Oh wait. But Imus does all these great charitable things for kids. That means he can say or do whatever he wants. That's the answer to all the extremist hateful crap that comes out of Obama's church. "The church does good things in the community."

I see why you're confused now. Maybe I should have put a better indicator that I was speaking mockingly and not for myself. I figured the context "that is the answer to all the..." was enough to communitcate what I was doing, but obviously wasn't enough for everyone.

What I've done in the big picture of this thread, is take a "who gives a shit" topic, and use it to make a point about something that matters - what kind of guy we have running for president - Obama.

When the networks grudgingly had to report on the elephant in the living room - that Obama has surrounded himself with hateful, irrational, fringe weirdos for at least half his life, the answer from the Obama camp which is expected to sooth public opinion and calm the nerves of anyone who might be edgy about the fact Obama has attached himself over 20 years of his life to a man who thinks the government injected people with AIDS and other lunacy - the answer was "well, they do a lot of work in the community - you're only taking a little sound bites out of context and looping them." That was supposed to make everyone feel all better about the troublesome facts.

To show people like you how weak and senseless such a defense is I pretended to use it defending someone you're predisposed to dislike. Imus.

It is true Imus has done good things for disadvantaged kids, and that is a nice thing. But it doesn't change anything Imus has said in public.

It is true that for a time, the media was "looping" just a few seconds of Imus's words, not summarizing everything Imus ever said each time they brought it up. Again, that doesn't change anything Imus said - context wouldn't have changed anything.

Obviously you believe that such a defense is meaningless in the face of something said that is so obviously problematic.

If such a defense is not a "get out of jail free card" for Imus, why would it be for Obama?