I've gotta say, I'm pretty surprised that this Don Imus story is sticking around for so long. What he said was deplorable, but he's a goddamn talk radio host. It's his job to vamp for hours on end every single day. You'd find yourself saying some remarkably stupid things, too, if you were put in that position. Odds are that you'd also have a crass, mean sense of humor (the market selects for that sort of host), so those stupid things you'd be spouting would probably be despicable as well.

If someone devoted a month of time to listen to any nationally syndicated shock jock's show, I'm pretty confident that they could find something equally vile and idiotic to mount a public campaign over. That doesn't excuse Imus or any of the other jerks who provide meaningless filler between our airwaves' commercial breaks, but it does make me wonder why the hell I'm still reading about this incident on a daily basis.

I'll admit that the overlap between Imus's guest list and the punditocracy is interesting and unique to his show. But it's not that interesting. To the extent that this incident will destroy a broadcast outlet for journalistic narcissism, I'm all for it. It'd be great if it could be done a little more quickly and quietly, though.

As for Imus himself, I guess I'm against any further punishment — we've all got a doddering relation who's started to cheerfully spout racism in their senescence, don't we? I say give grandpa a break. The guy is not exactly the picture of health, his ridiculous wig & cowboy hat notwithstanding. Mother Nature is the most effective FCC regulator of all. Take his sponsors, trim his guest list, and let his inane radio show fade into the sunset.

Now for god's sake, can we please get back to discussing the paternity of Anna Nicole's baby?