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Michael Steele Hits McCain Over Imus Remark Ronald Kessler John McCain was wrong to forgive Don Imus for his racist remark, former Maryland Lieutenant Gov. Michael Steele tells NewsMax. Steele, who is black, said Imus should be fired, and McCain should re-think his position. Steele recently took over as chairman of GOPAC, a political action committee which supports Republican candidates' races with direct donations and training in running for office. Both MSNBC and CBS Radio have suspended the shock jock for referring to members of the Rutgers Women's Basketball team as "nappy-headed ho's." McCain has said he forgives Imus and would go on his show in the future. "He has apologized," McCain said. "He said that he is deeply sorry. I'm a great believer in redemption." "I expect more from our presidential leaders and contenders when these types of things happen," said Steele, who lost his bid for the Senate last year. "These are young college women, 18 to 21 years old, who [nearly] won a championship and are instilling a great deal of pride in their community and across the country, and that's what you're going to say about them? And then for McCain to say, ‘Well, you know, he said he's sorry.'" Steele added, "I'm hoping that John McCain has a second thought about this so he doesn't necessarily see the need to sanction those types of comments with his appearance. In my view, it's not presidential. I don't know the kind of advice that he's being given right now, but as a candidate, I wouldn't touch it. I wouldn't go near it. In fact, I would make it very clear that there is no place in our dialogue in this country for those kinds of remarks."
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The fact that Imus was suspended "again speaks to how the liberal left can say these things and get a smack on the wrist," Steele told me. "Can you imagine if a more conservative broadcaster like Rush Limbaugh had made that comment? Or Michael Reagan had made that comment? They would have been fired that day. There wouldn't have been this long, drawn-out discussion and a slap on the wrist," he said, referring to a two week suspension of Imus by CBS and MSNBC. In calling for Imus to be fired, Steele said, "I just want one standard that applies to everybody. And that standard should be one of fairness in dealing with idiots like that." Meanwhile, Eric Dezenhall, a leading expert in crisis management, tells NewsMax that Imus will recover from his remark because he is known for his abrasive comments. The Washington-based Dezenhall Resources represents a range of celebrities and major corporations. A former press aide to Ronald Reagan, Dezenhall first began representing companies and celebrities under attack in 1987. Dezenhall's new book, "Damage Control: Why Everything You Know About Crisis Management is Wrong," is coming out next week. "The problem with racially tinged controversies is the track record of recovery is quite poor," Dezenhall said. "The best thing you can do is go through the ritual apology and then vanish for a while. But one thing Imus has going for him is that he has made a career of being abrasive and being a smart aleck."
Thus, Dezenhall said, if the public's expectations are low to begin with, a celebrity has an easier time recovering. For example, he said, Americans were generally aware of Bill Clinton's philandering long before the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Thus, they were more forgiving when Clinton's affair with Lewinsky came out. "The problem with modern technology like the internet is the original sin keeps repeating itself," said Dezenhall. He said he does not believe in "apology road shows." He observed, "There's something to be said for doing it once and disappearing." At the same time, he said, "Historically, nobody is ever satisfied with the apology. It's either too little or too late." Supporting his view that Imus will recover, Dezenhall cited the fact that McCain has already said he forgives Imus and will go on his show. McCain himself has a long history of such remarks. However, in part because he gives them access and in part because they relish his attacks on President Bush and the FBI and CIA, the media have tended to give McCain positive coverage. Only a few news outlets, like the Phoenix New Times in Arizona and the National Journal, ran an Associated Press story reporting McCain's 1998 joke suggesting that Chelsea Clinton was ugly and that Janet Reno and Hillary Clinton were lesbians. "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?" McCain said at a GOP fund-raiser in Washington. "Because Janet Reno is her father." When running stories on Sen. George Allen's reference to a student of Indian descent as a "macaca," a genus of monkey, the media referred to inappropriate remarks by other political candidates but never mentioned McCain's 2000 statement, "I hate the gooks," a racial epithet for Asians. McCain later apologized and said he was referring to his wartime captors. "What McCain said about Imus tells you that Imus is a sufficient draw that powerful people don't want to lose him," Dezenhall said. "The thing about politicians and pundits is there is nothing more frightening to them than losing air time." In addition, he said, "We are living in a more vulgar age where you can become famous based on your vulgarity. Imus will recover because we are more offended by inconsistency than dishonesty. His remarks are consistent with his abrasive persona. Imus did his apology ritual. Now he'll vanish for a few weeks and come back just fine. The idea was to knock it out of the news cycle."
Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of NewsMax.com. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via e-mail. Go here now. © NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved.
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