The question is, where were Imus' friends last week? Mediamatters.org, the liberal media watchdog organization that first threw gasoline on Imus' remark, asked, "Will Imus's Guests Condemn History of Bigotry?"
That was rare example of dry wit from Mediamatters, for they mostly didn't say anything. Most neither condemned nor praised their friend. Most hid behind corporate statements or "no comments." Some -- politicians like former Tennessee lawmaker Harold Ford Jr. -- were eventually smoked out to say something, but their comments read like tightly vetted, regurgitated PR babble, structured to offend no one nor draw the media spotlight on themselves.
Other figs, like conservative former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, have said nothing about the incident.
That's understandable. They're politicians. We expect them to weasel their way out of this sort of stuff. But what about media figures? We expect something different from them.
And that last sentence is an example of Verne Gay's dry wit.