Bob Beckel Likens Republican Behavior to That of Druggies

Bob Beckel, a political contributor for Fox News, marveled at the I-Man’s ability to arise before dawn every morning, and wondered how he’s done it for so many years. “Cocaine,” Imus replied, then wondered what exactly Beckel, a left-wing punching bag at Fox, does all day long.
 
Besides playing golf, Beckel, who used to run political campaigns, writes a column for USA Today; teaches at George Washington University, and gives speeches. “It’s a pretty good life,” he told Imus.
 
Starting next week, he’ll also be part of the five-person team taking over for Glenn Beck at 5p.m. on the Fox News Channel. Though the tough-talking Beckel was born in New York, he now lives elsewhere and is dreading spending four days a week in Manhattan.
 
“I’ll give you a couple of phone numbers that can make it fun for you,” Imus pledged, then stated his approval of other members of The Five’s panel, like Juan Williams and Greg Gutfeld, but deemed Judge Andrew Napolitano “annoying.”
 
Replacing Beck, who was a ratings powerhouse for Fox, will be tough, Beckel conceded. “That audience is going to flee,” he said, then expressed his own feelings on Napolitano. “Can you imagine going in front of him when he was a judge? We’d be in the Rahway State Prison.”
 
Referencing Beckel’s bio, Imus asked if he had worked on Robert Kennedy’s campaign at the same time as I-Fave Jeff Greenfield. Turns out Beckel is younger than Greenfield, and spent only a few months of 1968 working for the campaign before Kennedy was assassinated.
 
“That was a rough year, if you remember,” Beckel said, then supposed Imus did too many drugs to recall significant events of particular years. No stranger to drugs himself, Beckel copped to partaking of peyote once in New Mexico, and likened his behavior under the influence to that of Republicans in Washington lately.
 
“They’ll get something,” he said, talking about a deal for raising the debt ceiling. He predicted a short-term agreement would be reached, adding, “No one wants to see the debt ceiling not raised, but they also don’t want to take responsibility with the voters.”
 
Since the tax bill won’t be rewritten between now and the August 2^nd deadline, Beckel believes the Republicans have no choice but to settle. The worst thing to do, in his opinion, is to cut spending at a time when money needs to be pumped into the economy. “But, the Republicans sold him on it, and Obama’s gone along with it, and I think it’s silly all around,” Beckel said.
 
After he hangs up with Imus, Beckel will probably play some golf, though he admitted his game could use some improvement. “I was married to a pro golfer for six years—you would have thought I’d learned something,” he said, then shared the one lesson he did take away from that relationship: “You don’t know fear until you’ve seen a five-iron at two in the morning coming after you.”
 
In all fairness, that particular squabble was the result of a simple misunderstanding. “I said I’d be there at two,” he recalled. “She thought it was the afternoon. I thought it was the morning.”
 
-Julie Kanfer