Imus' Ouster Was a Victory for the Free Market

For the 13 years I lived in Washington, I exhibited the inside-the-Beltway got-to-know-it-all psychosis that afflicts many in the incestuous worlds of politics and journalism. Each morning on the drive to work I'd punch the buttons of my car radio, flipping between National Public Radio's Morning Edition and CBS' Imus in the Morning.

If you're in the news business, NPR is a no-brainer. And I found plenty of ways to rationalize my Imus habit. It was part of my job to keep up with the politicians that frequented his show. I needed a morning chuckle. It was pledge week at NPR.

Imus had a way of slicing through the baloney and extracting a surprising amount of candor from his guests, even the smooth-talking politicos. Give the guy credit, he castigated Pentagon officials for the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and denounced the racist TV spots hinting that Rep. Harold Ford Jr., a handsome black man running for the Senate, had hooked up with a white hottie.

Over the years, Imus has raised millions for injured vets and sent thousands of cancer-stricken youngsters to his ranch in New Mexico. At times, it seemed as though the 60-something, cowboy curmudgeon was one of the few left who actually lived by the journalistic credo: Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.

But it became harder and harder to ignore the other side of the show -- the meaner, senseless side. Imus never fully abandoned the hateful vulgarity that helped catapult him to the top four decades ago. In 1996 he aired a ditty about Hillary Clinton. She "fornicates," "menstruates" and "urinates," the tune went, followed by the refrain: "That's why the first lady is a tramp."

In a town full of well-connected women and over-achieving, under-appreciated minorities, most of his guests were members of the old white boys club -- yawn. And frankly, he wasn't much funnier than most of them. Over the years, the "I-man" has called Rush Limbaugh "a fat, pill-popping loser" and Lesley Stahl a "gutless, lying weasel." In Imus-land, Arabs are "ragheads" and black journalists "quota hires."

And in perhaps a precursor to his latest verbal stink bomb, Imus referred to reporter and African-American role model Gwen Ifill as a "cleaning lady" for her then-employer the New York Times.

Still, it wasn't until he called the Rutgers' women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" last month that General Motors and American Express pulled their ads and CBS pulled the plug.

Some say Imus' ouster is a defeat for the First Amendment. But it looks to me like a victory for capitalism and the marketplace of ideas. Money talks, and money walks. The big businesses that pulled their ads knew customers wouldn't tolerate an ugly slur against a group of talented, graceful young women who never asked for attention or airtime.

As is often the case, Washington doesn't seem to get it. Big names such as Sen. John Kerry, Gov. Bill Richardson and columnist Tom Oliphant -- three gents I know, like and respect -- have fretted about the public "piling on" their pal Imus.

It is debatable whether Imus' firing fits his crime. Perhaps a two-week suspension would have been sufficient for a man who quickly apologized for the harm he inflicted. On other hand, Ann Coulter is still selling books like mad after calling John Edwards a "faggot." But this really shouldn't be about the fate of one or two celebs.

There's something out of whack when radio host Michael Savage gets away with calling the Million Mom March for gun control the "million dyke march." Too many rap singers are still getting rich off of violent, sexist, homophobic lyrics. The black community should be able to find spokesmen who aren't tarnished by "Hymietown" and Tawana Brawley, as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are respectively.

And what about the "Jersey Guys," a pair of shock jocks who are encouraging listeners to report possible illegal immigrants? In a twist on the Spanish word for cockroach, they've named their repugnant game "La Cuca Gotcha." But hurry, the deadline is Cinco de Mayo. Get it?

Fortunately, there are hints the American public is beginning to use its First Amendment rights to shift the direction of public discourse. In Phoenix, women have marched for the rights of women and blacks, and in a Detroit suburb citizens are clamoring to get rid of an elected official who used both the N-word and the B-word to describe African-American women who were appealing their taxes. And a prestigious, if little known, group of black scholars and activists has been on a 10-city US tour examining racism and misogyny in popular culture, particularly hip hop.

Let's hear it for free speech and the free market.