Let me first make my stance completely clear. As a member of the proud, yet possibly coarse foundation of American society I wish to make an open declaration based on my First Amendment right of free speech: Don Imus has made himself a broadcast journalistic wimp of the highest order.

I DO NOT condone the words that Imus chose to spew in regard to a specific class of athlete, but I do support his right to open his mouth and forcefully insert his own foot. But somewhere along the line Imus must have missed the memo which clearly explained that it's one thing to denigrate a class of athletes with whom you do not associate and who are in no position to immediately refute you and it's a completely different thing to tell someone like Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) CEO Rex Tillerson to sit down and shut up. (Umm, yeah I blogged that).

I could end this rant right here and consider myself fulfilled in chastising Mr. Imus but I really haven't brought this full circle yet. It's not enough that I simply rake him over the coals for his poor choice of wording. For me, there's yet a larger issue.

Don Imus' boorish behavior would have gotten him fired long ago if he were in any other line of work.

After a firestorm of controversy, CBS Corp.(NYSE: CBS) and General Electric Co.'s (NYSE: GE) MSNBC yesterday decided to suspend the controversial radio host for two weeks for making racially insensitive comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

What would happen to someone at your office who like Imus used the phrase "nappy-headed ho's?" Would people complain? Would the boss talk to them? Would they have a chat with human resources? If they continually showed that type of attitude, would they be fired?

Imus is lucky that he works in the media.

He tried to mend fences by apologizing at an almost Bill Clinton-like rate. He's apologized to the team, apologized to the Rev. Al Sharpton and would probably apologize to any African-American he meets on the street.

This is a pretty big deal.

Media and political bigshots are regular guests on "Imus in the Morning." Publishers send their top authors there to flog their books. It's kind of amusing that these people love Imus and hate his rival Howard Stern when the only difference between them is that Stern actually is witty.

Along with Stern, Imus has inspired a generation of shock jocks and talk show hosts who think that they can say whatever they want, whenever they want on the air. But instead of being provocative, most of them just sound boorish.

Imus is vowing to change the "tenor" of the show. I guess he deserves another chance, or is it the fifth one? I'm not sure.