Dr Laura N-word issue much ado about nothing

Mike Paul and his client, Dr. Laura 

Dr. Laura, or, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, is being vilified in some areas because she used the "N-word" on her show. OK, that's bad, but you have to look at the context of the use of the term. Far be it for this blogger to say she was right, but when you look at it, it's much ado about nothing.

Dr. Laura was totally wrong for saying the N-word a total of 11 times in reaction to a caller's criticism of her use of the word on her radio show. The incident was posted by Media Matters on Tuesday and took a few days to catch Internet fire; now it's all over the place.

But what Dr. Laura was trying to say is that African Americans use the word, or as she said "Black men say it all the time" (I don't), which confuses her.

What Dr. Laura understands now, after having apologized for the "incident" is that the term's not proper for anyone to use, regardless of color. And that blacks who use it are as wrong for doing so as anyone white.

But does this mean Dr. Laura's a total racist?

Well, let's consider that. Would a total racist hire a black man as her PR representative? The classic racist would never think of such an action; Dr Laura's PR firm is called MGP Associates.

Based in New York City, MGP Associates is ran by Mike Paul, who is - drum roll please - a black man and one of his listed clients is Dr. Laura.

I don't know if Mike Paul was the black man Dr. Laura was referring to, but it's an interesting question. I did call Mr Paul's office and left a message for him on this issue.