Imus Snaps At Commie Frank Rich, Who Says Detroit And Wall Street Are More Alike Than We Think

Frank Rich, a New York Times Op-Ed Columnist and self-professed card-carrying member of the Communist Party, started his appearance off on the wrong foot today by asking Imus, "How are you?"

"I'm battling prostate cancer, Frank!" Imus roared. "How do you think I am?"

Following a scolding from Charles ("That was a common expression of humanity"), Imus argued that now might the time for a mention in Rich's weekly column.

"Only you could turn this into comic material," Rich said.

As for Rich, he is doing well besides the fact that the New York Times recently mortgaged its building, and is owned by Cheech & Chong (according to Imus). In yesterday's column, Rich analyzed the double standard between Wall Street and Detroit.

"We make this distinction between the 'real world' of Detroit and the 'make believe' of Wall Street," said Rich. "This culture in Wall Street of selling products that are worthless, trying to get rich quick, cooking the books in some way, being completely irresponsible and completely greedy is just as much a part of how things ran in the Rick Wagoner world of Detroit."

As far as Rich is concerned, the two worlds overlap. GMAC, the financial arm of General Motors, was very profitable because it sold the same kinds of mortgage derivatives as Wall Street. In fact, Ezra Merkin, who was a feeder to Bernie Madoff for clients like New York University and Yeshiva University, ran GMAC.

"As despicable as a lot of those people on Wall Street were and are-and while some of them should be fired along with Rick Wagoner-they're all a part of the same insider's club," said Rich. "It's like a virus that spread everywhere."

Rich pointed out that people tend to romanticize cars in a way that just does not apply to, say, collateralized debt obligations.

"When we think of the automobile business we think of the Beach Boys, and American Graffiti, and drive-ins, and having sex in the back seat of a Chevy Impala," said Rich.

Imus noticed that while Rick made a similar point in yesterday's column, he was a lot more "specific" with the I-Man. Rich giggled, and declined further comment.

While the new head of GM, Fritz something-or-other, might be perfectly competent, Rich thinks he is a strange choice to succeed Wagoner.

"This guy was Wagoner's right hand man; it's not like he's bringing a fresh view to the business," he said. "It's almost as if they're rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic in all of these sectors."

Imus asked Rich, who we'll remind you is a communist, why President Obama sounded like he was disparaging the country and patronizing the Europeans on his trip abroad.

"I think he's perhaps over-compensating for what happened with Bush, who was so arrogant to these people and so belittling of them," said Rich, who believes the marvelous imagery of this trip is what really matters.

Said Imus, "I thought it was great when Michelle put her hand on Grandma-you know, the Queen-and they all got hysterical."

-Julie Kanfer