No, we don’t think what Dr. Laura did was funny or clever or classy or tactful—or demonstrated the slightest fraction of decorum, but frankly, we’re with Dr. Laura on this one.

We empower the word “nigger” and make it all magical by creating just this kind of fuss over it. If she had called someone a racial slur, that would have been entirely different of course, but she didn’t. She was only referencing the word in her inimitable—albeit sometimes hard-edged—way.

Dr. Laura is not a religious leader. She is not the president of a university. She is not a politician. Dr. Laura is a radio talk show host. Ideally she may want her show to be informative and enlightening to her listeners, but above all, it must be entertaining. It’s a show. And that’s her schtick; the tough-love, the straight talk, the abrasive, righteous preaching, the in-your-face nagging, the dry humor and the sarcasm—oftentimes used to great effect. Sometimes she earns her laughs. Sometimes she goes thud. But that’s show business. And people don’t listen to Dr. Laura because they want soft-handed rhetoric delivered with a light touch.

We certainly don’t concur with all Dr. Laura’s opinions, nor do we support her political agenda or want to be her friend. In fact, we’re pretty sure Dr. Laura would thoroughly hate us (but, full disclosure, we both own Dr. Laura dolls, and love pushing the button that makes her talk). But to be talking about hip-hop and black comedians and saying that all they say is “nigger nigger nigger,”…well, first of all, she’s right. Second, Larry David can do a whole show on that topic and say it all he wants and not get in trouble because he is not Dr. Laura, and that’s like what, a triple-standard? Either it’s bad or good, but you don’t get a special pass to say it if you’re black or an ironic Jewish comedian. It’s either in the acceptable lexicon or not. It’s that simple.

And just so you don’t think we’ve lost our minds, we’d like to close this post with a photo of Dr. Laura’s son, Deryk, whom we hope will soon write the salacious tell-all book we’ve been waiting for since he was born: My Mother, Dr. Laura.

Now, go take on the day.