washingtonpost.com
From Post staff writer
Paul Farhi's chat:
Rochester, NY: There is one thing that I find very troubling: the number of supposedly liberal pundits and former Democratic operatives -- James Carville and Paul Begala come to mind -- who are rushing to his defense. African Americans are an important constituency for Democrats and many African Americans (such as Michael Wilbon and Gwen Ifill) have forcefully condemned Imus (quite convincingly, in my view). Here's my problem: where does the loyalty of Paul Begala, James Carville and the rest lie? With their "pal" Imus or with the voters they're supposed to be looking out for?
Paul Farhi: There's a real media-politico insider cult around Imus that is/has been kind of troubling. Lots of prominent folks have been semi-regulars on his show. While they can certainly distance themselves from this whole mess (Jeff Greenfield did a pretty good job of it the other day, I thought), there's no question that there is, and has been, some mutual enabling going on. Or at least some people don't look very good now given their close association with Imus over the years.
