Barnicle Mike The Bigot

Unreformed plagiarist Mike Barnicle -- bosom pal to Tim Russert, Chris Matthews and Don Imus -- has decided that making racist jokes is less of a career-killer than stealing the writing of others and fabricating sources.

On his radio show last week, Barnicle referred to the interracial marriage of former Republican Senator and Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Cohen's wife, Janet Langhart, as "[k]ind of like 'Mandingo.'" Barnicle's defense is that he forgot the plot of the 1975 film Mandingo involved slavery and the rape of slaves. Maybe he got it confused with The Bodyguard.

The Boston Globe points out that Barnicle pal Don Imus "refer[red] to interracial couples as Mandingos." Strangely, the Globe doesn't mention that Imus specifically referred to Secretary Cohen's relationship with Ms. Langhart as "the Mandingo deal."

Should we believe Barnicle's defense? After all, this is the guy who wrote a column filled with George Carlin jokes without crediting Carlin, then denied having read Carlin's book until a televsion clip surfaced showing Barnicle holding the book and endorsing it earlier in the year. It's not hard to believe that Barnicle stole the Mandingo insult from his pal the I-man. When you hang around bigots like Imus, the only reasonable assumption is that you share Imus's bigoted views.

(Thanks to a reader for the tip.)