Between Fits of Bickering, Imus and Cavuto Manage Interesting Conversation

Imus wondered why his guest and semi-boss Neil Cavuto, the managing editor of business news at Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network, was so casually dressed this morning.

"It's quite a few hours before my show," said Cavuto of his 4pm Fox News and 6pm Fox Business shows. "And you're certainly not worth a tie."

Then Imus cracked some fat jokes until Cavuto pointed out, "I could lose weight, but I think you'll always be an imbecile." Fair enough.

Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut announced today that he will not seek reelection this November for the seat he has held for 30 years. Cavuto was not surprised.

"The polling numbers were telling him it was time to get out of dodge," said Cavuto, adding that Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal would likely run for and win Dodd's vacated position. Yet most political observers are predicting a bloodbath for the Democrats.

"Tides change very quickly," said Cavuto, noting the "unstoppable" Democratic wave early last year that was halted within months. "A lot of things can happen if the economy continues to improve, and we've seen signs month after month that it gets a little better."

Imus then expressed his shock at the success of Cavuto's 4pm show "Your World with Neil Cavuto," given its time slot. Wrong move.

"I commend you almost daily about how great you're doing here," said Cavuto, who regularly relays how "enthused" he is by Imus's steadily increasing ratings.

To which Imus replied, "A better word to use would be 'enthusiastic,' not 'enthused.''"

After accusing Cavuto of "trying harder" for his 4pm show than his 6pm one, and of "mailing it in" this morning, Imus asked his guest to identify a national political leader from either party who could lead this country in the manner of Ronald Reagan.

"We don't know," Cavuto confessed. "When Ronald Reagan came on the scene in 1976 and barely lost to Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination, and came back four years later, he was hardly seen as the guy to be the Republican salvation to do in Jimmy Carter. We learned in retrospect that he was."

At Cavuto's suggestion that Sarah Palin could be the Republicans' only hope, Imus begged his friend to get serious, and called Palin "Joe Biden dumb."

"You never know," said Cavuto of Palin's prospects. "You have made the mistake in the past of dismissing those whose careers took a trajectory forward, like Bill Clinton."

Imus flatly denied having done this, and Cavuto pledged to find proof, and to play it on his show this evening. Speaking of that, when will Cavuto be changing into the fancier, more acceptable attire he sports on his own, apparently more important shows?

"I'm going to change right here," he told Imus, who quickly got Bill White on the phone.

-Julie Kanfer