Imus off the Radio? MSNBC just canned him.

And, in the kind of move that makes the head spin, the Washington Post reports that....

In a separate announcement, CBS Radio said former Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle would replace Imus during his suspension. Barnicle, who left the Globe in 1998 after questions were raised about the existence of his sources, has his own troubled broadcast history. In 2004, while hosting a radio program in Boston, he described the interracial marriage of Janet Langhart and former defense secretary William Cohen as "Mandingo," a reference to a 1975 movie in which a black male slave and a white woman have sex. After the NAACP protested, Barnicle apologized on the air.

Of course, Barnicle may also have picked this up from his local roots: "Mandingo" was also a joking nickname some Red Sox players had for teammate Jim Rice. Except they were really referring to a different Mandingo.  ¶ 8:13 AM