Marketer Denny Hatch Attacks Fellow Americans

Marketer Denny Hatch Attacks Fellow Americans
Current mood: angry
Category: Life

Here's one of the many newsletters I get in marketing and instead of marketing - Denny Hatch has opted instead to use his newsletter to attack and bring down a fellow American. So needless to say I have removed myself from his "Business Common Sense" newsletter and sent him the following complaint:

BCS Feedback
To: dennyhatch@yahoo.com
CC: ryoegel@napco.com, email.tm@napco.com

Hey Denny Hatch,
I read your latest "NewsLetter" - Business Common Sense. Except it seems you're a NEWS announcer/commentator and your "NewsLetter" was instead about Don Imus and his remarks.

My problem with your apparent self-appointed authority on this matter is that what Don Imus said is common, everyday, promoted, benefited from and encouraged among RAP groups, television shows, the entire rap industry. The ONLY difference is that Don Imus is WHITE!

It's ok for racial slurs, sexist comments, hate and a slew of other things to be pumped out by minorities but many think the white race have to be silent. Like someone said - "Don Imus had to have heard these words somewhere, he didn't make them up himself." I wonder where he heard those words before, Mr. Hatch....

I can't stand Don Imus but I think what's being done to him is the biggest pile of bullshit since Hillary Clinton signing up with "La Raza" to help her win the Presidency. Were you aware that ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS in this Country have cost American tax payers OVER 2.2 TRILLION DOLLARS over the last 10 YEARS??

Yet here you are - you would rather attack a fellow American because you think that's what everyone else thinks. Try educating yourself on the facts, Mr. Hatch.

Done Imus is white - he's a man - and he's therefore being made an example out of - and people like you who have no opinion of their OWN to realize what's going on are the one who should truly be fired. It's never OK, to suppress a fellow American's Rights to Free Speech, Mr. Denny Hatch!

In light of your political stance and lack of a spine, I have opted out of your "NewsLetter" and will never again even consider any of your advice worth my time. And I will be sure and tell my friends too.

Thank You,
An AMERICAN
www.myspace.com/baadfish

Demand Sharpton Be Fair in Demanding Firings of "Offenders"
We demand that Al Sharpton go a step further in his condemnation of entertainers that use racially and sexually derogatory lyrics and words. We recognize that he has denounced many within his own ethnic community who use such content in their entertainment. But we are demanding he go a step further and apply the same amount of pressure toward them as he is applying to Don Imus. We demand that he passionately pursue the termination of their record contracts and their employment, even if they apologize for their content. If it's good enough for Don Imus, it's good enough for everyone else.
http://petitionspot.com/petitions/sharptondemandClick Here To Sign


Al Sharpton The Social Terrorist Video...
Click here to view
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Denny Hatch's "NewsLetter":

April 10, 2007: Vol. 3, Issue No. 28
Watching Celebrities Self-destruct

The Epic Stupidity of Don Imus and Orson Welles

I have been listening—and watching—Don Imus since the early 1970s when he was the morning "shock-jock" on WNBC radio.

In this age of political correctness, Imus has consistently been the media's ultimate iconoclast.

He has been sued. He has been vilified. But through dumb luck, knowing his audience and perhaps divine intervention, Don Imus has endured.

Until now.

His racist slur of just three words last week may have ended his career.

Don Imus was lucky to have self-destructed in his late 60s, with a pretty, young wife, handsome son and presumably plenty of money to last the rest of his days.

Orson Welles blew his career at age 26 with a single word.

"Rosebud."

Sticking It to the Second Most Powerful Man in the Country
In 1941, if you were to make a list of the five most powerful men in America, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst would certainly rank No. 2 behind President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In his heyday, Hearst was proprietor of 28 major newspapers from coast to coast, 18 magazines, radio stations and movie studios.

One sentence describes the power of William Randolph Hearst. In 1897, the great illustrator Frederic Remington had been posted to Havana by the Hearst newspapers in anticipation of war. After cooling his heels for a while, the artist cabled Hearst for permission to return to the States. Hearst replied, "Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war." On Feb. 15, 1898, the USS Maine blew up in Havana harbor and Hearst had his war.

Hearst was also a racist and a bigot. From the biography of Hearst in the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com):

Along with his sensationalism and jingoism, William Randolph Hearst was a racist who hated minorities, particularly Mexicans, both native-born and immigrants. He used his newspaper chain to frequently stir up racial tensions. Hearst's newspapers portrayed Mexicans as lazy, degenerate and violent, marijuana-smokers who stole jobs from "real Americans." Hearst's hatred of Mexicans and his hyping of the "Mexican threat" to America likely was rooted in the 800,000 acres of timberland that had been confiscated from him by Pancho Villa during the Mexican revolution.

It was this man that Orson Welles, age 26, elected to skewer in "Citizen Kane"—which he directed and starred in, and is considered to be one of the greatest motion pictures ever made. Welles's portrayal of the Hearst character, Charles Foster Kane, is mesmerizing, as is the script, the acting and especially, the camera work.

Hearst went ballistic when "Citizen Kane" was released and did everything in his power to sabotage the film. The depiction of Hearst's/Kane's ruthlessness—and in particular, the relationship with his alcoholic mistress, in real life, Marion Davies, on whom he spent millions trying to make a movie star—would ignite the fury in any man.

But in my opinion, it was the opening scene where Charles Foster Kane lay dying that scuttled Welles's career. The old man's lips fill the screen and they utter a single word:

Rosebud!

The rest of the film is a flashback—a search for the meaning of "rosebud." Finally at the very end, we see a child's winter sled being tossed into a fire that is incinerating some of the dead Kane's possessions. On the sled was not the logo "Flexible Flyer"—the sled my generation grew up with—but rather, "Rosebud."

It is now generally believed that "rosebud" was the real-life Hearst's bedroom appellation for the most private anatomical part of his mistress, Marion Davies.

Hence the Hearst blitzkrieg against Welles, the film and the studio that made it.

How could Welles have known this intimate fact of the Hearst-Davies relationship? Gore Vidal describes the possible sequence of events:

Marion Davies was an alcoholic who surrounded herself with other merry drinkers and though Hearst and his servants did their best to keep the palaces dry, vinous times were had by Marion and such intimates as her nephew and niece, Charlie and Pepi Lederer, and, for a time, Herman Mankiewicz ["Citizen Kane" screenwriter with Welles]. Charlie Lederer was a screen-writer, a wit, a sometime drug-taker.

It was Charlie Lederer who persuaded "Aunt Marion" in 1957 to pony up $10,000 to produce Gore Vidal's play, "A Visit to a Small Planet." Hence the connection.

"Citizen Kane" opened on May 1, 1941, and Hearst mobilized the entire might of his vast media empire in the fight to bring it down.

Seven months and six days later, the Japanese launched the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and the film basically faded away.

I believe that it was Welles's declaration of war against Hearst that scared the wits out of studios and backers who would forever view him as an enfant terrible— a dangerous and irresponsible loose cannon. As a result, Orson Welles's career was one of anguish, no financing and—perhaps most hurtful of all—loss of authority over his work. He was perpetually in debt, forced to scrounge money wherever he could—including TV commercials for cheap Paul Masson wine—so that he could finish abandoned projects, only to have the money-men edit his masterpieces.

At the end of his life, when Welles heard that Ted Turner was threatening to colorize "Citizen Kane," Welles reportedly said, "Keep Ted Turner and his goddamn Crayola pens away from my movie."

Don Imus—A Lifetime of Insulting Everybody
Where Orson Welles picked a fight with the second most powerful man in America, Don Imus went after the powerless.

Remember as a kid when you had a loose tooth that you couldn't resist playing with, even though every time you moved it, it hurt?

That's why I used to watch Don Imus.

I remember the horror of a speech he made at the Radio/TV Correspondents Association Dinner in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, March 21, 1996, with President Clinton and the first lady in attendance. He shamelessly stuck spikes in the eyes of the Clintons and a slew of noteworthy people in the audience. It was loose-tooth funny, but also so very hurtful, embarrassing and horrifying that the White House requested that C-SPAN not rebroadcast it. (C-SPAN ran it again, anyway.) Here's a sampling of vintage Imus from what he later referred to as the "Speech from Hell":

And then there's Peter Jennings, who we are told more Americans get their news from than anyone else — and a man who freely admits that he cannot resist women. So I'm thinking, here's Peter Jennings sitting there each evening, elegant, erudite, refined. And I'm thinking, what's under his desk? I mean, besides an intern. [audience groans] The first place the telecommunications bill should have mandated that a v-chip be placed is in Mr. Jennings shorts.[audience groans]

The speech caused a tsunami in Washington. The question that was endlessly debated for weeks: How could the correspondents be so stupid as to invite Imus?

One reporter—I think it was Sam Donaldson—said, "If you put an alligator in the swimming pool, somebody's going to get a leg bitten off."

On "Imus in the Morning," the cowboy-hat-wearing host and his merry band of truly nasty regulars—producer Bernard McGuirk, sportscaster Sid Rosenberg and comedian Rob Bartlett—hurl insults at all religions, all races, all lifestyles as well as at celebrities, politicians, reporters, philanderers, businesspeople and the idiocy of government and the media.

Even his sullen, humorless wife, Deirdre Imus, shows up occasionally to radiate contempt for everyone in the world who is not vegan.

Only Imus's sycophantic announcer—the perpetually beleaguered Charles McCord— plays the embarrassed good cop to everybody else's bad cop.

The tension is palpable.

Why did I watch? Why did I play with a loose tooth as a kid?

Getting His Life Together
A number of years ago, Imus gave up drugs and drinking and devoted his spare time to the Imus Ranch, an enterprise that gives the Western cowboy experience to desperately ill little boys and girls. It is a quirky but beautiful charity.

In addition, only a handful of interviewers are as masterful as Don Imus in drawing information out of people—Tim Russert, Brian Lamb of C-SPAN, Dick Cavett, Charlie Rose, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Barbara Walters, and Gwen Ifill, the enormously capable and intelligent African-American moderator and managing editor of "Washington Week," and senior correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer", whom Imus once called "a cleaning lady."

For example, last Nov. 22, the elegant Jack Valenti, former advisor to President Lyndon Johnson and recently retired president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, was Imus's guest on the anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination. Imus asked Valenti where he was on that day, and then shut up as Valenti delivered a riveting, incredibly moving 15- or 20-minute monologue describing the events of that dark day 44 years ago in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Unlike MSNBC's Chris Matthews, who listens with his mouth, Imus remained silent throughout. I pulled into the supermarket parking lot and sat in the car, totally enraptured by the story and Valenti's mellifluous voice.

Radio doesn't get any better than that.

Of course, Imus could not resist destroying the magic by asking Jack Valenti if Lyndon Johnson had sex with Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Valenti was appalled and denied it hotly. And then he added, "Don Imus, you are a naughty, naughty man."

This Story May Have a Long Fuse
The racist slur against a women's college basketball team should end the career of Don Imus. Quite simply, if the galaxy of luminaries whom he interviews—usually by phone—has any guts, they will no longer appear. Among them: Tim Russert, Andrea Mitchell, John McCain, Jeff Greenfield, Donald Trump, Joe Lieberman, Joe Biden and a slew of others.

Hereafter, by coming on the program, they are legitimizing the kind of naked racism that takes the country back to the ugliness of the 1930s.

No celebs, and "Imus in the Morning" will wither and die.

Alas, as David Carr wrote in yesterday's New York Times:

"Imus in the Morning" is scheduled to start this morning like any other, with Don Imus and his crew cracking wise about the weekend's events, riffing off the news and chatting with Evan Thomas, one of Newsweek's top guns. Later Tom Oliphant, Washington author and former op-ed columnist for The Boston Globe, will check in for some political talk.

Given that Mr. Imus spent part of last week describing the student athletes at Rutgers as "nappy-headed ho's," you might think he'd have trouble booking anyone, let alone A-list establishment names. But Mr. Imus, who has been given a pass for this sort of comment in the past, also generously provides airtime to those parts of the news media and political apparatus that would generally be expected to bring him to account.

Imus was once quoted as saying, "My goal is to goad people into saying something that ruins their life."

He may well have been hoist by his own petard at last.

Don Imus spent yesterday in full-grovel mode, even going so far as to appear on Al Sharpton's talk show to apologize. As MSNBC's Tucker Carlson said, "He's an old man desperately trying to keep his job."

Last night NBC gave Brian Williams the scoop for his "Nightly News" that Imus has been suspended for two weeks starting this coming Monday by MSNBC and the CBS Radio Network.

My bet: If you were to stick a fork into the I-Man, you would find that he's done.

Yet, in the back of my brain is the refrain of the 1893 Henry S. Miller children's song performed with such charm by the late Cisco Houston:

But the cat came back the very next day,
The cat came back, we thought he was a goner.
But the cat came back; it just couldn't stay away.
Away, away, yea, yea, yea!

P.S. Last week, Jack Valenti, 85, suffered a stroke and is in Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The family reported "that the doctors are encouraged by his progress." I, for one—and I am sure all readers—wish this estimable gentleman a speedy and full recovery.
.. START Related Images -->.. END Related Images -->
.. Takeaway Points to Consider -->
Takeaway Points to Consider:
* If you want to fight, pick on someone who can fight back.

* Orson Welles took on the second most powerful man in America. Imus slammed a women's basketball team that does not own 28 newspaper and 18 magazines. Unlike Orson Welles, Don Imus is an abject coward.

* Imus continually boasts about being driven everywhere in his limo and only flying in private jets, thus setting himself above—and therefore totally out of touch with—his customers.

* "Always take the bus or the subway to work."
—Axel Andersson

* With the Internet—and especially YouTube.com—a person's stupidity will be around for a long, long time, as you can see from the hyperlinks below.

.. END --> .. Web Sites Related to Today's Edition -->
Web Sites Related to Today's Edition:
"Citizen Kane"—the Opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AczT1Cp-m7A

Orson Welles's Paul Masson Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpj0t2ozPWY

Gore Vidal on "Rosebud"
http://www.windhorst.org/caen/Topkis-Vidal.htm

Imus Speech to the Radio/TV Correspondents Association, 1996
http://imonthe.net/imus/ispeech.htm

Don Imus's Racist Slur Against the Rutgers Basketball Team
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF9BjB7Bzr0

Don Imus's Apology
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOoJl733TK4

.. END -->.. Updates on Prior Stories -->.. END -->
.. An Invitation from Denny Hatch -->
An Invitation from Denny Hatch:
Business Common Sense welcomes articles by guest columnists. If you have something to say that can be expressed in this format, write me: dennyhatch@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you. -DH
.. END -->
.. START Comments -->
Readers Respond & Debate

* Johnny V - "We have gone way too far in search of "PC" in this country. Was Imus Rude? Certainly. Was his remark insulting? Yes. Was his remark sexist? Yes. Was his remark racist? Yes, but frankly, "nappy headed" is a pretty weak racial insult. I pesonally don't listen to the man. I did a couple of times, and found him guilty of a far greater sin than being rude, he was boring. By all means he should apologize to those girls. He obviously has no concept of how much work it takes to be a student athlete at a legitimate academic institution like Rutgers. (Tennessee is another matter, but we won't go there now..) If the man IS a "racist", and not just an idiot (and I have my doubts over which one he actually is), then boycott him if he offends your sensibilities. Pull your advertising if you wish to. (I have to wonder why you were advertising with such a moron anyway, and looking the other way while he cast slurs upon other racial, religious and ethnic minorities all these years.) What an amazing double standard!! Instead of getting rid of the buffoon, why don't we make him do a series of public access shows? Lets hightlight the very problems of the black (I only know a couple of people from africa, and both are white) americans. Like why over 25% of black american males are either dead or in jail before age thirty? What is the solution to black on black crime, and black on black exploitation? What can be done about the breakdown of th black family in america, which is even worse that the breakdown of the family as a whole in our society. Illegal hispanic immigrants are more discriminated against in this society, and fare far better than most black americans. And I won't even discuss asian or carribean immigrants... Could it be that the leadership of the black community in america is to blame? Or should we keep sweeping the real problem under the rug, because it's not "PC", and pay more attentions to the crude ramblings of a buffoon like Imus, who has little impact on any black american's life besides those of a particular women's basketball team.... "
* Peter Blau - "Good story idea to tie Imus and Welles together…but blaming Hearst for Welles' career failings is repeating ridiculous urban legend. (Sort of like Rip Torn blaming his purportedly stunted career on…Nixon!) After "Kane," Orson Welles directed at least 5 feature films, and littered the film biz with dozens of incomplete projects that are still, to this day, being resurrected. His real failings were: 1) he made dark films with unhappy endings; 2) the films did not make money; 3) he was difficult to work with, personally and from a management perspective. In Hollywood, any two of these three are fatal. "
* Peter D - "Denny, Thanks for an excellent post. I listened to Imus' show a couple of times in the morning before work -- mostly in disbelief. I was astounded by his racist remarks and insulting impersonations of African Americans; I've read, not heard, that he also has a history of anti-semitic remarks. Targeting young people with his bigotry is disgusting. But it is pretty clear that Imus has been making these kinds of remarks for many years. In a column yesterday an MSNBC writer noted that Imus uttered additional racical slurs in his now infamous broadcast that alone should be enough to easily warrant a firing. What's more troubling to me than Imus behavior is that he has a substantial base of loyal listeners who appearantly find his racist and anti-semitic remarks acceptable. To me, the concern isn't about being PC, it's that, at it's core, much of what this guy considers humor is only funny if you harbor racist or anti-semitic feelings. I'm all for humor, even when it's not PC; however, I'm not for humor with a foundation of racism or anti-semitism and that is my issue with Imus. - Peter "
* Hugh - "As inexcusable as Imus' statements can be, I hope that all of us can witness his slow demise in the media as fewer icons appear on his show. Let's watch the old bigot whither away and become a has-been, in a very public venue. We have nothing to gain by putting a racist away on a shelf where he can comfortably count his millions and sell his memoirs. "
* Donna - "Well now, haven't we all given Imus all the publicity he needs to get his name out there as the real bad boy of the airwaves. Hmmmm? Had his ratings slipped?? C'mon folks - he needs to apologize to one group and one group only - the Rutgers team and families. You other folks need to use the power of the dial - change it. The guests and the sponsors will get the hint. We live in a capitalistic society - let it work. Just like you need to let the First Ammendment work. And, here's a question for Sharpton and Jackson - When have you been so spirited against those rappers or "artists" who write "kill all white men?" It is only wrong when we offend a minority? So, all white men are really, really evil and deserve to be berated, humiliated and offended because of situations perpetuated by their ancestors? After all, you know the apple doesn't fall far from the tree - so all white men should be punished. Sharpton and Jackson would do more good helping the African Americans of our country get better educations, embrace "family" as a core value and stop the Black on Black crime so prevalent in our streets today. Stop screaming "racist" and seek solutions that foster closeness rather than separatism - love rather than hate - understanding rather than ignorance. "
* Stuart - "Shock Media hosts like Imus, frequently fall into these self-made traps in their fervour for more sensationalism. I believe that most of an open line host's job is to piss people off to draw attention to themselves. Lucrative or not it's a rather pathetic career if you ask me. "
* SteveHoose - "I for one hope you are right...for the most part I stopped listening to him years ago...I'm no choirboy but I just got tired of his shallow offensive act. I got tired of hearing him talk about the limo,the private jets, the little people. I would love for him to be gone for good. I heard part of his spot on "Today" with Matt Lauer this morning ..he just doesn't get it. It was pitiful, he was getting flustered , he mispoke and referred to the Reverend Al Sharpton as Reverend Hargis. Simply pathetic...just go away. Now if only Howard Stern could find himself in financial distress and without work, is that too much ask ? Regards Steve H "
* Bob Scott - "Over the years, Imus has gotten away with what would otherwise be considered libel by choosing public officials and public figures as his targets. You cannot libel a large group or a class, such as all doctors or all lawyers. But you can libel a small, clearly identifiable group, and he has certainly libeled the Rutgers women's baskettball team by uttering on TV defamatory, malicious and false statements about this small group. A fitting punishment would be for the members of the team to sue this old dinosaur who thinks he's a frat boy and the network that carried his remarks for all they've got. This time he stepped over the line. "
* Kayte Connelly - "How disappointing that it took this little man's cowardly statements to create such a sensation about the lack of civility in our country. Hats off to the Rutgers team for demonstating class in the tact they are taking. At what point do we all step back, review our own actions, and see who else or what else we could engage to make our work/life environments not necessarily pc, but just plain better. Look around your global neighborhood. Can we all say we are doing our best to be better people? Everybody will chime in about how terrible Imus and his imaginary posse is. (Why does he keep saying "we?" Is that some freudian slip?) What is seemingly acceptable with some; not in the very least with others should cause all to reflect. Freedom of speech demands that all be given permission to be heard. Give yourself permission to be outraged and have the courage to make a difference with your voice, your time or your wallet. "
* Sylvia Fogelman - "Imus' defence that the words he chose are used commonly in the black community doesn't excuse his slur. Every ethnic group has its own vocabulary, but don't try to use it if you're not part of the tribe. "
* Carl Street - "I also am of the opinion that Imus is more of a common 'tater than a commentator. But, perhaps I just cannot stand anyone who is more arrogant and egotistical than I am...) BTW, a belated thank-you to Sister Mary Vernon who told me learning my math tables would serve me well later in life. Little did either of us know it would mean access to chat sites like this -- Truly the Lord works in mysterious ways... :) "
* Tempie D. Jones - "Thank you for the careful, balanced evaluation of the Don Imus incident and ORson Welles. Didn't kow about that one. I never thought of Imus as having any redeeming features. No excuse for this latest insult but the Valenti interview does add a new dimension to my own evaluation. So he does have some talent...! "
* Brent D. Gardner - "It's ironic that the very people demanding Imus be fired on radio and TV today are those that benefit from his willingness to trash the sitting President, and give airtime to those candidates that Sharpton and Jackson are most likely to endorse. Several astute observers have noted that if Obama wasn't doing so well, and making several past candidates look so poor in comparison, this wouldn't be making the news (I call this the "elusive obvious"). Some who desperately seek power will do anything to keep their profile high. That said, and not that I'm making any excuses for his true colors shining through, I say let the free hand of the market determine whether or not he stays on the air. If listeners tune him out (I suspect they won't, by and large), then sponsorship will evaporate, and so will his voice. "
* Jillian - "D, I think denouncing a whole race because of "over-reaction" to a racist statement (which no one is denying is racist) is a little counter-productive. Overall, this episode has shown clearly that throwing out broad accusations (e.g. ALL BLACK RAPPERS and NAPPY-HEADED HO's) is base in any situation. Unless you are the census bureau, you cannot say ALL anything, really. I'd use that word with caution in this case, especially. On the subject of Imus: though I find his whole persona...icky...his comments are no more outrageous than those of Howard Stern or even Rush Limaugh. They simply address different audiences in different capacities. Imus is caught in the political vacuum that is THE MEDIA. There has been outrage over the illegal immigration for 4 years. There has been an uproar over "black rappers'" (of which there are white/mexican/asian rappers, black christian rappers, and WILL SMITH. Choose your battles, D.) linguage and conduct for over 20 years. The open outrage over racism? 50 years. Sexism? 70-100 years. I don't know if you remember, but a few years ago, the whole country was up in arms over one girl, of age 14 or so, who was missing for over 8 months. One girl, out of the hundreds who went missing in that time. One girl, who was found living in close proximity to her own home, and whose name had been changed by her kidnappers. That one girl, whose story the media grabbed onto, was to SYMBOLIZE the hundreds of other children kidnapped who are never found. Imus is an example of a persistant problem, not only with powerful white Americans, but powerful Americans at large, of which a large majority happen to remain white. Turn your outrage to all of the impertinant jokes you hear told in the lunchroom, and away from the furor over Imus's poor image. He is now a pawn, set in the sights of the Bishop on E7. "
* Dee Long - "I'm curious that there has been such an uproar over a VERBAL INSULT when I cannot find ONE media outlet that has expressed outrage that a Mexican citizen IN THIS COUNTRY ILLEGALLY killed director Bob Clark and his son by driving drunk. What a sick society that we worry more about words than deed that kill someone!! "
* Craig - "Wow. Blog title aside, your post on Imus lacks common sense, and your takeaway points are utterly erroneous: Imus did not try to pick a fight, and he does not constantly boast about being driven in a limo. (Yes, I listen to him regularly.) The national reaction to his indefensible comment is on the whole blitheringly idiotic and incredibly out of proportion to the "crime," and the hypocricy displayed by so many critics now displaying righteous indignation is stunning. His public castration right now is more than punishment enough, and calling for his firing is utterly ludicrous. "
* Doc Jakson - "I stopped listening to Imus a long while ago when his remarks, which used to be funny in a twisted sort of way, became simply mean spirited. There's a fine line between satire and bitterness and Imus crossed that line a long time ago. I think it's time for him to saddle up and ride into history. All the best, Doc "
* Edwin Peters II - "I just wonder what was Don thinking? Did he imagine it would start a media fire storm of good porportions, yes we all know that attention and publicity is good for someone who makes their living in the cameras eye. There are limits did he think he could say something like that and then havce it blow upo but in a controllabe way? and he could come out on top with it? I for one believe at times this country is loosing some of the things we were built on, freedom of speech and such. Seems too many people are getting too PC about everything that someone says and at that point all i know is that we are not ever gonna know what is someones true feelings since they are afraid to say them. I for one would rather hear where someone is coming from. As a black male in this country i have had numerous debates with friends of mine about the Sounth versus the North and where I reside now in Seattle the North West.. I grew up in Boston Mass. but spent alot of time down south with relatives on visits. In the south you know where you stand right off someone hass no problem tellin you what they think of you for skin tone religious beliefs or what have you. when you go north they seem to hide it more, to your face nothing is said , but behind your back it comes out so its harder to find who is your ally and who is your enemy....In the Northwest it is even worse everyone is passive aggressive and doesnt say anything but actions speak volumes... with Dons comments i am just at a loss i see no reason why he went after a team where they may have fought from adverese conditions to get a chance to go for a prestigious title, had they attack him for some reason?? and he was gettin back at them? I would love to know the context of which he said those now infamous three words... what was the motivation in saying them. we all of course look for someone to hang in the noose since it is already tied but my question is what was behind it not just the words but what was the reasoning, and here in lies where it truly was coming..."
* D - "Don Imus did not "hit those who could not hit back." On the contrary, he did the one thing that is impermissible: uttered a racial slur against Blacks. Contrast that with the behavior of many Blacks, who get away with the most loathsome language, behavior and corruption because everyone is afraid to confront Black racism. What Imus said is much milder than what every Black rapper, and many Black self-appointed spokesmen say every day. The very idea of Imus apologizing to a hustling little mountebank like Al Sharpton, a slimeball who constantly spews racist remarks and whose background includes, among other things,fabricating a legal case and slandering a decent policeman... "
* Carl Street - "Marjorie Bicknell, Perhaps Denny was just ahead of his time as usual... :) "
* mattmchugh.com - "One could argue for ages if Orson Welles' attack on William Randolph Hearst was from righteous conviction or youthful bravado. Most likely both. They tend to go hand-in-hand. As for Imus, I never liked him. I think he should be fired. He should be fired because he's not funny, not smart, not insightful, and is just one more on-air moron who makes legions of off-air morons feel good about their moronhood. He should not be fired for three words. He should not be fired because Al Sharpton says so. And, it strikes me the phrase "nappy-headed ho's" is as much (if not more) a sexual as a racial insult, yet nobody seems much bothered by that. Furthermore, according to the prevailing cultural logic nowadays, you can insult your own demographic with impugnity. Ever seen Imus' hair? "Nappy-headed" seems dead on. Personally, I'd cut him some slack on that one, but b*****-slap him for "ho's." -- mm "
* Marjorie Bicknell - "Great article, as always. You always have a good point and make it well. But John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, which is 44 years ago ... not 46. I just thought I aged two years in two minutes! "
* David Garfinkel - "What you write and its implications chill me to the bone, Denny. I've long nursed a theory that people who become uber-powerful often fall into a trap of mistaking their power for some sort of spiritual superiority. They come to believe their "enlightened" status gives them license to live above the law - whether that law is common law, legislated law, or the unwritten laws of society and nature. You see this most vividly with celebrities. Take a tour of any week's National Enquirer and you'll see bold expressions of those beliefs, and the behaviors that follow. Imus seems to be caught in that trap. I imagine, in the mind of the beholder like Imus, it's a fine line between earned priveleges and wanton abuse of other people who, in a moment of delusional grandeur, seem like they won't fight back. Except, they usually do... and often, they win. Imus crossed that line perhaps one too many times last week. "
* David Cowen - "Denny: It's a matter of personal taste, of course, but I never found Imus funny or even entertaining. Or smart. And did you read his apology? In two instances, he used the word "we" when we he should have said "I." He alone made the disgusting remarks. David "



Takeaway Points to Consider:

* If you want to fight, pick on someone who can fight back.

* Orson Welles took on the second most powerful man in America. Imus slammed a women's basketball team that does not own 28 newspaper and 18 magazines. Unlike Orson Welles, Don Imus is an abject coward.

* Imus continually boasts about being driven everywhere in his limo and only flying in private jets, thus setting himself above—and therefore totally out of touch with—his customers.

* "Always take the bus or the subway to work."
—Axel Andersson

* With the Internet—and especially YouTube.com—a person's stupidity will be around for a long, long time, as you can see from the hyperlinks below.
Web Sites Related to Today's Edition:

"Citizen Kane"—the Opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AczT1Cp-m7A

Orson Welles's Paul Masson Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpj0t2ozPWY

Gore Vidal on "Rosebud"
http://www.windhorst.org/caen/Topkis-Vidal.htm

Imus Speech to the Radio/TV Correspondents Association, 1996
http://imonthe.net/imus/ispeech.htm

Don Imus's Racist Slur Against the Rutgers Basketball Team
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF9BjB7Bzr0

Don Imus's Apology
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOoJl733TK4

IN THE NEWS
Imus is suspended; will it be enough?
Radio "shock jock" Don Imus has been hit with a shock of his own.
The popular personality, known as "I-Man," will be suspended for two weeks, beginning Monday, for his on-air racial slurs about the Rutgers University women's basketball team, CBS and NBC officials confirmed late yesterday.
The syndicated Imus in the Morning is broadcast from CBS-owned WFAN in New York from 6 to 9 a.m. weekdays, and is carried on more than 90 radio stations nationwide, according to the show's Web site. (Locally, it is heard on WWDB-FM.) MSNBC, owned by NBC, simulcasts the show. In a strongly worded statement, NBC labeled Imus' comments "racist" and "abhorrent," and said he was dedicating himself to changing "the discourse of the program. The network said its future relationship with the cranky 66-year-old host, who has a face like a weather-beaten saddle and has never met an insult he didn't like, "is contingent on his ability to live up to his word."
—Gail Shister, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 10, 2007