Clearly Don Imus should be fired, whether or not his good friends like Rudy Giuliani and McCain forgive him. It's always easy to forgive insults to another. (McCain says he is "a great believer in redemption.”)
Following in their leader's footsteps, wingnuts are trying to defend the indefensible. (Why they do so is beyond me, but if a Republican wants to shoot himself in the face, I'm all for it.) Logic is far from their side. There are some so stupid and offensive that they are easy to dismiss.
Writing about "B-Bawlers", [sick] Riehl just adds more insult:
Maybe if you weren't so practiced at being victims, you might actually have won the championship. How about thinking on that for a spell?
One of the narratives is that Imus' has always been like that - what's new? Because Jeffrey Dahlmer had already eaten seven, eating the eighth was OK? Wizbang likes this one.
The heavy hitter of course is the inimitable Miss Malkin, who says Imus' remarks are deplorable, but nothing as bad as current Rap music. She then posts a lot of the lyrics. She is outraged that the Rev's Sharpton and Jackson are upset about Imus but never criticize the Rappers. (I don't think she means the rapper named Karl Rove here.) As typical as her outrage is her dishonesty. Both Reverends have repeatedly complained of rap lyrics - Jackson went so far as to say the "N" word should be banned. (why she feels that it is their special obligation as African-Americans to criticize Rap music is unexamined, but understood.) Atrios makes the point that this is simply an attempt at diversion:
Specifically, the fact that rap contains misogynistic lyrics has nothing to do with what Don Imus said. Absolutely nothing. Zero. Zip... It's about Don Imus calling the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team "nappy-headed hoes."
(please view the nappy-headed hoes courtesy of the General: See for yourself why Imus called them nasty and tattooed, not at all like the "cute" white girls on the other team. Yglesias points out that it's not like a lot of big shot politicians or pundits are hanging out with 50 cent, making any comparison between Rap and Imus even more ridiculous.)
Much of the Wingnut Web liked Malkin's post, but a few of the brighter bulbs realized it was lacking. Thus Protein Wisdom decides to infer an argument that Malkin never makes. (Kurtz basically does the same) They take Malkin's "evidence" and use it to argue that in fact it was Rap's fault that Imus insulted the players . It's because the African-American community permits Rap to prosper with its horrible lyrics, that a nice guy like Imus would ever think of saying such a thing. (never mind that the biggest consumers of Rap are young white males)
Kurtz:
"what about the rappers! that's where the word ho comes from!" (h/t Atrios)
Jeff Goldstein is, as usual, more pompous about it. First he has to gratuitously insult the editing skills and the physical size of Oliver Willis, ("who, when he’s not distracted by a box of pudding pops") also complained of Malkin's analysis. After repeating Malkin's lies about the Reverends, and Quoting McWhorter and his local newspaper, Jeff pretentiously posts:
And second, is what we are witnessing here “conservatives” engaging in a big cultural con—trying to take the spotlight off of insidious and largely hidden latent white racism? Or is the occasion of Imus’ boner sufficient to ask pointed cultural questions like those posed by McWhorter, Malkin, and the Rocky Mountain News editorial writers?
Or to put it another way: is it possible that Imus is less a racist than he is a product of the culture in which he lives? Has he been “inscribed” by some “cultural dialogic”?
( It's sort of fun: In order to defend Imus, the right is actually blaming "the culture" that surrounds him - he's actually the victim)
And even that is bogus. It is true that in the 100 lines of lyrics Malkin posted the word "ho" appeared once. But I did not see a single use of "nappy headed" nor of "jiggaboo." These are words that Imus and his sidekick brought from their own hearts.
Imus' words were ugly enough. The efforts of his "friends" to excuse and defend him simply add to the cruelty inflicted on those great young women of Rutgers.
