet he is a somewhat regular guest on all those other hateful Fox News shows.....oh, the irony.

Sharpton and co. did nothing to remove Imus. The people with the power wanted him removed anyway, and this was an opportunistic time to do it. The same thing will probably happen with Rosie. She won't be removed because she calls Bush and co. war criminals, she'll be removed for something innocuous that causes the people that support her to be divided, then the big corporations will take over from there.

Imus is a critic of Bush, specifically the Iraq war. Imus is gone.

Why are Coulter, Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Boortz, O'Reilly still on the air?

.....if Imus gets dropped and/or fired for saying something stupid then Limbaugh and Co needs to be kicked to the curb, too...

alive and well in the 21st century. i deplore it.

You can't really count on it, and nobody can predict ahead of time when or where the lightning will strike but sometimes even well-connected white guys get hurt by their own actions.

What I would most like to see come out of this odious little episode is a raised consciousness in a lot of people's minds that the public airwaves belong to we the people, not to the likes of Imus or Limbaugh, Coulter or Boortz. And we the people will, from time to time, revoke the privilege granted to some of our fellow citizens to spew hatred and crap on our broadcast airwaves.

We'll see just what kind of fealty to the magic of the free market place some of these folks have when they aren't being so heavily subsidized by the public trust.

Quotes

"Wouldn't it be great if Fox News went ahead and televised the debate
and just put up cardboard cutouts of all the Democrats who aren't there?
They could ask them questions anyway and let the silence speak for itself."
-- Rush the Pigboy


Great idea, Pigboy.

Let's also do an interview with 3300 cardboard cutouts of soldiers
and ask them if they like being dead because of Bush's lies...

...and let the silence speak for itself.

www.bartcop.com

And aren't using this opportunity to GO AFTER THEM.


aaaaaarrrggh!!!!!!!!!

his getting cut from the networks was a long time coming. Its not like he was suddenly targeted one day for no reason, just because he didn't 100% support Bush.

Take Back The Media did it with Rush Limbaugh a few years back and did some damage, we could do it again!

Whaddaya say???

...with his inhuman spew about Michael J. Fox 'faking it'. Somewhere in the old book it says something about 'thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor place a stumbling block before the blind'.

Essentially, it means don't make fun of people who suffer.

I think Limbaugh's true stripes show; he likes to make fun of people who are in pain. He's a sadist, and a bully, and a total fucking hypocrite.

I would love to kick him squarely in the nads, except he's on so many drugs he probably wouldn't even feel it.

laughinghisfuckingheadoff over this. They get rid of a Bush/Chaney critic and have the liberals tied in knots. I don't agree with the liberals that are patting themselves on the back thinking they struck a blow against bigotry. Firing Imus did not do this. I believe we should hold politicians to a high standard regarding their prejudices and racism. Journalist too. But Imus is an entertainer and I don't believe he was pushing a racist agenda. He made a horrible mistake and needed to apologize. It would have been much more effective to smack him down and make him continue broadcasting with a new outlook. But Karl Rove probably called the sponsors and encouraged them to drop him. I don't believe Al Sharpton is interested in defending the downtrodden, he is only after making a name for himself. Demanding that Imus be fired and not Beck, Reilly, Hannity, Savage, or any of the racist hate mongers only further polarized the current race situation. He should have shown more class and tolerance and was the bigger person instead of using the situation for leverage.

don't get me wrong, I am not defending what Imus did and I think bigotry is a major problem, but I think the frustrations were taken out on the wrong person. Again, I don't feel bad for Imus himself, he always walked a tight line bordering on dangerous behavior and should have known that sooner or later he would go too far.