Will Dr. Laura Schlessinger Survive Her Racial Rant?

(Aug. 13) -- Dr. Laura Schlessinger would appreciate it if her remarks were taken in context.

"Don't take things out of context. Don't double NAACP me," the conservative talk show host said on-air this week, after repeating the "N-word" more than 10 times during an uncomfortable exchange with a black caller.

Later, though, Schlessinger decided she'd crossed the line. Or the trip wire, at least.

"I was attempting to make a philosophical point, and I articulated the N-word all the way out -- more than one time," she said in an apology the next day. "And that was wrong. I'll say it again -- that was wrong."

The damage though, was done: The host had touched the third rail of American vernacular and walked herself onto a racial minefield where public figures before her have imploded for far less. Just last month, a black USDA official was forced to resign and then offered her job back after her remarks about a white farmer were taken out of context and blasted across the Internet.

So whether Schlessinger's apology will be enough to save the host's reputation -- and her radio show -- is yet to be seen.

Already, familiar figures are gunning for Schlessinger's head. "The advertisers and the people that carry her show should be very concerned about someone that's freely using this word over and over again," the Rev. Al Sharpton told CNN on Thursday, in what may be an ominous sign for the radio host.

Schlessinger's company, Take on the Day, said no advertisers have called to express concern. "The advertisers have been very supportive because they understand that Dr. Laura is not a racist," Corinne Baldassano, senior vice president of programming and marketing, told AOL News today in a phone interview. "They understand that this is an anomaly."

But others have lost their jobs, at least temporarily, for similar offenses. In 2007, talk show host Don Imus found himself under fire for his comments about black women on the Rutgers University basketball team:

"That's some nappy headed hos there, I'm going to tell you that," he said on air. Imus' moment of off-color alliteration cost him his job. CBS canceled the "Imus in the Morning" show, though it was picked up by the Fox Business Channel in 2008.

At the time, Schlessinger had little sympathy for his cause.

"As for Imus, it would seem his arrogance caught up with him," she wrote on her blog during the 2007 scandal. "His remark was insulting, stupid, mean and ugly. It was so seemingly 'off-the-cuff' that it felt too casually familiar a thing for him to say."

Those remarks seemed ironic today as word that Schlessinger herself was responsible for the latest "racist rant" shot across the Internet. The reaction to Schlessinger's on-air gaffe could prove to be a colorful test of what Americans consider acceptable language on race in 2010 and what they do not.

While Schlessinger's repeated use of the "N-word" has attracted the most scorn, for example, some said they found the rest of the dialogue to be far more offensive.

"In actuality, it's the rest of her rant that drips with racial animus," Jamelle Bouie wrote at The American Prospect. "Dr. Laura isn't known for her sensitivity, but this is an impressive display of raw racial resentment."

When the caller complains that her husband, who is white, does not defend her from his family's "racist remarks," Schlessinger is unsympathetic. "You know what?" she says at the end of the call, "if you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race."

Schlessinger declined to comment. But the host apologized profusely on her blog. "I didn't intend to hurt people, but I did," she said. "I am very sorry. And it just won't happen again."