Imus' sin: He's stupid

The shock-jock's firing unmasks him for what he truly is: an angry adolescent playing adult pundit.
Joel Stein
LA Times

April 13, 2007

DON IMUS is an idiot. I don't mean that what he said was idiotic, or that his racism makes him stupid. I mean that Don Imus is just not that bright.

I know this because when I was in elementary school, Imus was my hero. He called people "weasels," and when something merited even more disapproval, he "nuked it," which meant that he used a bomb sound effect. These gimmicks were tremendously cool to an 11-year-old. Not only did I call everyone a weasel for all of sixth grade, but when I got in an argument with my seventh-grade teacher, I called in to "Imus in the Morning" and got Miss Shimshack nuked.

So Imus has the same sense of humor as a mildly bright seventh-grader.

Once I hit high school and Imus started to feud with his rival afternoon jock on New York's WNBC, Howard Stern, I switched sides. Stern was obviously sharper, more creative and a lot more honest. It was the mid-'80s, and Imus was still doing long bits about a money-grubbing Southern minister. Stern was describing his masturbation. Look, it was New York talk radio; Richard Feynman wasn't doing drive time.

So I was pretty shocked when Imus reemerged as a political cognoscente. Senators and journalists happily suffered the fool. Imus asked people such as John McCain dumber questions than Stern asked strippers, and they laughed it off. But without the sexy little giggle.

(The rest is here.)