MEDIA ALERT: Chamaine with Neil Cavuto on FOX: Must Don Imus Go?

Neil Cavuto
Your Money or Your Life
HarperCollins Publishers,
New York, New York Our culture has coarsened. Alert Readers will remember the yesteryear risque of Ogden Nash (1902 - 1971), writing about men and women and marriage,

Incompatibility will never exist,

Not as long as he's got income

And she's got patt-able.

To today where Sir Mix-a- Lot, (a Grammy Award winner, natch) tells us, (fortissimo)

I like big butts and I can not lie...
To hell with romancin'
She's Sweat, Wet, got it goin like a turbo vette...
So ladies (yeah), Ladies (yeah)
Do you wanna roll in my Mercedes (yeah)
Then turn around
Stick it out...
Baby got back...

OK...So Nash and Sir Mix are saying the same thing. But there is a difference in, well, style.

And this culture war is seen in the counter-cultured Icon Imus in his depreciation of black women.

Fox News Pop culture confusion also caused by Kanye West, who symbolizes the Imus counter-example. West is a producer for gangsta rapper, Ludacris, who is best known for "edgy" lyrics:

Ludacris, formerly on Pepsi payroll

I got my twin glock .40's cocked back/Me and my homies, so drop that.

My shotguns are cold and hard . . ./My triggers are always talking about some squeeze me, squeeze me.

Hollow bullets I pull it,

I'm about to live in vain

And then I drill 'em,

refill 'em,

make sure they feel the pain.

And my favorite, "I've got ho's in different area codes."

Ludacris can make this rhyme.

A style like Ogden Nash, content like Tony Soprano: Ludacris and Kanye and Mix-a-Lot . . . and Imus hangin' with the ho's at Bada Bing.

Is insulting black women reserved for black men?

Should Imus be banished to satellite to cuss it out with Howard Stern?

Or should the high standards of Your Business Blogger -- the morally virtuous -- impose moral superiority on the gutter-mass-media-mouths?

Charmaine takes up these questions on FOX. She will be returning to Cavuto's show on Your World with Cavuto, Friday (the 13th!) at 4 pm Eastern. On Fox News.

Charmaine, the weather vane, will point us in the right direction in these times of confused moral compass headings.

Tune in and let us know what you think.

Thank you (foot)notes:

See Neil Cavuto's bio at the jump.

Neil Cavuto's Bio:

Neil Cavuto was named anchor and managing editor of business news for the Fox News Channel in July 1996.

He was later promoted to vice president of business news, while continuing to serve as anchor of Your World With Cavuto, the No.1 business news show on cable. He also hosts the wrap-up weekly program Cavuto on Business.

Cavuto oversees all business coverage for FNC including Bulls & Bears, Forbes on Fox and Cashin' In. In addition, he serves on the cable network's executive committee.

Prior to joining FNC, Cavuto anchored and hosted more than three hours of live daily programming for CNBC, including the network's highest rated program, Market Wrap, as well as Power Lunch and Business Insiders. While at CNBC, he was also a contributor to NBC's Today Show as well as NBC News at Sunrise.

Cavuto's 20 years of financial reporting include stints at PBS' Nightly Business Report, where he served as a New York bureau chief, Investment Age Magazine and the Indianapolis News. Consequently, he has covered some of the most important business stories of the last two decades, including the 1987 stock market crash, the AT&T breakup and the Union Carbide chemical disaster in India.

Cited as "CNBC's toughest inquisitor," Cavuto was ranked among the most influential business journalists in America by The Journalist and Financial Reporter, and was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as the best interviewer in business news. He was also nominated for five Cable ACE awards and voted the best business TV interviewer for four years running.

Posted at 9:21 PM
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