Don Imus & Jake Tapper: Gift-Giving Dynamos

Why talk about the economy, immigration, or the midterm elections with ABC News’s Jake Tapper when it’s so much more fun to fantasize about what to give Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston for their upcoming nuptials?

“We could give each of them a set of his and hers Porsche sunglasses,” Imus posed, pointing out that a handmade card from Tapper would add a very personal touch. As fate would have it, Tapper minored in art in college.  

Instantly, he loved the idea. “I’ll make a picture of the two of them,” said Tapper, the wheels turning in his head like a modern day Van Gogh. “And when you open it up, it’ll be a picture of a wedding cake with you and me. ‘From the I-Man and Jake Tapper. Good luck, kids!’”

As the two giggled like schoolgirls, Tapper commented on the irony of Sarah Palin always begging the press to leave her family alone, and meanwhile her daughter announced her engagement to US Magazine before announcing it to Palin.

“It’s probably like the rest of us with kids,” Imus said wisely. “There’s only so much you can control that they do.”

Sort of like BP, which recently admitted it played a hand in lobbying the Scottish government to transfer the Lockerbie bomber, a Libyan, from prison to protect a $900 million offshore exploration deal off Libya’s coast.

“The question becomes, what would BP not do if there was money at stake?” said Tapper, whose stint as host of ABC’s This Week ends in two weeks. “We know lobbying to release a terrorist is not on the list, they would do that. So what would they not do?”

Imus suggested BP might not feed their girlfriend to a dog, but Tapper thinks it depends on the circumstances surrounding the relationship. “Were they planning on breaking up with them?” he wondered.

Unlike previous guest Chris Wallace, Tapper knew who would appear on his Sunday morning news show this week: Vice President Joe Biden, along with a roundtable full of goofballs that includes George Will and Dee Dee Myers. But Tapper, unlike Imus, was willing to cut Wallace some slack. Perhaps a little too much slack, actually.

“Sometimes you don’t know until Friday or even Saturday,” he said, referring to who will appear on the show. “They probably don’t have the easiest booking situation with this administration, our friends at Fox.”

Tapper, for the record, likes Wallace, and used to watch Fox News Sunday before he took on interim hosting duties at This Week.

“You were supposed to take a shot at Chris,” Imus instructed Tapper. But the artist’s mind was elsewhere, no doubt dreaming up ideas for the card that will one day grace the Palin-Johnston mantle somewhere in the wilds of Alaska.

-Julie Kanfer