The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Not So Sharpton

4.12.07 @ 12:01AM

IMUS IN THE MOURNING
Re: Ben Stein's Sharpton in the Morning:

I remember discovering Imus in my teen years during the early Seventies, when he first came to New York. His shtick then consisted mostly of skits, such as parodies of Southern radio preachers and crank calls (he once famously phoned an exotic car dealer in Indianapolis on the weekend of the 500 and tried to rent a Ferrari with its headlights taped for the afternoon), sandwiched in between the Top 40 tunes that were the bread-and-butter of his station. I listened on and off over the years when I lived in the NYC metro area, but quit about fifteen years ago while driving to work and suddenly realizing that listening to people loudly arguing and insulting each other was not the way I wanted to start my day. It's the same reason I don't listen to Howard Stern or Al Franken or Opie and Anthony or most rappers, or watch the various "comedy" specials that litter the cable airwaves. Life is short and filled with travail, anger, invective, and incivility, so much so that actively seeking such out as "entertainment" strikes me as masochistic and self-loathing.

Thanks to Ben Stein for his anecdote about the blowhard and evil hypocrite Sharpton -- I'd never heard that particular gem about Linda Fairstein. Despite my other feelings about Imus, I always thought he was intelligent and a savvy broadcaster. As an old radio hand myself, I've known since day one that the person with the mike always gets the last word, and that he thought he could accomplish anything by appearing on Sharpton's hatefest was sheer idiocy.

A last word about Sharpton. Imus hurt peoples' feelings with his foul and intemperate remarks. Sharpton ruined Stephen Pagones's life and directly led to the death of Yankel Rosenbaum and the seven employees of Freddy's Fashion Mart through his repeated racist and anti-Semitic screaming. Imus may have the tears of the Rutgers basketball squad on his hands; Sharpton has the blood of innocents on his.
-- Peter J. Lyden, III
Rumson, New Jersey

Ben Stein, the elegant writer states "...pitifully face-lifted Nancy Pelosi (I would bet a lot she's had a breast job, too--can you imagine that we have a Speaker of the House, third in line for the White House, so vain and superficial that at her age she has her breasts done?..."

MEEEEOOOOWWW, Ben!

If one of the girls had written this, everyone everywhere would be all over them for catty remarks. You go, Ben!
-- Judy Beumler
Louisville, Kentucky

I'm not a fan of Don Imus or Al Sharpton -- or Ben Stein. Mr. Stein's reference to Nancy Pelosi's hypothetical breast augmentation is tastelessness at its worst and is indicative of sophomoric judgment. Maybe he should make a formal apology too....
-- Abe Grossman
Pleasantville, New York

Way to go, Ben Stein.

I sat in complete disbelief as talking head Matt Lauer sat and "interviewed" Don Imus and the Rev. Al Sharpton and then asked the Rev. Sharpton if Mr. Imus's apology was good enough... indeed. I am no fan of the bumbling, stumbling Imus, who is a bore and is not in the least funny (except when he tries to be serious), but I couldn't believe he sat and took it from the likes of Sharpton. It didn't, however, surprise me that the collective vacant thinking of the talking heads in the media let Sharpton drone on without holding him accountable for the lies and racist remarks he has made in the past. I don't know so much that the media take him seriously. I think he is on because he attracts people's attentions -- much as a car wreck does.
-- Mike Kennedy
St. Cloud, Minnesota

Mr. Stein: Great short article -- right on. Thank you for speaking your insight. In the movie The Devil's Advocate -- where Al Pacino plays the Devil -- his last line in the movie is "Vanity defiantly my favorite sin." This movie is pretty graphic but is very telling, especially what's going on with Pelosi, Reid, Sharpton, Jackson and others lately. Sometimes movies do imitate life.
-- Kathy
Arizona

GUTLESS OLD PARTY
Re: The Washington Prowler's Republican Wimps:

When Pelosi and Waxman made their journey to Syria to communicate and influence Syria to settle a dispute with the United States, thus undermining the power of the President to conduct foreign policy, this is a clear violation of the Logan Act. It is a felony with a prison sentence up to three years. John Kerry did this when he met with North Vietnamese diplomats during the Vietnam war.

Do you think our spineless Republican House Representatives or our feckless Attorney General would call Pelosi on this violation of American Law?

Whatever happened to the investigation of the New York Times numerous outings of National Security Programs and CIA Operations? What about the treachery of Sandy Berger?

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Transportation, Foreign Policy, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, John Boehner, Television, Islam, Movies, Law, Military, Iraq, NATO, Oil