Barack Obama, who boasts about his alleged "post partisan" philosophy, can not seem to resist appeasing the left wing blogosphere by making cheap shots at Fox News. Obama, who enjoys overwhelmingly positive coverage from the mainstream press, blasted Fox News for daring to interview an author critical of him.
"I don’t find myself particularly scary or particularly risky. But, but, you know, I mean they’re good at it. So they got these ads with Paris and Britney. They’ve got some guy who just wrote a book. He’s just making stuff up. Just make stuff up. But it gets a lot of play on Fox News."
The co-hosts of "Fox and Friends" responded to this attack on the August 21 edition. Gretchen Carlson and Steve Doocy acknowledged that Jerome Corsi, author of "Obama Nation," did appear on "Fox and Friends," but to debate Democratic partisan Bob Beckel.
Steve Doocy also noted Fox News was not the only venue that gave Jerome Corsi air time. Both CNN and C-SPAN interviewed Corsi.
The entire transcript is below.
GRETCHEN CARLSON: Let’s turn back to politics because Barack Obama had some very interesting things to say about something that’s near and dear to our hearts, our employer, Fox News. He ripped us again about that number one "New York Times" best seller in non-fiction by Jerome Corsi, "Obama Nation." He ripped Fox News for putting that guy on our air even though he’s been on other people’s air as well.
STEVE DOOCY: Absolutely. The shot happened yesterday. We’ve got the sound bite of Mr. Obama. Let’s listen to that first.
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): I don’t find myself particularly scary or particularly risky. But, but, you know, I mean they’re good at it. So they got these ads with Paris and Britney. They’ve got some guy who just wrote a book. He’s just making stuff up. Just make stuff up. But it gets a lot of play on Fox News.
DOOCY: Okay, thanks Senator. Now here’s the thing about that shot. Jerome Corsi, who has the number one book in America right now, according to "The New York Times" for the third straight week, he has been on this show. He’s been on this show a couple of times and every time he’s been, the first two times he was on, he, he would make a point and there would be a debate.
CARLSON: Bob Beckel would be there.
DOOCY: Right, exactly with Bob Beckel.
BRIAN KILMEADE: Twice.
DOOCY: He was on last week talking about the death threats he was starting receiving ever since he wrote this book. Now, Mr. Corsi, if you would just listen to Barack Obama’s sound bite, you would think that he’s only been on Fox News. Not so fast. He’s been on C-SPAN, he’s been on CNN, he’s been on a bunch of TV outfits. So for him to take a shot at us, it seems like Barack Obama left off the rest of the list.
CARLSON: Well, even Howard Wolfson, who used to run the Clinton campaign, said when he joined us just an hour ago, that maybe it wasn’t such a smart idea for Barack Obama to do this because when you look at the audience of Fox News, it’s a lot of Democrats, and a lot of independents, and Republicans.
KILMEADE: And here’s the thing. There’s got to be some worry inside Barack Obama’s campaign. Even though momentum is about to go his way because he’s going to pick a VP and that’s going to get a lot of publicity. And then he’s going to this convention and he could probably, at the conservative side, get at least ten points. But I think overall, you have to be wondering if the message is going to resonate, or has he indeed been drowned out? And is it Senator McCain that’s taking this lead away, or his he losing it?
DOOCY: In our first hour of "Fox and Friends" for this Thursday, we were lucky enough to have Governor Mike Huckabee with us. He took a look at that sound bite and afterwards this was his reaction.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR MIKE HUCKABEE: He’s not some agent of change. He’s not into a new politic. Look, when he’s taking on Fox News, he’s taking the bait. He’s showing that he’s just a politician who is really thin skinned about the attacks that he’s receiving. He’s running for president. Of course there’s going to be some stuff that he doesn’t like. And instead of staying above it, and being the guy that’s changing the face of politics, he’s down in the street with his fist clenched. And people are beginning to see that.
