Today's the Day I Break With Imus

I've been an Imus fan for two decades. From when he was on a local San Diego station when I was in the Navy through his years on 1210 in Philly (moved to 680) and 660 the Fan up until now on WABC. I drive 81 miles each way and my morning routine has always been to listen to Imus.

Has the show gotten stale over the last few years? Possibly, but it's still better than the rest of the drivel out there. Every other station has (insert first name) and (insert first name) In The Morning. Or some other lame morning zoo-type show. There was always Howard Stern and I do have satellite but he got old quickly.

I've always thought that Imus is the single best interviewer out there. He doesn't ask the lame questions that most interviewers do and always managed to get even the most-prepared off their game. This moment was one of the greatest radio moments I've ever heard where Beschloss was stymied.

Anyway, his show may be stale and predictable but it's comfortable. I know on Monday Bo Dietl will be on and Rob will be David Boehner or Larry King or the Godfather. Tony will be Jesse Jackson or Rangel or the short-lived Gangster Mickey. The only new thing on the show in ten years is Dagan McDowell who is a ray of sunshine and is funny naturally and Connell McShane. But unfunny or stale is tolerable, hypocritical is something I can't abide.

When Imus got himself in trouble, I was the first to defend him. I defended him deeply during the "nappy-headed ho's" debacle in which his supposed friends baled on him and his weak-kneed employer left him out to dry (unfortunately the post was on a long-dead AOL blog I wrote back when I got paid to share my pearls of wisdom. Here's a post I did write here defending him.) He should not have been fired but only apologized and went on. Instead, 660 refused to stand up to the PC crowd and fired him. Was the statement wrong? Yes, the women he made the comment about were not necessarily in the spotlight and didn't deserve it but I defended it because we all have a right to express our opinion.

Today, I turned Imus off for good when I heard this comment:

Sorry Don, Rush was trying to make a joke as well. Limbaugh is an entertainer, just as Imus is. Sandra Fluke made herself fair game when she went in front of congressional Democrats and told her sob story and exposed large parts of her life we should never hear about. She's a hack and was used for no other reason than to continue this ridiculous game the media is playing keeping the contraceptive issue alive so they don't have to report on high unemployment, record food stamp rolls and gas prices that are affecting everyone. So what if Limbaugh went on for three days, it was still his form of entertainment, no different than Maher calling Sarah Palin a "cunt" or myriad others calling her a "slut".

So I'm done with Imus. Sadly too. I enjoy the show but I can't bring myself to listen to a hypocrite. Imus could have defended Limbaugh's right to say what he said if not the content. There were a great many people who felt Imus' apology was lame regardless of what he says. I'll force myself to listen to Mike and Mike on ESPN or just listen to music. Hey, no big deal to Imus, I'm just one listener out of millions. But I sure hope he gets that there is a serious double standard when liberals say something and when Republicans say something. Imus saw that when he was ousted quickly while Maher, Olbermann and Ed Schultz remained. We'll see how Imus feels when those idiots have something to say about Imus' wife who leans to the right.