Poor Don! He really has been on the precipice for a long time. I know that he's good guy and probably what you see is what you get. He has clearly fought long and hard against his own addictive personality. This time he lost. He may have settled for treatment rather than recovery, I don't really know . Those who do however hold onto "old ideas", many of which have been proven toxic if not terminal. One such idea is "I'd rather be right than be happy". Mabye Don's trying to float that balloon as we speak. Another facile notion for treatment is "honesty above all else", while those in recovery know that "honesty without love is just another license to abuse". His woeful and PUBLIC attempt at contrition and amends with Reverend Al revealed a crippling lack of humility as well as a glaring lack of practice and ability to genuinely admit wrong and make amends.

Hey Don..."Did you exchange a walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage"? Pink Floyd - WISH YOU WERE HERE

When announcers like this idiot cease to pull in ratings - his show will be canceled. Until then, our society has some serious growing up to do. Boot the idiot out for good.

Imus twitchings are the least of the problem. Consider the millions who seek him out to brighten their day. What a splendid assembly that sorry, needy bunch must be.

You wrote:

“That would be an excellent question to ask the women athletes in question. While the specific subjects of the music are fictional, the black community is not fictional. Certain rap musicians perpetuate the ugliest stereotypes about the black community. Their lyrics are populated by hos, pimps, and gangstas. A number of rap musicians have been murdered or convicted or felonies. I have no idea what damage such images do to young people, but I suspect it is considerable. Most rap music is purchased by white kids. What image of the black community does it present to them?”

For reasons I hope will be clear in what I say further on, I’m going to pick out one thing you said here in response:

“That would be an excellent question to ask the women athletes in question.”

Why?

Having seen how they conduct themselves and noting what they’ve accomplished; I don’t see a need to ask that question of them. Personally, I think it would just add another layer of insulting imposition on their lives as a direct result of what Imus said. Have THEY done something to suggest they’ve been negatively affected by rap music? What relevance do you think it has to the Imus diatribe? Do you think they speculate, as you seem to, that Imus was “wounded” by the rap “artillery”? Is it because he said “hos” instead of “whores” or “strumpets”? Did Imus in his late ‘60’s suddenly learn racist and misogynistic attitudes from rap music? Do we all now attribute Karl Rove’s sinister past behavior to his newly revealed affinity for rap music at the White House correspondent’s dinner?

I thought this article and the ensuing letters thread was about the gradual progression of Don Imus to the light of contrition after he realized what he said on THIS occasion was not going to be just winked at. You seem determined to turn it into a discussion about the cultural influence of rap. I’ve tried to answer all your questions about the IMUS MATTER directly. You have yet to answer any of mine, while persisting in attempts to turn this discussion into an analysis of the influence of rap culture on the society.

It seems we agree that rap music is not particularly appealing to either of us. I prefer NOT to participate in clouding the issue at hand with a distraction because a full-of-himself media fossil happened to use a “ghetto” term in a hateful, misogynistic attack on young women who clearly didn’t deserve it.

I seriously doubt that most people have listened to Imus in the morning for a significant amount of time. Why do I think this? Because otherwise you'd probably share the opinion that he's absolutely not a bigot, he's just an asshole. The fact is that he (and even moreso, Bernard) say horrible things about everybody: white, black, Indian, foreign, women, men, whatever. If you pick out a selection of his comments, you could easily make the case that he hates any particular group you want.

But as the Washington Post points out, this is also a man who blasted the Bush administration for its Katrina response because they don't care about black people. And he's also a man who supported Harold Ford for U.S. Senate.

A more fitting and nuanced description is that he's a cranky old jerk who thrives on saying awful stuff about almost anybody in the public sphere. He insults anybody who profits from their public and/or powerful positions. And this is the reason why nobody has complained nearly as loudly when he's said far, far worse stuff. (Bernard's poems about Maya Angelou qualify.)

The problem here is that the women's basketball team doesn't exactly profit from their successes. They enjoy a moment of fame, but they don't have lucrative basketball careers forthcoming, they aren't using basketball as a pedestal to advance some other agenda, and they have to put in ridiculous amounts of time practicing and studying. And as much as he may just be trying to cover his own arse, Imus is right in saying that there are just some people you shouldn't insult.

And he revealed himself as the asshole he is. Like a bigger and louder version of millions and millions of other people in this country who say truly awful stuff in private but wouldn't hesitate for a second to stand up against someone who actually acted on these impulses. Just, unfortunately for Imus, since his conversations aren't private, he's got to be a lot more selective with what he says.

And yes, I think he should be fired to make space for someone who shows better judgment.