Not A Great Day For Chris Wallace

Chris Wallace, the host of Fox News Sunday, has been great lately in his regular Thursday appearances this program. As with most Imus in the Morning guests, it’s all bound to come crashing down sooner or later. Today was that day for Wallace.

Things started off friendly enough, with Imus awarding Wallace two tickets to see the show “Million Dollar Quartet” on Broadway. “I’m going to send you and your wife,” said Imus. “Or, your gumar.”

Imus began to notice a distracted tone in Wallace’s voice, and wondered if his guest was watching “Fox & Fiends” on the Fox News Channel. Actually, Wallace was tuned in to this program, but was unfocused because of the delay, as if he wasn’t from one of the more esteemed families in the history of broadcasting.

Trying to redeem himself, Wallace said his interview last week with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin went well, and shared some highlights with Imus, who hadn’t watched.

“One is when she was talking about the immigration bill and controversy in Arizona, and she said that Governor Brewer has the ‘cajones’ that President Obama doesn’t have,” Wallace said. “Which I must say I kind of laughed at.”

The irony of that statement, which Imus surmised had been lost on Wallace and Palin, is that Palin used a Spanish word while discussing an immigration bill that deals largely with Hispanics.

Unlike Imus, Wallace was unwilling to express his outright joy at the decision yesterday by a federal judge in California to overturn that state’s ban on gay marriage. “I’m covering the news, so I’m not going to express an opinion about it,” was his snippy reply.

Though he admitted the issue conflicts him. “I understand your argument,” he told Imus, who supports gay marriage. “But I also understand the argument that marriage has meant a specific thing for a long period of time.”

Despite his best efforts, Imus labeled today’s brief interview with Wallace a “mail-in performance,” going so far as to call it “dreadful.”

And no, Chris, you don’t get a pass for sleeping through your alarm clock and waking up mere seconds before going on the air.   

“Go back to sleep,” Imus instructed him. “And here’s what you can think about: how much you sucked this morning.”

-Julie Kanfer