McCain The Imus Enabler

Max Blumenthal has a great piece in The Nation on Imus' number one fan. Yeah, you guessed it. Senator John McCain.

To quote Max:

Last week, as public pressure for the resignation of Imus increased in the wake of his characterization of Rutgers University's women's basketball team "nappy headed ho's," the I-Man received a much-needed boost from an old friend.

"He has apologized," Sen. John McCain ☼ said of Imus. "He said that he is deeply sorry. I'm a great believer in redemption."

But as often seems to be the case, McCain had an ulterior motive:

For decades, Washington's political class has relied on Imus and his massive audience of politically independent white males for notoriety and book sales. McCain is no exception. He has been one of the most frequent and favorite of Imus' guests since his maverick 2000 presidential run earned him national name recognition. Imus' impending departure from the national airwaves threatened to deprive McCain of a key platform going into the '08 primaries. McCain was determined to protect that platform, whether or not it simultaneously served as a constant launching pad for the crudest of racial slurs.

Max goes on to name other enablers of this rather unfunny, racially insensitive if not outright racist man, but the crux of it is that McCain was Imus' number one guy. And visa versa.

How surprising.

Cross-posted at The Real McCain.