Bernie Sanders did a good job of smacking down Chris Wallace’s argument that Fox News should hold a Democratic candidates’ debate. But Wallace’s disingenuous argument was probably proof enough that Fox would not be the fair moderator Wallace claimed.
Near the end of the interview, there was this exchange between Sanders and Wallace (with my emphases):
WALLACE: Finally, sir, the Republicans have held debates on all the networks, but the Democrats, so far, have refused to hold a debate on Fox. You are coming on here tonight. We’re very grateful. I hope you feel that you haven’t been mistreated. Would you be willing to participate in a Democratic debate on Fox News?
SANDERS: If we went—were clear to understand what the game—the guidelines were and what the rules were and to make sure that they were fair and the DNC was in favor of it, I would have no objection.
WALLACE: Well, you—I assume you’ve seen this interview we just did. I hope you’ve seen the interviews we’ve done with the Republicans.
SANDERS: Well, I have seen this interview—Chris, I have seen this interview, but I have also seen other interviews. So if I could have a guarantee and knew who the questioners were and if the framework for the debate was fair, I would have no objection.
WALLACE: Well, I’ll take that as a definite maybe. Senator Sanders, we want to thank you so much for coming on. Please come back, sir.
SANDERS: OK. Thank you very much, Chris.
While Wallace was trying to suggest that Democrats were afraid of tough questions that Republicans willingly faced, he “forgot” how the Republicans suspended NBC from the debate calendar after complaints about the CNBC debate.
Also, the GOP debate schedule so far includes no debates from either MSNBC or PBS.
Watch the complete Bernie Sanders interview below, from the Feburary 14 Fox News Sunday.