Jeff Greenfield, Financial Times Reader, Talks Politics, Music, and Sports

Jeff Greenfield of CBS News picked an impressive array of rock classics to comprise his five favorite songs, but confessed he’s a diehard doo-wop fan, much like the I-Man. In fact, as a young man, Greenfield used to get on line at 7 o’clock in the morning to score tickets to Alan Freed-organized doo-wop shows in Brooklyn.

“I wrote about this years ago in a book that dozens of people read,” he told Imus, who was probably one of those people.

Rep. Charles Rangel was probably too busy finding ways to avoid paying his taxes to read Greenfield’s book, but that didn’t preclude Greenfield from commenting on the 80-year old Congressman’s recent ethical troubles.

“You look at what happened to the Republicans in ’06, when a number of their congressmen were in ethical dilemmas,” said Greenfield. “I don’t think you need a PhD in political science to figure out that this is not what you want on the radar going into the autumn.”

It also doesn’t take a genius to realize there are some issues between New York Congressmen Anthony Weiner (D) and Peter King (R), who all but screamed at each other on the House floor last week about a health care bill for 9/11 first responders that failed to get the two-thirds majority vote needed for passage.

Greenfield blew it off as typical political bluster. “The whole thing degenerates into the kind of conversation that’s usually fueled by several glasses of alcohol at a bar,” he said. “It leaves you with a pretty bad taste.”

The whole idea of these two nincompoops yelling at each other is actually pretty depressing, Greenfield added, considering the range of dire issues presently facing the country. In fact, he told Imus, an article in this morning’s Financial Times perfectly encapsulated the profoundly troubling situation facing America’s middle class.

But of all the analysis contained in Greenfield’s two- or three-minute long soliloquy on the subject, all Imus took away was that his guest actually gets up in the morning and reads the Financial Times.

On Fox News Sunday yesterday, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told Chris Wallace that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has the “cajones” that President Obama lacks to tackle the illegal immigration problems in her state.

“I think that’s an old, Alaskan Inuit phrase,” Greenfield said of Palin’s language. “Either that or she’s appealing to the Hispanic vote for 2012.”

Palin hasn’t announced whether she plans to run for President at some point, but she’d be leaving a pretty cushy existence to do so: she speaks mainly to audiences that agree with her; garners huge lecture fees; and makes millions writing books.

“As Bob Dole once said about the Vice Presidency, ‘It’s indoor work with no heavy lifting,’” Greenfield remarked.

A lifelong New York Yankees fans, Greenfield had no excuse for why Alex Rodriguez has gone 43 plate appearances without hitting his elusive 600th homerun. Imus wasn’t exactly sympathetic, telling Greenfield, “We just hope he never hits it.”

-Julie Kanfer