[Marxism] Re: Fighting Black "hard-core hos" bring down little empre of Imus (how can we triangulate without you()

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-imuspol13apr13,0,273444
4.story?coll=la-home-headlines


THE IMUS SCANDAL: POLITICAL IMPACT


Democratic politicians lose a soapbox with firing of Don Imus


His show helped many of them reach a national audience of white males -- a
crucial voting bloc.

By Peter Wallsten
Times Staff Writer

April 13, 2007

WASHINGTON - They came by the hundreds that hot August day in tiny Johnson
City, Tenn., gathering on an asphalt parking lot to meet Rep. Harold E. Ford
Jr. It was not just that he might become the state's first black senator.
More than that, even in Republican eastern Tennessee, the Democratic
congressman was a celebrity - a regular guest on Don Imus' radio show.

And today, with Imus' career in tatters, the fate of the controversial shock
jock is stirring quiet but heartfelt concern in an unlikely quarter: among
Democratic politicians.

That's because, over the years, Democrats such as Ford came to count on Imus
for the kind of sympathetic treatment that Republicans got from Rush
Limbaugh or Sean Hannity.

Equally important, Imus gave Democrats a pipeline to a crucial voting bloc
that was perennially hard for them to reach: politically independent white
men.

With Imus' show canceled indefinitely because of his remarks about the
Rutgers University women's basketball team, some Democratic strategists are
worried about how to fill the void. For a national radio audience of white
men, Democrats see few if any alternatives.

"This is a real bind for Democrats," said Dan Gerstein, an advisor to one of
Imus' favorite regulars, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). "Talk radio has
become primarily the province of the right, and the blogosphere is largely
the province of the left. If Imus loses his microphone, there aren't many
other venues like it around."

Jim Farrell, a former aide to 2000 presidential candidate and Imus regular
Bill Bradley, said the firing "creates a vacuum."

This week, when Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) was asked by CNN why he
picked Imus' show to announce his presidential candidacy, Dodd explained:
"He's got a huge audience; he gives you enough time to talk, not a 30-second
sound bite, a chance to explain your views; . and a chance to reach the
audience who doesn't always watch the Sunday morning talk shows."

Though Imus was a regular destination for the likes of Dodd, Ford,
Lieberman, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kerry and
others - as well as such GOP figures as Sen. John McCain of Arizona - his
influence has long been debated.

Talkers Magazine ranks him far below Limbaugh and liberal Ed Schultz in
terms of power. His audience is dwarfed by many others, and he is not heard
in some major markets [though his show was simulcast on cable TV]. One
senior Democratic strategist, requesting anonymity to avoid insulting some
of his party's power players, said the show was no more than a "locker room
for middle-age politicians."

Not all high-level Democrats were drawn to the self-styled "I-Man." Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), a party presidential front-runner and a
frequent target of Imus' jokes, said she never had the desire to appear.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the other current front-runner, appeared once -
but he was the first presidential candidate to call this week for Imus'
ouster.

Ford strategists believe his relationship with Imus was central to earning
credibility in the eyes of white voters in conservative regions of
Tennessee. "That's how I got to know Harold, seeing him on Imus," said Ben
Scharfstein, owner of the One Stop convenience store in Johnson City, who
turned over his parking lot that August day for the campaign event.

But even Scharfstein said he had now had it with Imus. "I'm going to have to
turn Don off now," he said. "His ego has gotten ahead of himself, and that's
not worth watching."

And Ford was hardly leaping to the defense of his radio ally despite
repeated on-air pleas from Imus to appear in his defense. Ford on Thursday
called Imus' statements "reprehensible," though he added that Imus was a
friend and a "decent man."

  _____  

peter.wallsten@xxxxxxxxxxx

Staff writer Robin Abcarian contributed to this report.

 

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