I promised myself that I was going to stay the hell out of the latest controversy regarding Don Imus.  I have no opinion on this one, as his bosses at Citadel will decide if punitive action is necessary.

What caught my eye was a story in one of the radio trades that I read which said:

Imus says this morning that his comments about Dallas football player 'Pacman' Jones were taken out of context. Imus says "nobody is watched more closely than me, so I would never say" anything racist. He added, "I'm going to be fine. Leave me alone!" Activist-turned-radio host Al Sharpton says he'll decide in the next few days if "direct action" is warranted.

Excuse me? Al will "decide in the next few days if direct action is warranted?"  Exactly who died and made Al Sharpton the decider of anything?  And, why are we even bothering to ask Al for his opinion? 

Once again the cycle is starting. Liberals like Olbermann and left leaning talk shows will give both Al and Jesse unlimited face and voice time to spout their views about how evil Imus is and how people on the radio have a public duty not to conduct themselves in a correct manner.  And while they have a right to do that, it just exacerbates the issue and doesn't solve anything.  In the last episode, the problem was apparently solved when Imus went to apologize to the Rutgers women's basketball team.  But Al and his pal Jesse wouldn't let up and were enabled by the people at NBC who decided that dumping Imus was easier than living with him.

Want a hint, fellas?  The only responsibility anyone on the radio really has is to play the damned commercials.  To most broadcast execs, that's the only thing that matters.

As for Imus, let the market decide if his comments were in poor taste.  Let the advertisers (without pressure from outside agitators and left wing groups cloaked as religious organizations)  make up their own mind.  And if the market decides, Imus is a bum, he'll get thrown out on his ass quicker than you can say "photo op."

Reverend Al and his sidekick are going to have a much tougher road to hoe (or is that ho) this time as Imus isn't nearly as big as he was at the time that they got him fired at NBC.  I don't think Citadel is as vulnerable as NBC is either.  I certainly don't think that they will enable Al and Jesse. There are some 250 stations owned by Citadel, yet their brand is not what you would call a household word like NBC, so they have less to lose.  

As for Al, on behalf of most logically thinking Americans, please keep your pie hole shut (except on your radio show) and let the free market decide how this situation concludes. Please.