Imus: Clinton's election to Senate due to "her fat, stupid husband ... getting BJs ... in the Oval Office"

Summary: On Imus in the Morning, Don Imus asserted that Sen. Hillary Clinton won her campaign for a U.S. Senate seat due to "a sympathy vote," adding, "She came here, everybody felt sorry for her 'cause her fat ..." At that point, Alan Colmes interjected, asking, "[W]hy did she get re-elected?" Imus continued: "'Cause her fat, stupid husband was getting BJs from the poor little intern there in the Oval Office."

On the March 7 edition of Imus in the Morning, host Don Imus asserted that Sen. Hillary Clinton won her campaign for a U.S. Senate seat due to "a sympathy vote," adding, "She came here, everybody felt sorry for her 'cause her fat ..." At that point, guest and Fox News host Alan Colmes interjected, asking, "[W]hy did she get re-elected?" Imus continued: "'Cause her fat, stupid husband was getting BJs from the poor little intern there in the Oval Office."

As Media Matters for America documented, on the January 9 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, Chris Matthews said: "Let's not forget -- and I'll be brutal -- the reason she's a U.S. senator, the reason she's a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around. That's how she got to be senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn't win there on her merit. She won because everybody felt, 'My God, this woman stood up under humiliation,' right? That's what happened." Matthews subsequently addressed the firestorm sparked by his comment and said, "Was it fair to imply that Hillary's whole career depended on being a victim of an unfaithful husband? No. And that's what it sounded like I was saying and it hurt people I'd like to think normally like what I say, in fact, normally like me." He later added: "Saying that Senator Clinton got where she's got simply because her husband did what he did to her is just as callous, and I can see now, it comes across just as nasty, worse yet, just as dismissive."

Despite his being fired by MSNBC and CBS in April 2007 -- his show is now syndicated by ABC Radio Networks and simulcast on RFD-TV -- Imus continues to attract prominent guests. From March 3 to March 7, Imus hosted appearances by NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert, CBS anchor Bob Scheiffer, and Congressional Quarterly columnist Craig Crawford.

From the March 7 edition of ABC Radio Networks' Imus in the Morning:

IMUS: Aside from working for big-time law firms and being a doormat for her stupid husband, what in the 35 years' experience Hillary Clinton talks about would you like to highlight here this morning, Mr. Colmes?

COLMES: Well, you've just covered everything, haven't you?

IMUS: Well, no, I haven't. That's why I'm asking you.

COLMES: On the stupid husband, I mean, during the Clinton years, we had a good economy, things were going well, we were relative peace, we had employment was up, things were going great in this country. People would love to go back to the way things were 10 years ago.

IMUS: Oh, never mind. What did she do?

COLMES: What did she do?

IMUS: Why don't we answer that question, Mr. Colmes?

COLMES: She was the sen-- first of all, she got elected to -- everybody said she couldn't get elected to the Senate. She couldn't do anything. She's worked on transparency; she's worked on a number of issues --

IMUS: Oh, but she ran against a car salesman. She ran against a -- she ran against some real estate loser. I live in Manhattan. I had to vote in that election.

COLMES: What? Rick Lazio?

IMUS: It was a sympathy vote. She came here, everybody felt sorry for her 'cause her fat --

COLMES: If she -- how did she -- why did she get re-elected?

IMUS: 'Cause her fat, stupid husband was getting BJs from the poor little intern there in the Oval Office.

COLMES: You know, I'm starting to get the sense you don't like the Clintons.

IMUS: And that's how sharp she was. She couldn't figure out that her husband was having an affair with one of the people who works for him. They're in the White House, I mean, hello?

COLMES: And that means she shouldn't be president of the United States? And hey, how do you know she didn't know?

IMUS: I don't know that.

COLMES: Maybe she did know.

IMUS: She didn't -- she suggested she didn't know.

COLMES: Well, you know, the fact -- but is that relevant in terms of whether she'd be a good senator or a good president?

IMUS: Oh, I don't know.

COLMES: I mean, she beat -- she was also re-elected to the Senate.

IMUS: If the intern could sneak in the White House and put some lipstick on his dipstick --

CHARLES McCORD (news anchor): Oh no.

IMUS: -- maybe a terrorist could get in there with a bomb. Who knows?

COLMES: Yeah, if Monica Lewinsky can deliver pizza to the Oval Office, that means a terrorist is going to attack us. That's a really good analogy.

IMUS: I could make that work if you give me a couple of minutes.

COLMES: That's a really, really good analogy.

—A.J.W.