On Imus, Alter claimed Sen. Clinton has "more baggage than Paris Hilton on the Riviera," touted potential Romney and McCain presidential candidacies

Summary: On MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter said that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is not "the frontrunner" because she has "more baggage than Paris Hilton in the Riviera." Alter instead touted two potential Republican candidates -- former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain.

On the July 24 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter characterized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as having "more baggage than Paris Hilton on the Riviera." Suggesting that "calling her [Clinton] the front-runner is silly at this point," Alter instead touted two potential Republican candidates -- Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Earlier in the show, during an interview with an impersonator of former President Bill Clinton, host Don Imus echoed his recent attacks on Sen. Clinton. Imus asked, "[h]ow's Satan doing? Your wife." The impersonator responded: "Oh, she's fine. Bitch."

From the July 24 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning:

IMUS: Bill Clinton is on the set with us. Always nice to have you. What would you be talking about?

BILL CLINTON IMPERSONATOR: Oh, I just have a couple of observations about our president.

IMUS: How's Satan doing? Your wife.

CLINTON IMPERSONATOR: Oh, she's fine. Bitch.

[laughter]

[...]

IMUS: Who's gonna be the next president?

ALTER: Oh, I don't know, I don't know, Don. I mean, I could -- you know, I have been, uh, sort of, uh, alone in saying -- or not alone, but don't have a lot of company in saying that I don't think it's gonna be, that Hillary Clinton is even going to get the nomination. I mean, I just think that she's got, you know, more baggage than Paris Hilton on the Riviera. It's just not gonna happen for her in my view. But I could be wrong, and she could rally. I think the idea of calling her the front-runner is silly at this point. Um --

IMUS: Somebody told me they thought --

ALTER: McCain, and Governor Romney, I'd look closely at him, he's gonna run a very interesting campaign.

IMUS: Somebody told me they thought Rudy [Giuliani] had a shot.

ALTER: He does. He has a shot. I, uh, his problem is that -- even though, right now, he's scoring very well around the country and in a lot of conservative areas -- the question is how many Republican primary voters know all the details of his position on things like uh, guns, uh, God, and gays. The three issues that they use to clobber Democrats. You know, he's a strong supporter of gay rights, and of course on abortion. It's been a quite a while since they've nominated -- i.e. never -- somebody who was for abortion.

—M.S.