A Chipper Sally Quinn Tries to Cure the Chip on Imus's Shoulder

Sally Quinn, a Washington Post contributor and moderator of its On Faith blog about religion, had lots to be thankful for this morning: her and Ben Bradlee’s son Quinn, who has suffered from mental and physical limitations his whole life, is getting married on Sunday.

“I love this story,” said Imus, who has met Quinn on numerous occasions. “He’s a lovely young man. He must have gotten that from Ben, I guess.”

Given the amount of religious news in the press lately—the Ground Zero Mosque, gay marriage, threats of Koran burning—On Faith has been thriving, and is usually one of the top 10 features on the Washington Post’s website. In a not unrelated story, Quinn called Republican Senatorial Candidate from Delaware Christine O’Donnell “a gift from God,” because every crazy thing she says drives traffic to On Faith.

“Every time you turn around, she’s saying, ‘God had a plan for me, He wanted me to run for the Senate,’” Quinn said. “Or that she’s a witch, and she’s not a witch, and masturbation is a form of adultery.”

Though Quinn has never publicly shared her own views on masturbation, there’s no time like the present. “I don’t think it’s a form of adultery,” she said. “I’m taking a stand here.”

Imus is currently reading The Grand Design, by Stephen Hawking, a book that suggests, among other things, that the existence of human beings on the planet is not necessarily the result of a Supreme Being, or “God.”

“He’s basically saying God’s not necessary,” Quinn concluded, which is pretty much what Imus had just said, albeit much less eloquently.

And so, for a change, he snapped at his guest; blamed it on the cancer; blamed it on the raw food holistic diet he’s on to battle the cancer; and apologized.

Back in June, Quinn wrote an article indicating there was chatter in the Obama administration about Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton switching jobs for the 2012 presidential election.

“It’s a no-brainer,” Quinn said. “Barack Obama is going to face a very stiff election in 2012.”

Biden, who Quinn believes would be too old to run for President in 2016, formerly headed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and would be a perfect fit as Secretary of State, the job she said he’s wanted all along.

“Hillary has now proven her mettle, she’s proven she can be a team player, she’s shown that Bill Clinton has not been interfering in her work or with the President’s,” Quinn said. “She’s young enough, and she’s a woman, and she’s a fantastic campaigner. She would be the perfect person to go up against Sarah Palin.”

The White House denies this action is being considered, but Quinn has it on good authority from people close to both the White House and the State Department. “Hillary has already said she’s exhausted, and doesn’t even know whether she’s going to finish out these next two years,” Quinn said.

Though he was cranky this morning, Imus congratulated Quinn on her son’s upcoming nuptials. “It’s one of the good things,” he said. “We sit here, and we talk to every whack job on the planet—you among them—and this is a beautiful, wonderful story.”

To which Quinn graciously replied, “Do eat some cooked food.”

-Julie Kanfer