Today is the South Carolina Republican primary, which means Neil Cavuto will be manning the ship at Fox News for most of the day. As usual when such events happen, Don Imus stops by to give his piece, which usually somehow becomes a conversation about how much Imus would rather not be talking to Cavuto. This was no different! Except for Imus’s take on Newt Gingrich, who he compared to early 2011 meme Charlie Sheen.

On today’s edition of Imus in the Morning, Fox Business Network’s Don Imus shared his thoughts on certain Fox News personalities with Martha MacCallum.

And now for today’s most pleasant conversation about the most unpleasant topic imaginable. Yesterday morning, Don Imus welcomed Bob Beckel to the radio show and, while the conversation started off on politics, quickly strayed to their shared experiences with alcohol and drug abuse. With the holidays coming, Beckel noted that it was a particularly difficult time for people trying to sober up, while for veterans like he and Imus, the only challenge was dealing with how “obnoxious” drunk people are.

Former congressman John LeBoutillier has a few interesting tidbits to share about GOP presidential hopeful and former Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich, it seems.

Senator John Kerry called in to talk to Don Imus today and sent some sharp jabs in the direction of his fellow Massachusian Mitt Romney, saying that Mitt “is sort of running against Mitt right now.” He went on to say there is uncertainty among voters about Romney’s political beliefs and that “pretty soon he is going to have more positions on healthcare than he has voters.”

During an interview with comic Felonious Munk, FBN host Don Imus trashed Republican frontrunner Newt Gingrich. ‘That’s a repulsive individual!” Imus exclaimed. “That’s a greasy, repulsive individual, man.”

John McCain joined Fox Business Network’s Don Imus on his Imus in the Morning show Monday morning, and, in a nine-minute segment, the duo hit on everything from Pakistan to a plane crash at Superstition Mountain. But McCain and Imus excelled when talking on topics that had a lighter tone; namely, MSNBC’s hiring of the senator’s daughter, Meghan McCain, and the greed associated with college football re-alignment.

During a rundown of the polls this morning, Fox Business Network anchor/curmudgeon Don Imus colorfully ripped apart Republican frontrunner Newt Gingrich, calling the former Speaker of the House “disgusting.” “He’s a fat, repulsive pig! I hate to be so harsh,” Imus sniped. “You go out in the woods and find a piece of old, dead wood, you left it up and underneath there’s a bunch of bugs crawling around and white stuff…that’s Newt Gingrich.”

In a fiery on-air altercation, Neil Cavuto ripped into Don Imus for criticizing his viewership on the Fox Business Network. “My ratings are very consistent,” lambasted Cavuto. “Yours are not, because people don’t like you.”

Radio host and Fox Business personality Don Imus believes that Fox News colleague Megyn Kelly can get a “little hysterical” for his taste. Imus, you see, had Martha MacCallum — who sat in for Kelly on America Live while the latter was on maternity leave — on as his guest. And the radio host decided to share with MacCallum his thoughts on a number of big names at Fox News, including Kelly.

Chris Wallace struck back at pundit Ann Coulter‘s criticism of his question to Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Fox Business’s Imus In The Morning. “You know, ever since Ms. Coulter attacked the 9/11 widows and said they were self-promoters, who were enjoying their husband’s death on 9/11, I stopped paying attention to her,” Wallace said.

Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar Doris Kearns Goodwin phoned into Don Imus‘s show on Fox Business and spoke glowingly of the Occupy Wall Street movement. “I think it’s exciting, to tell you the truth,” Kearns gushed. “One of the things FDR said is there’s a mysterious cycle of human events, periodic cycles of activism and reform. When you see people out there finally talking about what’s happening to the country — we saw it in the progressive era, we’ve seen it in the 60′s, we’ve seen it to some extent in the tea party and now we’re seeing it here.” “We need you down there to break out your old 60′s headband!” Imus exclaimed. “We need you down there to provide them focus.” Imus later gave advice to the protestors to make their arguments stronger.

On Fox Business this morning, Don Imus criticized the backlash over Hank Williams Jr’s controversial comments. “Hank’s getting a bum rap on this. The folks at Fox and Fiends didn’t help him by throwing him right under the bus!”

Bill O’Reilly responded to Fox News chairman Roger Ailes‘s comments in Howard Kurtz‘s Newsweek cover story regarding his hatred for Sean Hannity and the idea that he was “scared” of Glenn Beck. “Oh, that’s absolutely true,” O’Reilly joked on Don Imus‘ radio program yesterday. “But I hate everybody. You can throw any name in there.”

The opinion news media (and, ahem, those who cover it) have experienced something of a love/hate relationship to the debt crisis. On the one hand, it’s nearly impossible to create engaging, insightful commentary on the fact that something is still not happening. But, then again, the opinion news machine is nothing if not creative in what it elects to report on and the narratives spun out of these headlines. So let’s take a moment and analyze those in the media who came out on top in their coverage of the debt discussions, be that coverage straightforward reporting or subjective analysis, and those who dropped the ball somewhere along the way.

Alan Colmes spoke with Don Imus this morning, and no topic was off limits as they tackled Neil Cavuto‘s “big head,” how the Democrats “folded like a cheap suit” during the debt negotiations and whether Pat Buchanan referring to President Obama as “your boy” in a conversation with Al Sharpton was racially tinged. Given Buchanan’s history, Colmes thought Buchanan might have some ‘splainin’ to do.

Fox News’ new White House Correspondent Ed Henry spoke with Don Imus for the first time and wasn’t shy about admitting just how happy he is to be working at Fox and how amusing he finds some of the criticism. Imus teed up Henry’s response by asking “when did you come over from the dark side, CNN” and Henry didn’t disappoint by making it clear what team he is on now.

Don Imus seems as sick of this debt crisis debate as many Americans (and certainly a number of cable news personalities). He also seems apparently sick of Neil Cavuto‘s insolence, as the radio icon joined the Fox News host for a bizarre debt ceiling debate that began with Imus questioning the relationship between Rep. Ben and former Vice President Dan Quayle, had him admitting to doing “a couple of lines of cocaine,” and ended with a begrudging prediction that “[Sen.] Harry Reid and those clowns” would solve the debt problem.

As the August 2nd deadline for America to pay its bills approaches, the possibility of the nation defaulting on its debt looms ever nearer, with Republicans appearing further than ever from compromise. This morning on Imus, House Investigations leader Rep. Darrell Issa explained the frustrations in his party– Democrats appeared unwilling to agree to short-term cuts, and long-term promises, he argued, “are just crap.”

Chris Wallace spoke with Don Imus this morning and shared his thoughts on Michele Bachmann‘s headaches and the News Corp. phone hacking scandal. While Imus found some laughs in each story, Wallace said Bachmann’s migraines should not disqualify her from running for President and insisted Fox News is giving plenty of attention to the controversy with its parent company.

Sean Hannity continued venting his frustration with Bill Maher‘s most recent jokes about conservative female politicians, and hoped to find a sympathetic ear with Don Imus, someone who famously got in much trouble for his controversial comments. While Imus tended to think Maher was merely a comedian, Hannity instead thought Maher was now simply “over the line.”

Bob Schieffer joked that he was “Mr. Sunshine” in his conversation with Don Imus this morning. Schieffer was pessimistic about the ongoing debt negotiations, particularly disappointed that Republicans were wasting time and President Obama wasn’t really demonstrating much progress either.

The recent “are you a flake” question heard around the world posed by Chris Wallace to Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was revisited by Don Imus this morning as Imus told Wallace that he thought it was actually Bachmann who treated Wallace unfairly, and not the other way around.

Media critic and journalist for The Daily Beast Howard Kurtz spoke with Don Imus this morning and continued to express his frustration with the media’s obsessive coverage of the Casey Anthony trial and verdict. Kurtz suggested it makes his “blood boil” that “basically a local crime story” was turned into a national soap opera by the media. Yet Imus humorously responded, “become a brain surgeon if you’re so unhappy with the media.”

Democratic political strategist and co-host of the new Fox News show The Five, Bob Beckel, spoke with Don Imus this morning and attempted to promote his new role. Yet he may have been a bit too blunt with his expectations, revealing that he doubts any of Glenn Beck‘s audience will stick around and watch his new show in the same time slot.