Color the Imus Issue Green

The Imus issue is not black, white, brown, or pink. The color I see in the proceedings is green.

Imus said those things because past history made it clear that such talk got good enough ratings to attract sponsors.

Sharpton and Jackson got into it because it adds to their attraction with groups willing to contribute to their causes and pay their speakers' fees.

Program sponsors abandoned the program because they did not want much of the fallout from the events to hit them; although those types of rants are common on his show, the sponsors continued their support as long as they felt their sponsorship contributed to their bottom lines.

CBS and MSNBC dropped them for similar reasons--sponsorships seemed to be failing.

Cable news shows continued their coverages because viewership would probably be up and their sponsors would be happy (as soon as they see viewership dropping they will drop the subject).

The only group seemingly not in it for the green is the Rutgers University women's basketball team. They accepted an apology and are moving on from there. (Some cynics might argue that even there the publicity will likely help Rutgers U attract better recruits and more paying fans to their basketball games, and so it is still green. I do not see that as their motivation--they seem to be innocent bystanders hit by shrapnel.)

Our free enterprise system exemplified.