So to me, if you say Letterman should be treated the way Imus was treated, that means you think the way Imus was treated was correct and fair. Hence, you agree with Al Sharpton on the matter. I personally didn't think it was a big deal. I think people should be able to make crude jokes in a free country.
Criticism is fine. Knock Imus for making crude jokes all you want. Same goes for Letterman. And the left is free to knock Rush or Hannity or whoever they feel like criticizing. And free people will judge for themselves about it. That's how I think it should go.
But I understand it's an issue of gang warfare. You whack one of mine, I whack one of yours. Tit for tat. I get it. (Not that I consider Imus one of ours.) I understand the argument. Do unto others as they do unto you, basically. It's not tiddlywinks, etc. I get it.
But I'm not interested in trying to get people kicked off the air because of a disagreeable joke. Where does that end? It just seems like more political correctness to me, although I think it's actually more like retribution.
Some might argue Dave's got himself too mixed up in politics to avoid this fight. That's probably true. To the extent that he put himself in the political fight, he made himself a target. That's what this is about. It's about getting a liberal scalp. I'm not wise enough to say that's right or wrong. There's a case for bare knuckled fighting. I'm just Joe Blow watching from the bleachers.
I suspect the roots of all this outrage started the day McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate and the media attacked like a pack of crazed wolves. People have had enough.
Huck ... very well reasoned & articulate response to my firebrand type reply to your earlier post. Rant mode off.
One nice thing about having a reputation for retaliation: it reduces the number of people interested in messing with you. The downside of trying to be too "nice", too "fair" is that you have to put up with a lot.