Imus’s remarks about the Rutgers team had no traction until after Friday. Even Al Sharpton said that no one was concerned until he, Al, got revved up.
The loss of major ad revenues did not occur right away, either, but only after this was hyped.
Imus did not think it was too serious until the Rev jumped on him.
Imus’s influence is not with a huge audience but with the media members and pols who determine what we see, hear, and talk about.
The twenty or so people in Al Franken’s upper west side New York apartment who “grilled” John Kerry for two hours in December of 2003 and got him to renounce his Iraq war vote in exchange for their support in 2004, were all members of Imus’s gang. They were regulars on his show. Fineman, Alter, Meacham, people from the Nation, MSNBC, NBC, CBs.
Kerry was dead last in the polls in Dec 2003. Howard Dean was the front runner. As soon as Kerry kissed their rings and backed out of Franken’s apartment practically in tears, the assault on Dean’s “electability” began.
Imus, even knowing what a troubling oddity Kerry was, backed him all the way with the help of the Upper west Side Mafia.
That is the power that the Clintons needed to contain.
Dan Abrams who runs MSNBC supports Hillary.
PS/ As leadpenny can attest, I have never been a fan of Imus nor do I think this is a first amendment situation. I do think that a backlash against PC enforcers like Sharpton and Jackson is inevitable, and will be uglier than we can imagine.
I know that Abrams supports Hillary and it’s looking like Mo1 and I were right this afternoon when we pondered a Hillary involvement.
I had not heard about the Kerry stuff, but I am grateful to know now. It was hard to figure why he supported such a fool.
And the backlash will come from the I-Man?
Oh, I think you have it nailed.