The Omnipotent Imus Is Anything But Humble With Michael Graham

Boston-based Radio personality Michael Graham assured Imus that Boston was doing just fine, given yesterday's reelection of Mayor Thomas Menino to a FIFTH term.

"There's only so much graft and corruption you can work into your life, but he sets the bar high," said Graham. "And I admire that. Why give up now?"

But Imus was unable to focus on anything except his own power, and when a few minutes passed without mention of Chris Christie's Imus-led victory over Democrat Incumbent Jon Corzine in New Jersey, the irritability was palpable.

"You don't seem that happy about it!" Imus snapped at Graham. "Not only do you not seem happy about it, you seem resentful because you're stuck on some little piss-ant radio station, and I'm larger than life, back on top, and you can't stand it!"

Unsure why such rage was being directed his way, Graham conceded the greatness of the I-Man, whose candid interview with Christie last week humanized the candidate and pushed him across the finish line. (Not literally. Too strenuous.)

Yet Imus does not agree with every item on Christie's agenda. "We don't like his pledge to clean up corruption in New Jersey," Imus said. "They actually conduct tours of Sopranos sites. It's fine if you want to lock up a couple of rabbis and a couple of mayors, but ix-nay on putting the real gangsters in jail."

As for "what it means" that Republicans swept Gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, Graham said it validated the people in this country who are center-right politically. It also alleviated their bleak outlook, he added.

"People feel hope again," Graham said, and predicted this shift will lead to better candidates and more fundraising from Republicans. "It picks up their spirits as they head into 2010. It doesn't prove anything, it doesn't win anything. But it puts them in a much better state of mind."

Back to Imus, he attributed some (though obviously not all) of Christie's success at the polls to New Jersey parents who don't want vaccines to be mandatory for their children.

"That's the attack of what I would call 'the NORMAL people,'" said Graham.

In case the message hadn't gone through, Imus played for his guest a clip of WABC-TV's Bill Ritter, an impartial local news anchor, owing Christie's victory to last week's appearance with Imus.

"Take that," Imus said violently to Graham. "You pelican-looking putz!"

-Julie Kanfer