The problem liberals have with taking down conservative talk radio is that they have little effective leverage. The conservative talkers are carried on hundreds of mostly AM radio stations in local markets. These stations are funded by local or regional advertisers: car dealerships, finance companies, mortgage brokers, auto repair shops, home improvement firms, and medical practitioners are the primary sources of revenue. These companies would yawn at a call from Al Sharpton or the local left wing newsrag to boycott a conservative talker. If an AM radio station succumbs to pressure from country club types, left wing academics, and race hustlers to take, say, Rush Limbaugh off the air, ratings will plummet as listeners abandon the station, advertisers will disappear, and they will have nothing but public service announcements. Furthermore, another station in the market will pick up the conservative talker.
Imus is not a conservative, and his continued existence as a broadcaster is dependent on the MSM (CBS radio network and MSNBC). He is carried by only 90 radio stations nationwide, a fraction of what Rush, Hannity, Savage, et. al., have. All Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton have to do is to snarl in the general direction of the MSM and that of national advertisers like Proctor and Gamble, and they will whimper like whipped puppies.
BTW, I suspect the real reason Imus is being taken down is his strong and vocal dislike of Hillary Clinton. Al Sharpton, the main antagonist, is in Hillary 's corner. Recently, he has attacked her main rival for the Democratic Presidential nomination, Barack Obama.
Leftists have been generally unsuccessful in shutting down conservative talkers through pressure and boycotts. They are looking to revival of the Fairness Doctrine passed by a Democrat-run Congress and signed by a Democrat (Hillary, Edwards, Obama) or RINO (Giuliani, McCain, Romney) President.
Regional businesses can also be boycotted. The regional auto dealership is Ford? A full Ford boycott could be organized. But, that is really a sidebar to my point; Get real. When was the last time there was a national boycott of anything organized by anyone other than gay rights activists? Americans of both political stripes are too disinterested to do this. I think the article, which note, is from foreign press, has a lot of merit. The personal attacks have lead to a general breakdown of manners and political discourse. And that goes for the left as well as the right (Franken's attack on Limbaugh, for example, or the media's general attacks on Laura Schlesinger). I think this is, frankly, just lazy. It is easier to state that Laura Schlesinger had her tubes tied, had an affair, had premarital sex, had a dicey relationship with her mother, etc., etc. than to challenge the ideas she puts forward. Similarly, it is easier to attack Barack Obama's middle name and his supposed lack of "black credentials" than to put forth a reasoned response to his ideas. Both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of this lack of intellectual energy. And America is the poorer for it, as the paucity of great ideas from either side of the political spectrum proves.