Our Nation's Leaders Are No Better Than Imus

Kicking off the inaccurately billed "Loser Guest Thursday" was Craig Crawford, who rationalized Imus's malicious nature: "If you weren't so mean, you wouldn't beat cancer."

Crawford, whose TrailMix blog at CQPolitics.com is a must-read, was groggy after partying all night with the veteran and venerable White House reporter Helen Thomas, with whom he recently wrote the book Listen Up, Mr. President.

"We were up 'til midnight singing 1,000 books," Crawford explained. "Easton Press is doing a leather-bound copy of our book. It's right up there with the bible."

It is in Imus's mind. "I guess your autograph is worth something," he told his guest. "But to get Helen Thomas's autograph on a leather-bound copy? Come on!"

No offense taken. "I'm well satisfied with just taking in her reflected glory," Crawford said of his pal Helen. He gets just one free copy for himself, which will go to Mom and Pop Crawford. "They can use it to keep their trailer level!" Imus noted.

Crawford declared that lightening had struck again, as Imus led New Jersey Governor-elect Chris Christie, a Republican, to victory over the incumbent Jon Corzine.

"I don't know how such a skinny guy could rally so many fat people!" Crawford said. He wondered how Christie would repay the I-Man, on whose show last week Christie showed remarkable humor and open-mindedness.

"My payback is that I can now feel the power once again!" Imus cried. "The juice is back."

President Obama's juice, however, is running a bit low, as evidenced by Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial victories not only in New Jersey, but also in Virginia.

"It's not true it was a rejection of Obama," Crawford said, pointing out that the President's approval rating at the exit polls was steady at 57 percent.

"Obama's allure and charisma among his base doesn't mean they're going to show up and vote just cause he asked them to, or even if he tells them to," he continued. "That doesn't mean they're not going to show up for him when he runs for reelection."

Maybe. But, Imus observed, if the Democrats had won in New Jersey or Virginia, Obama and co. would be taking all the credit in the world.

"They're no different from me," Imus said, which is probably — and frighteningly — true.

-Julie Kanfer