Imus Instructs Chip Reid to Feel The Power

Imus's interview with CBS's News White House Correspondent Chip Reid started off tame and professional. Around minute six, however, it all came crashing down.

Reid reported that President Obama was horrified to learn that 13 people had been killed and 28 injured at Fort Hood in Texas yesterday after Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire inside a building on the military base there.

"Presidents try to assume the role of 'comforter-in-chief' at times like this," Reid said.

The White House is waiting for more details to emerge about what happened before deciding the best course of action. According to reports, Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, had been bullied since 9/11 for his Muslim faith. He worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center treating soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, and was terrified about his own upcoming deployment. But that's not all.

"Someone with his name had been writing notes on the internet sympathetic to suicide bombers," Reid said, noting there had been no confirmation that it was the same Nidal Malik Hasan who carried out yesterday's shootings.

Speaking of name coincidences (here's where the interview derailed), the White House recently released a list of visitors, and, wouldn't you know, William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright are on there!

"They were different people," said Reid, towing the company line that it wasn't that William Ayers or that Jeremiah Wright.

Hang on a second — was Reid arguing with a cancer patient? "I would never, ever, ever argue with you," he humbly told the I-Man, who was standing on a soapbox.

But another affront was imminent, as Reid confessed he was oblivious of Imus's pivotal role in the New Jersey gubernatorial race, where he led the Republican Chris Christie to victory over incumbent Jon Corzine.

"This is unbelievable!" Imus crowed, and wondered if Reid had been buried under a rock. "You can't possibly be watching that morning show on CBS. Nobody other than Les Moonves watches that."

Though Reid was ignorant of Imus's power, he was aware of Obama's lack of it. The President had campaigned five times in New Jersey for Corzine, who lost anyway.

"Some people say that means the Obama magic is gone, some people say it's just impossible for a president to effect local elections," Reid said.

But all Imus could think about was a line columnist Liz Smith once employed about Michael Jackson, only this time applying it to Corzine: "Who creeps him out?"

-Julie Kanfer