Trading Scalp for Scalp is Not the Answer

Some folks took offense to what Don Imus said and ended up getting him fired. Now Tom Delay thinks it's only fair that Rosie O'Donnell get the boot from The View:

Fanning the flames of discontent sparked by the Imus controversy, former congressman Tom DeLay is making a plea for his fellow conservatives to get Rosie O'Donnell fired for recent remarks she made.

"I'm calling for conservatives to take on Rosie O'Donnell," DeLay said during an interview with CNN. "She criticized and ridiculed Chinese-Americans, she accused the president of being responsible for 9/11. Let's now start calling for her resignation."

He also recently penned an article on TownHall.com titled "If the Left Takes Imus, We’ll Take Rosie."

This is a dumb idea. If you believe it was wrong for Imus to be chased off the air by Al Sharpton, trying to get Rosie fired will not make the situation better (except for viewers of The View). Trading scalps is not the answer.

For one thing, the left is nearly bereft of any liberal voices that are heard by significant numbers of people, let alone have any real influence. Conservatives have a number of powerful voices that not only have millions of listeners, but are able to influence events with their words. Trading one of ours for one of theirs would not be a good deal for conservatives (in fact, trading one of ours for ALL of theirs still wouldn't be a fair trade).

And I'm not sure DeLay has been paying attention to Imus' show. The left may have taken him down, but he was not a conservative by any stretch. Although some Republicans made regular appearances, it was the Democrats who knew they'd have a particularly comfortable time on Imus' show. We shouldn't get too concerned if the left takes out a guy who endorsed John Kerry.

Let's start acting like grownups here instead of trying to one-up the other guy with new threats.