Sure, folks may be buzzing about Lindsay Lohan‘s “Playboy” debut, but there’s another reason why Washingtonians should take note of this month’s issue. Fox News Channel’s Chris Wallace is the “Playboy” interview subject (for that role, he keeps his clothes on) and peppers the pages with his thoughts on other television personalities, his polished upbringing and his evolving politics.
When assessing his TV peers, he says he’s not a fan of Arianna Huffington, simply because he can’t understand her. “I think she’d have more credibility if she didn’t have such a thick accent, she’s been in this country for how many decades?” Wallace asked. “It’s like Henry Kissinger — lose the accent already!”
He didn’t have a lot of positive things to say about CNN’s Anderson Cooper or MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow either. “I think he’s a serious guy, I think he’s an attractive guy, he’s just not somebody I have any desire to watch,” Wallace said of Cooper. “I find her smart-alecky,” he responded, dodging the question of whether Maddow was “watchable.”
“Playboy’s” David Hochman called out Wallace for being kind of a square, an assessment the veteran broadcaster didn’t disagree with. Wallace said he’d smoked one cigarette in his life, never drank an entire cup of coffee, “inhaled” fewer times than the number of fingers on his one hand and remains a cheap drunk. “Even now, if I have a gin and tonic, my wife is like, ‘Oh my God!'” he admitted.
Of course Wallace also talked politics, including how some of his own opinions have changed. Most notably, he now supports gay marriage after attending a friend’s wedding. Wallace and his wife went to the nuptials of chef Art Smith, of Art & Soul restaurant, Smith’s longtime partner Jesus Salguerio. “When I went to it, I couldn’t help but think, I just wish all the critics could come to this and see this, because what’s the big deal?” Wallace concluded.
