Imus Unable to Get Chris Wallace to Say Icky Stuff About Jimmy Carter

“How are you?” Chris Wallace innocuously chirped this morning. After a brief pause, Imus said, “I’m fine, thank you.” But the delay haunted Wallace, the host of Fox News Sunday, and with good reason.
 
Though Imus was loath to admit what had been bothering him, Wallace correctly assumed that he had not given enough credit where credit was due. “Sweet Lorraine’s book is going to be on the New York Times Best Sellers list a week from Sunday,” Wallace said, referring his wife’s book, Mr. Sunday’s Soups. “Thank you very, very much. It wouldn’t have happened without the power of Imus.”
 
The book provides recipes of the various soups Lorraine prepares for her husband every Sunday while he’s at work, as well as charming Wallace family anecdotes. Despite his efforts to the contrary, Imus was smitten with the Wallaces when they appeared in studio a few weeks ago.
 
“Even though you, generally, are not the most likeable person on the planet,” Imus told his guest.
 
Before Wallace could reply, Imus asked how newly-minted White House Press Secretary Jay Carney did in his initial briefing yesterday.
 
“One, he’s a smart guy; two, he knows a lot about the issues; and three, he’s had a lot of experience,” Wallace said. “He worked at TIME magazine and he was a commentator on a lot of television shows.”
 
But Carney will have to work overtime to explain why the Obama administration, namely Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton, and CIA Director Panetta, seemed like they were behind the curve during last week’s developments in Egypt, where 18 days of demonstrations resulted in the take down of longtime President—and key U.S. ally—Hosni Mubarak.
 
“It’s a hard situation,” Wallace said. “Was he a dictator? Absolutely. But he was our dictator, and that counts for a lot.”
 
The Middle East turmoil that began in Tunisia and quickly spread to Egypt has rapidly spread throughout the region in the last few days, to countries like Yemen, Bahrain, and Iraq. “Most of the unrest is happening in countries that are friendly to us,” Wallace observed. “How much would we love to see a revolution in Iran? But those guys are such thugs, they seem to be able to crack down and stop it.”
 
In Egypt, the long-banned Muslim Brotherhood, a so-called political organization with ties to Islamic extremism, is trying to assert its voice. Former President Jimmy Carter recently claimed the Brotherhood is a secular group, leading Imus to wonder if it was time to put Carter to sleep.
 
“What do you expect me to say to that?” Wallace said, smartly avoiding the question.
 
As for Imus’s next query—who will be on Fox News Sunday this week?—Wallace was decidedly less vague. “Beats me!”
 
-Julie Kanfer