Last week was not a good week for Don Imus. The talk show host talked himself right out of a job.

Imus' comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team led to an immediate national furor, as well they should have. But is Don Imus a racist? I'd have to say that I'm not really sure. Although he has a sharp tongue and he generally kept his national listenership by bottom-feeding for trash – punctuated by chat with national politicians and pundits – the remark about the Rutgers women at the very least showed inexcusably poor judgment. His mouth ran faster than his brain.

But was Imus unfairly singled out for harsh punishment? There seems to be plenty of trash talk to go around. Ann Coulter, the conservative harpie without a conscience, recently made a homophobic comment, which she thought was funny – gay people, somewhat less so. Actor Isaiah Washington used the same slur to describe a fellow actor and he packed himself off to rehab. Comedian Michael Richards had a total meltdown when confronted by a heckler, using the "N word" and all but destroying what was left of his career. And of course we have the charming Mel Gibson, who, when stopped for drunken driving by a Jewish police officer, had a total anti-Semitic hissy fit, which, of course, led to rehab.

So, Imus is simply the latest in the long line of national figures who can't keep their mouths shut. End of story? Hardly!

First, to the victims. It was a terrible thing to call these fine women such a vile and uncalled-for epithet. It wasn't funny. But together with Rutgers, which facilitated the press conferences, the team seemed to milk the incident for all the attention it could get. Suggesting that the players' lives were ruined by Imus' comments, or, like Coach Vivian Stringer, shedding tears over Imus' insult – please. Every Jew who has been exposed to anti-Semitism knows it stinks. But there's a far cry from an incident that "ruins one's life" to one that earned almost universal condemnation from the moment it was exposed.

And how many of those same Rutgers students have racist and misogynic music right on their iPods? How many left the press conference listening to the likes of Young Buck, 50 Cent, or Snoop Dogg – rappers widely accepted as top artists, whose music is filled with hatred, calls for violence, and regular references to women as "hos" and "bitches" to be used for sexual pleasure – not to mention their own use of the "N word." The same corporate culture – including CBS' sister company Viacom, MTV, VH1, and BET – that saw Imus as a liability has no problem keeping such vile music in the forefront of popular culture and pushing your kids to buy it. (And believe me, white or black, your kids are buying it. Anyone who turns a blind eye to what his kid is buying at the local mall is implicated in the commercial success of hip-hop.)

There is a double standard when it comes to racism in America. And the biggest hypocrite of all, Al Sharpton, is himself a divisive, race-baiting hustler. From Tawana Brawley to the Crown Heights riots to the Freddy's Fashion Mart fire, Sharpton has been a reliable provocateur, using race – and racism – as an organizing strategy. And yet, despite a history of highly public racism and anti-Semitism, he is somehow given the stage and a cloak of legitimacy.

Did Don Imus say a vile thing? Absolutely. But it wasn't just racism that was exposed in these past few weeks. It was hypocrisy, plain and simple.