Chris Wallace Explains Complicated Debt-Related Matters; Imus Calls Him Stupid Anyway

A few things Imus learned today about Chris Wallace: he has never enjoyed a cup of coffee in his life; he has never smoked a whole cigarette; and he has probably smoked some marijuana. “I might be a nominee for the Supreme Court one day,” he told Imus. “I decline to answer that question.”
 
You do the math.
 
Wallace, the host of Fox News Sunday, was more forthcoming with his feelings on President Obama’s speech yesterday, which focused on the deficit and put Vice President Joe Biden to sleep. Literally.
 
“Those things are just so great, when you see them off-script,” Wallace said of Biden’s nap. “Just to see Biden sitting there sleeping is so great.”
 
He was less enthusiastic about the actual contents of the address, which he said sounded more like politics and less like policy. “He has this debt commission, which he basically ignores, and now he’s calling for, in effect, another commission?” Wallace said of the plan for Biden to meet with 16 members of Congress to try to work out a deal on the national debt before June. That is, assuming Biden can stay awake until then.
 
Wallace observed that Obama showed little interest in finding areas of agreement on issues like Medicare, Medicaid and taxes. The “dirty little secret,” as Wallace put it, of all the various plans offered by people like Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the co-chairmen of the commission Obama appointed last year, and Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee Chairman, is that none of them would cut the debt.
 
“The debt would actually increase over the next ten years,” Wallace added. “It just wouldn’t increase quite as fast.”
 
RyanAsked to describe Ryan’s plan, Wallace chuckled. “It’s a little complicated,” he told Imus. “He doesn’t want to increase taxes, and he wants to really reshape Medicare and Medicaid.” Ryan suggests turning Medicare over largely to private insurance companies, and affording seniors “premium support” that would start at $15,000 a year and increase annually. “One of the criticisms is that the value of the premium is going to decline over time, and as a result seniors—particularly wealthier seniors—are going to have to pay more of their health care costs out of pocket.”
 
As for Medicaid, Ryan would like to see it turned over to the states as a “block grant,” and also wants to cut it by about $750 billion over the next decade. Wallace clarified: “The argument is he’s basically cutting Medicaid.”
 
Having engaged in an astute, topical discussion for at least four minutes, it was time to turn to the less sophisticated subject of whether Donald Trump will run for President. In a rare moment of accord, Imus and Wallace agreed to paint each other’s houses if Trump indeed enters the race.
 
For a change, Wallace actually knew that one of his guests this week on Fox News Sunday would be Sen. Tom Coburn. Then, because nobody asked, Imus shared that the radio ratings for his own show have never been higher. Hoping to keep the pleasant vibes going, Wallace wished the I-Man a good rest of the show today.
 
To which Imus graciously replied, “Don’t worry about my show, stupid.”
 
-Julie Kanfer