A couple of pretty big news stories have come to a sort of resolution today.  At first glance, these are totally separate issues, but it occurs to me that the exoneration of the Duke lacrosse players and MSNBC’s decision to stop simulcasting Don Imus’s radio show have quite a bit in common.

First, a quick summary:  North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper went way beyond dropping all charges against the Duke co-eds; he declared them “innocent” of all charges and fired off a scathing criticism against the “rush to judgment” in the case.   His remarks do not bode well for the “rogue prosecutor” who originally brought the charges, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong.   Nifong now faces ethics violations which could lead to his disbarment.

Meanwhile, the shock jock got his walking papers one week after his tasteless racial remark against the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.  He’s also been suspended for two weeks without pay from his radio program on CBS, beginning next Monday.  That network may still take further action, including termination.

The primary reason for my considering the implications of these two stories together goes well beyond the mere coincidence that they happened to break on the same day, or even that race was an important consideration in both.  For me, these two events belong together because they represent two different facets of the same legal and moral issue.

Both Imus and Nifong wielded incredible power with their words, and they did so with a blantant disregard toward the consequences.  Nifong, in his zeal to win re-election, allegedly supressed information about the DNA non-match until after voters went to the polls while he continued vilifying the Duke players at every turn.  Imus has been peddling his racist, misogynistic rhetoric for decades.  Perhaps now, both men will realize that hateful speech and actions do indeed have consequences — and I for one hope that eating those words will leave a bitter taste in both of their mouths.