Don Imus Rips Not-So-Brave Brokaw

[Sombeech]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12212007...kaw_671773.htm

December 21, 2007 -- THE friendship between Don Imus and Tom Brokaw is over.

"He [Brokaw] is not the most courageous person I've ever met in my life," Imus told his listeners on Wednesday. "He's not the guy I'd want to be in a foxhole with."

Imus was put back on air by WABC Radio on Dec. 3 after CBS station WFAN axed him last April for referring to players on the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed ho's."

In a Dec. 11 interview, Brokaw, who was a frequent guest on Imus' WFAN show, told The Seattle Times he thought Imus "should have been fired."

This week, the shock jock struck back at the NBC newsman during an interview with Forbes columnist James Brady, the former Page Six editor and author of "Why Marines Fight."

The conversation turned to a recent Brady column that questioned why Brokaw used so many researchers and fellow journalists to write his own books. Brokaw had the help of at least a dozen collaborators on his latest, "Boom! Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today."

Brady asked in the column: "Has Brokaw earned his best-seller status, or is he simply smarter and better organized and with better sources than the rest of us?"

On his show the other morning, Imus asked Brady what the issue was between him and Brokaw - which led to a discussion of Imus' trouble with him and how Brokaw never stuck up for him during the whole Rutgers ruckus.

"I don't know why I'm defending Tom Brokaw," the I-Man said. "I've known him a long time, and I was greatly disappointed in him, but I still like him."

Imus feels the same way about Brokaw as he does about Tim Russert, Al Roker and Harold Ford Jr. - all of whom were regulars on his old show, where they plugged their various ventures, but failed to stand up for him when his job was on the line.

A rep for Imus confirmed the on-air statements but declined further comment to Page Six. An NBC spokeswoman said Brokaw had no comment.