Imus in the Morning used to promote itself as “This ain’t your mother’s morning show.” Actually, it turns out, it is. And your grandmother’s too.

The comments I’ve received suggest that Imus fans are not predominantly male, as one might have expected. There are lots of females, too, as young as college age and extending well into their 80s. A lot more older women than I would have expected.

Other comments reveal:

• They don’ t mind being called I-Hos. (Even the guys.) One told me, “Being an I-ho sure beats being a media ho!”
• Petitions are now being circulated to pressure MSNBC and CBS to bring him back.
• A rally will be held in NYC on June 29, when the petitions will be presented to the three media outlets. Imus supporters are coming from as far away as Washington State — now that’s a dedicated fan!
• Somebody has started a “fake” Imus blog. A commenter tipped me off to it, and I must say, it’s pretty funny. The guy writes like Imus talks, so if your ears are offended by vulgarity, don’t go there.Wait a minute, what am I saying? These are Imus fans!

With apologies to Steven Stills:

“If you can’t watch the Imus you love,
now you can read the Imus you’ve got.”

Don Imus and his abrupt (and unfair) ouster from the airwaves continues to stir passionate comments. 100% of the comments I got support the I-Dude, mostly in passionate terms. (Where are the others? The witch hunters and haters? Maybe they’re busy hounding other public figures.)

While the sample was tiny — OK, infinitesimal — the demographic range of the commenters astounds me. Who knew the I-Man had millions of fans in every age bracket, from a 76 year-old female in NJ (actually, just one of several in their 70s) to today’s most recent comment from a 21 year-old college senior named Michelle.

I found Michelle’s comments to be especially eloquent and insightful. They certainly reflect well on her and her so-called “slacker” generation. Take a look:

“Believe it or not, a lot of kids my age enjoyed the I-Man… If you go on Facebook or other social networking sites, you’ll see a lot of kids who are in Imus in the Morning fan groups. I fell in love with (the show) because I love politics, news, and comedy. While I enjoy The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, I think the Imus show was superior, simply because it had longer interviews, more discussion, and a great deal of humorous conversation.”

Like me (and you, no doubt) Michelle loved the variety Imus delivered.

“Sometimes it was a comedy show; sometimes it was news and politics; sometimes it was an activism/progressive show; sometimes it was a music program. It was really a marvelous thing… One thing I also loved… was that it was not a partisan hack program. Most news shows only offer the “left” opinion or the “right” opinion. Even though Imus and his cast mostly leaned Republican, they called BS when they saw it on *any* topic. I really appreciated that.

Watching Imus made her feel like she was pulling a fast one on advertisers while thumbing her nose at popular culture.

“As a young female, advertisers expect me to be obsessed with Gilmore Girls or Laguna Beach or whatever. Yet here I was… tuning into a crazy old man in a cowboy hat… The news reports (gave) the impression that Imus fans were nothing but a bunch of old ignorant racist Klansmen. To paraphrase one of the previous commenters, I am young, female, and educated - and proud to be an I-Ho.”

What about you? Are you also proud to be an I-Ho?

BTW, guys — does that term apply to us, too?