10 QUESTIONS FOR DON IMUS

By Sean Gregory

IT'S ELECTION SEASON, SO DON IMUS IS GRILLING BIG-NAME POLITICIANS AND pundits on his national morning radio program, which is simulcast on MSNBC. And last week his longtime rival in the radio wars, Howard Stern, announced he was ditching the FCC for the freedom of satellite radio. Imus spoke last week with TIME's Sean Gregory about Stern, the election and two generations of Bushes.

ARE YOU SURPRISED BY HOWARD STERN'S DEFECTION? No. He's done pretty much all he can do on commercial radio. I understand that FCC chairman Michael Powell is preparing a space-based defense shield, where he's going to employ laser-equipped antisatellite satellites to shoot death rays at these Stern-carrying vehicles. And--I might as well share this with TIME--I'm also leaving Viacom. We're going to broadcast from the bottom of missile silos.

IN STERN'S FILM PRIVATE PARTS, YOUR CHARACTER KICKS STERN OUT OF A WNBC OFFICE AND CURSES AT HIM. WERE YOU REALLY THAT MEAN TO HIM BACK THEN? Yes. But I don't dislike him and was nice to him at times. I can't think of any specific instances, but back in those days I was doing a lot of cocaine and drinking vodka, so if I was ever nice to him, I don't remember. But I'm sure I was.

DO YOU SEE SATELLITE RADIO AS A SERIOUS COMPETITOR? Yes, I do. It's like when FM radio took over: it didn't eliminate AM radio, but it changed the landscape. Satellite certainly has the potential to do to commercial radio what cable did to regular television.

YOUR SHOW IS NOT AS VULGAR AS STERN'S, BUT YOU PUSH THE ENVELOPE. HAVE YOU BEEN HASSLED BY THE FCC, PARTICULARLY AFTER THE JANET JACKSON FLAP? Well, first of all, f___ the FCC. Second of all, I like to think of my program as having a veneer of sophistication that probably inoculates us from the FCC. So I really don't think anybody at the FCC is bright enough to figure out what we're doing.

YOU'VE BEEN CALLED THE BIGGEST BIGOT IN AMERICAN MEDIA. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THOSE CHARGES? I don't have any comment about it. It's absurd. You know, ask the kids who have sickle cell that come to the ranch [a New Mexico facility that he built for children who have cancer or blood disorders] whether I'm a bigot or not. Have we made fun of African Americans or Asians or Caucasians? Yeah, sure. But people have to calm down.

YOU'VE LEANED MORE CONSERVATIVE OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, YET YOU'VE TURNED AGAINST THIS ADMINISTRATION. WHY? I think it begins with the President. I think he's probably a decent guy, but he's in way over his head. I think he got gun-shy as a result of that heisting of the election in 2000. I don't think he ever even thought of himself as a legitimate President. And rather than try to govern by some sort of consensus or at least involve some other points of view, he's tried to make up for it by this arrogant conduct of foreign policy. By the way, it's not like I think Senator Kerry would be much better.

WHO'S GOING TO WIN THE ELECTION? Bush. I'm not going to vote for him, but I think he connects better with the American people, and I think the Administration has scared people to death. And I think people resent having John Fogerty and Jon Bon Jovi tell them who to vote for.

YOU RECENTLY HAD BUSH'S FATHER, THE 41ST PRESIDENT, ON YOUR SHOW. YOU SAY HE LOVES YOU EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE NOT SUPPORTING HIS SON? I asked him that--yeah, he does. He's enormously bright. This really sounds gratuitous, but my favorite person to talk to is Andy Rooney. He's 85 years old, but he's lucid and bright and amusing and clever. I mean, there are these kinds of people. And I really feel the same about 41.

How much longer will you do your program? You're 64, you've had two brushes with death ... Actually, I had a third one.

REALLY? YOUR LUNG COLLAPSED, YOU WERE THROWN FROM A HORSE ... This interview. I don't have any timetable, but I don't think I'll be capable of pulling a Mike Wallace. Gum is already falling out of my mouth. But I'm not wetting myself or anything like that. I mean, it's fun, and I like doing it. As long as people fear me, I'll do it. o