Imus Rides Again. Sigh.

An extended summer vacation. That, in essence, was Don Imus's punishment for an outrage that, a mere four months ago, had half the world howling for his head. Drudge is claiming that the old shock jock has agreed to drop his wrongful-termination suit against CBS in exchange for $20 million, or half of what was left on his contract. Drudge also says that WABC is set to hire Imus, though a network spokesman disputes that. Still, with all the similar reports recently, it seems pretty clear that someone's going to give the I-man a new job before long.

Is that so terrible? After all, as I've argued, Imus probably didn't have hatred in his heart when he called the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." And even Al Sharpton says he won't cry foul if someone gives him another chance.

Still, it's kind of pathetic to think some media company will fork over millions of dollars for the privilege of putting a famous race-baiter back on the airwaves. Especially considering that, at 67, Imus is hardly a long-term solution to anyone's rating problems.