memeorandum: When race-baiting blowhards collide; Update: Blogger reax … (Michelle Malkin)

2:40 AM ET, April 10, 2007

Top Items:

Don'T Miss This / MSNBC:

MSNBC, CBS Radio suspend Imus show — But charity event will air as scheduled Thursday and Friday — NEW YORK - After a career of cranky insults, radio star Don Imus was fighting for his job Monday following one joke that by his own admission went "way too far."

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, RAGGED THOTS, Attytood, Seeing the Forest, On Deadline and MyDD

Bryan / Hot Air:

Video: Imus on Sharpton; Update: MSNBC suspends Imus for two weeks — Freddy's Fashion Mart. — Tawana Brawley. — Go-to guy to apologize for making racist comments. What a world. Don Imus may well be and probably is a bigot, but Rev. Al Sharpton is worse no matter how you look at the situation.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Gateway Pundit, Wizbang, Riehl World View and Ed Driscoll.com

David Carr / New York Times:

With Imus, They Keep Coming Back — "Imus in the Morning" is scheduled to start this morning like any other, with Don Imus and his crew cracking wise about the weekend's events, riffing off the news and chatting with Evan Thomas, one of Newsweek's top guns.

Discussion: Confederate Yankee, On Politics, Obsidian Wings, Hot Air, Gawker, Public Eye, NY Daily News and Romenesko

Digby / Hullabaloo:

Hey, Must Be The Money — So I make myself some coffee and open my dead tree version of the NY Times this morning only to see a call for blogger ethics on the front page. How interesting. Another call for "managed civil speech" (which is claimed to be "freer" than unfettered free speech.)

Discussion: Dohiyi Mir, The Impolitic, New Pairodimes, The Mahablog, Crooks and Liars and New York Times

Media Matters for America:

Fineman to pal Imus: Racist comments aren't OK any more like they used to be — Discussing host Don Imus' April 4 comments on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning — in which Imus referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy headed hos" — and the controversy that ensued …

Discussion: Lean Left, Booman Tribune, The Carpetbagger Report, Crooks and Liars, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, TalkLeft and Lawyers, Guns and Money

WNBC:

Imus Suspended From CBS Radio, MSNBC — Imus Talks To Sharpton On Civil-Rights Leader's Turf — NEW YORK — Don Imus will be punished for his controversial comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. — NBC News has decided to suspend him, allowing him to finish the week on MSNBC …

Discussion: Ed Driscoll.com, PoliPundit.com, Riehl World View and Atlas Shrugs

SilentPatriot / Crooks and Liars:

Imus and Sharpton Square Off Over Racial Remarks — Don Imus got himself into hot water last week after he made racially insensitive remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Today he sat down with Reverend Al Sharpton, who has called for his firing, to talk about the incident.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Pam's House Blend, Cliff Schecter and Sisyphus Shrugged

Media Matters for America: Tom Oliphant to Imus on racial slur controversy: "Solidarity forever, pal"

Fox News:
SHARPTON: DON IMUS SHOULD BE FIRED NO MATTER WHAT HE SAYS TO DEFEND HIMSELF

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Macsmind

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: Imus' Tone Deafness Nothing New

Johnny Dollar / Olbermann Watch:
Olbypocrisy Confirmed: By Olby!

Discussion: The Radio Equalizer

Michelle Malkin:
When race-baiting blowhards collide; Update: Blogger reax …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Pat Dollard and The Radio Equalizer

Maria Newman / New York Times:
Imus Tries to Explain His Remarks Again

Discussion: TAPPED and Tennessee Guerilla Women

Media Matters for America:
Imus Has Long Record of Incendiary Remarks

Discussion: MyDD, Booman Tribune, Firedoglake and CorrenteWire

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Obama Ditches CBC/Fox Debate — Barack Obama has chosen not to attend September's Democratic presidential primary debate co-sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and Fox News, an aide said, effectively dooming the event. — Obama is the only member of the Congressional Black Caucus running …

Discussion: MyDD, The Carpetbagger Report, Hot Air, TIME: Swampland, Riehl World View, The American Street, Dean's World, Bob Krumm, Sister Toldjah, On Politics, Wonkette, Wizbang and TIME

Political Radar:

Obama to Nix Fox Debate — ABC News' Jake Tapper Reports: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, will be the second Democratic presidential candidate to boycott a proposed debate to be broadcast by Fox News Channel. — "CNN seems to be a more appropriate host," an Obama campaign aide tells ABC News.

Discussion: The Caucus, Liberal Values, DownWithTyranny! and News Hounds

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Hillary Won't Do Fox Debate Either — The third shoe drops: Hillary's not doing the Fox News/CBC Debate either. — Clinton spokesman Blake Zeff emails, "We're going to participate in the DNC-sanctioned debates only. We've previously committed to participating in the SC and Tavis Smiley debates."

Discussion: MyDD

ColorOfChange.org:

Black Activists Praise Barack Obama For Rejecting FOX / Congressional Black Caucus Institute Debate — ColorOfChange.org calls on Hillary Clinton & other presidential candidates to follow the lead of Edwards/Obama/DNC in rejecting FOX debate — FOX consistently marginalizes Black leaders …

Discussion: CorrenteWire, The Sideshow and Pam's House Blend

Kevin Drum / Political Animal:

JOSHUA'S FIDDLE....Have you read Gene Weingarten's cover story in this week's Washington Post magazine? Basically, he took a world-class violinist (Joshua Bell) and had him play for about an hour at the entrance to a DC Metro stop to see if anyone would notice. To a good approximation, no one did.

Gene Weingarten / Washington Post:
Pearls Before Breakfast

Discussion: NewsHog, The Impolitic, Done With Mirrors, Ezra Klein, Alarming News, Hullabaloo, Last One Speaks, On Deadline and Talking Points Memo

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:

Check out this appearance by former Clinton Ambassador Richard Holbrooke on today's Hardball. — Holbrooke delivers a stern lashing to, well, the entire American media for its pathetic performance on the Pelosi-to-Syria trip story. And he explains why this story's bogus in terms simple enough …

SilentPatriot / Crooks and Liars:
Amb. Holbrooke Slams David Gregory for Reciting Baseless GOP Talking Points

Discussion: Think Progress and The Agonist

Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:

Worse Than Apartheid? — BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Hani Hayek, an accountant who is the Christian mayor of the tiny majority-Christian Palestinian village of Beit Sahour, was angry last week as he drove me along the Israeli security wall. "They are taking our communal lands," he said …

Discussion: Power Line, Balloon Juice, Kesher Talk, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Media Blog and Dean's World

David Corn:

Neocon Godmother Considered Iraq War a Mistake — From my "Capital Games" column at www.thenation.com.... From the grave, Jeane Kirkpatrick, the godmother of the neoconservative movement, speaks: the Iraq war was something of a mistake. — Kirkpatrick, best known as the combative UN ambassador during …

Discussion: Liberal Values

Lauren Frayer / Associated Press:

Shiites Call for U.S. to Leave Iraq — BAGHDAD — Tens of thousands of Shiites _ a sea of women in black abayas and men waving Iraqi flags _ rallied Monday to demand that U.S. forces leave their country. Some ripped apart American flags and tromped across a Stars and Stripes rug.