Imus Takes More Than One For the Team

Supporting Congressman Anthony Weiner, a Democrat from New York who will be in the minority come January, has proven to be of no benefit at all to Imus, who did not hesitate to tell Weiner so this morning.
 
“It’s November,” Weiner pointed out, ignoring Imus’s negative comment. “Are we going to have three weeks of bits of you having Thanksgiving at Charles’s house?”
 
Maybe. But we’re definitely going to have to hear about the I-Man’s 1,000^th consecutive day on the treadmill, which occurs on Thanksgiving of this year. As he explained his plight to reach that sacred number, Weiner wondered whether Imus should have instead decided 1,000 days ago to do something funny everyday.
 
Defeated, Imus admitted, “I should have done that.”
 
And Democrats should have not lost more than 60 seats in the House during last week’s election; or, as Weiner tried to spin it, Republicans “were rewarded for voting ‘no’ on things for two years.”
 
“No,” he explained, is “always the easier vote.” Now, the Republicans must indicate what they’re actually for, something Weiner suspected would be more difficult that merely “making demons” out of the health care bill, the financial regulatory reform bill, and the stimulus.
 
Most people, in his view, like the constituent parts of those bills, like tax cuts for the middle class and health care coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. But Republicans “did a very skillful job of taking those things that people like, packaging them, and making them into boogeymen,” Weiner said.
 
Though Imus has heard from doctors and other health care professionals that President Obama’s health care bill is going to bankrupt them, Weiner insisted otherwise. “It’s much cheaper for us to provide subsidies for people to get insurance than to keep providing them with health care, and it not being reimbursed in any way,” he said. “So hospitals perhaps have the most to gain if we get this right.”
 
As for why Bob Garrett, the CEO of the Hackensack University Medical Center, would tell Imus the opposite, Weiner said, “I can see all kinds of reasons why he would quickly want to end a conversation with you.”
 
Obviously skilled at the art of making fun of Imus, Weiner, who might run for mayor of New York City one day, is also adept at not criticizing soon-to-be former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
 
“I think she deserves the chance to do it,” he said, referring to Pelosi’s desire to become Minority Leader in the House come January. Unfortunately, Imus had asked whether he wants her in that position, to which Weiner replied, “I like Nancy Pelosi, and I want her to be happy.”
 
On a less disingenuous note, Weiner acknowledged his role in getting YouTube to take down videos posted by Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Muslim extremist believed to have inspired the Fort Hood shooter, the Times Square bomber, and the Christmas Day bomber.
 
“All of these guys either had contact with this guy, or watched his sermons,” Weiner said, and applauded YouTube for taking them down, as they do videos that teach people how to make bombs. “It’s the right thing to do.”
 
Imus applauded his guest on a wonderful appearance, even though much of its humor was at his expense. “Somebody’s got to pay,” he said resolutely. “I guess it’s gotta be me this morning.”
 
-Julie Kanfer