Contagion?

So here's a Deep Question: AM radio bigots -- are they maybe some kind of spreading plague? Like bird flu or something?

I find myself mulling over this little passage from Eugene Robinson:

Nor is there much exculpatory power in Imus's defense of himself, which can be paraphrased as "I'm not a racist, I just keep saying racist things." What characteristics, do you suppose, could possibly identify a person who was indeed a racist? You think maybe that saying racist things might be a fairly reliable clue?

Funny; I've heard something like that somewhere very recently....