Don Imus Memorial Posting: Some of us will miss some of your show

Thanks to Donna R. Divine for forwarding the following posting in response to my inquiry about why Imus is--or was--able to attract so many A-list guests. Since a high proportion of my own (male) friends probably were high school nerds who worked on their high school papers (although I suspect more of us taught than took SAT-prep courses--then called "tutoring", and I'm not so sure about jock-envy), I suspect the speculations offered below are not entirely without basis.
Since both Donna and I had some trouble with the associated link, I hope the original blog editor and guest writer won't mind this substantial excerpt from TigerHawk.
The Unifying Theory of Imus
By TigerHawk at 4/09/2007 02:59:00 PM
[Editor's note: This is a guest post by Paul Budline, a writer and documentary maker living here in Princeton. He is more than a little irritated at Don Imus.]

Many years ago, after some deliberation, I developed a theory of why so many media middleweights, and even some genuine heavyweights, regularly pay homage to Don Imus (usually kowtowing by calling him the "I-Man.") Most of them are proud liberals who would never utter anything that could be construed as racially insensitive. Yet they call in, knowing full well that as soon as they depart Imus and his flunkies will revert to their vile and infantile humor, straining for laughs at the expense of Catholics, blacks, women, Hispanics, etc. So what can explain the apparent hypocrisy? My hypothesis: like so many things in life, it all goes go back to high school.

Let's face it. Guys like Frank Rich, Jeff Greenfield, Howard Fineman, and Tom Friedman were never the cool kids. They were probably writing for the school paper, taking SAT prep courses, and getting stuffed into lockers in their spare time. These nerdy kids gazed longingly at the comely cheerleaders and heroic football players; and from a distance, they somewhat envied any small time hood who might be found in their no-doubt leafy 'hoods.

With Imus, they finally get the chance to hang out with a genuine bad boy - the kind of guy who was leaning on his '56 Chevy, a Pall Mall dangling from his scowling mouth. ...

But back to Mr. Imus. Since his ... slur, I've been able to reach some of his enablers on the phone. Andrea Mitchell seemed genuinely upset by Imus' despicable phrase, but added that going on his program is "part of my job"; David Gregory was as dismissive and arrogant as he is in a White House press conference; and Howard Fineman was considerate and thoughtful. I spoke with Fineman just moments before he went on Imus Monday morning and lauded him for I-Manning up with his pitiful apology. "I'm a good person," Imus told his listeners and viewers, "who said a bad thing."

But he should never forget something very, very important. His guests, those former HS nerds, aren't there to converse with a "good person." They want the bad boy or nothing.

[Additional Editor's note: Unfortunately, my own high school experience was pretty much like that imagined for Greenfield, Fineman, et. al., up to and including getting stuffed into a locker (OK, maybe that was junior high school). I believe I have since overcome my need for acceptance from cool people ... but I know enough about nerd insecurities to agree that Paul is on to something...]