Chris Wallace Was Feeling Benevolent Today. Imus Was Not.

As usual, Chris Wallace’s interview with Imus today was informative, interesting, enlightening, hilarious, and just about every other positive adjective that comes to mind. He made spot-on observations about politics and the media, specifically this website and its essays. Chris Wallace is a great American, and seems like he’d be an even better agent.

Back in the real world, Wallace had no idea that Fox News contributor Juan Williams had been fired from his gig at NPR until Bernard broke the news to him just minutes ago. Earlier this week on The O’Reilly Factor, Williams had said, “When I get on a plane, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried, I get nervous.”

“NPR has been after Juan for some time,” Wallace, the host of Fox News Sunday, where Williams regularly appears, said. “They were not pleased by all his appearances on Fox News.”

Continuing down the road of obvious points, Wallace said about NPR, “Like a lot of liberal organizations, they believe in freedom of speech as long as that speech is something they agree with.”

Though Wallace does not believe the comments were bigoted, Imus was not helpful in commenting that he’s never been a big fan of Williams’s, anyway. “He’s down, so why don’t you kick him?” Wallace suggested. “That’s kind of your style.”

Also Imus’s style: flying in private jets, and not commercial airliners like most people. As such, Wallace posited that the I-Man could not understand what it’s like to feel suspicious of strangers on a plane.

Hoping to maintain his image as a man of the peeps, Imus protested that he’s involved with a program called the Corporate Angel Network, which relies on people with private planes to fly sick kids around the country so they can receive necessary medical treatments.  

“So what you’re basically saying is, if there’s a Muslim kid, he’s bald, he’s six years old, and he’s got tubes sticking to him, you’re not afraid?” Wallace deduced. “So that shows you don’t have any bias?”

Not exactly, Mr. Smartypants. It also shows he’s not afraid of the kid’s hypothetical parents, either.

On a less hypothetical front, it looks like the Republicans will win back the majority in the House of Representatives on November 2, all but guaranteeing that current Minority Leader John Boehner will become Speaker.

“Imagine being stuck in an elevator with John Boehner and Richard Holbrooke,” Imus said. “You’d kill yourself.”

Actually, that experience is probably not unlike being a weekly guest on this program, as Wallace, who was told today that he is “not Tim Russert,” has learned over time.

-Julie Kanfer