Blonde on Blonde: Beck's Bothers; Bachmann; and Deep Breaths

If a person wants to attend an outdoor movie screening in New York City’s Bryant Park, he or she should be able to do so without being heckled, having wine thrown in their direction, or both. Such was the fate that befell controversial radio and television host Glenn Beck a few days ago, along with his wife, ol’ what’s-her-name.
 
“I’m embarrassed,” Deirdre Imus admitted during Blonde on Blonde today, when she couldn’t recall the name of Beck’s wife. She tried blaming her memory lapse on being so consumed with the children at the Imus Ranch, but her husband wasn’t having it.
 
“That’s a lame excuse—you either know her name, or you don’t,” said Imus (who also couldn’t remember that Beck’s wife is named Tania, and not Tammy).
 
Either way, Imus and Deirdre believe that Beck, despite his mania, is a “good person,” and that the people in Bryant Park should have shown more respect for their fellow human being, regardless of his political leanings.
 
“It doesn’t matter whether he’s a good or a bad person,” Lis Wiehl chimed in. “You’re at the park with your wife and child. You have a right to go to the park and watch an Alfred Hitchcock movie without the crowd turning on you.”
 
For some reason, Imus blamed Lis and her “liberal, weenie friends” for the incident, even though Lis’s point had been in defense of the Beck family. “It was absolutely the wrong thing to do,” she said, but was accused by Deirdre of saying it “with a crooked mouth.”
 
Though the Blondes were crucifying one another today, Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican candidate for president in 2012,  has been crucified by the press on numerous occasions, and Lis and Dierdre believe it will only get worse as her campaign progresses.
 
“It’s not fair, and it wasn’t fair, with Hillary Clinton, to be talking about her pants suits and her shrill voice,” Lis said. “You would never say that about a man.”
 
Deirdre countered, “All’s fair in love and politics,” and copped to being one of those people who made fun of Hillary’s wardrobe. “I said she looked like a traffic cone.”
 
Lis noted that Vice President Joe Biden makes “a gaffe a day” and is paid little attention, while Bachmann makes a few mistakes and the media has a field day. Biden, in Imus’s view, is not only a moron, he’s also “a backstabbing worm” and “gutless,” having received numerous deferments to keep from going to Vietnam.
 
“That’s reverse sexism!” Lis hollered. “A man, if he’s a coward—that’s a bad thing. You’d never talk about a woman being a coward because she didn’t go to Vietnam.”
 
Rather than argue, Imus suggested Lis and Deirdre stop talking, because “we’re not getting anything done here.” He then chided Lis for stating previously, on this program and on Bill O’Reilly’s, that Casey Anthony would be found guilty of first-degree murder before the defense had even presented its case.
 
“I still think she’ll be convicted,” Lis maintained. “The big question is whether they’ll find premeditations in that, and whether they’ll find child abuse before the act of murder. I don’t think the defense has done much.”
 
Perhaps, as a calming exercise, Imus, Deirdre and Lis should all turn to transcendental meditation, the practice of which has been proven to reduce incidences of heart attacks and strokes.
 
Lis joked that her mantra would be to repeat “Big Mac” or “non-organic apples” during the 20 minutes of meditation, which she believes “would do a world of good for everybody.” Deirdre, who meditates regularly, noted that a mere five minutes of silence can be very healing.
 
Which peaked Connell’s interest. “Let’s start now,” he suggested.
 
-Julie Kanfer