Fox News civil war: Sarah Palin vs. Chris Wallace edition! After an interview with Senator Ted Cruz on Fox News Sunday today over his plan to defund Obamacare, Wallace mentioned he had received "unsolicited" attack material from Republicans who wanted it used against Cruz. Not long after, Palin took to Twitter to attack Wallace for not naming names.
As I posted a few days ago, Cruz infuriated a lot of Republicans earlier this week when, after making a lot of showy demands that the GOP defund Obamacare, he conceded defeat in the Senate as soon as the House Republicans passed a resolution defunding it. Today, on Fox News Sunday, Wallace grilled him on the subject. Wallace cited three on-the-record criticisms of Cruz from fellow Republicans. Cruz refused to respond.
Later, during the panel discussion, Wallace highlighted the Republican antagonism to Karl Rove, obviously not a fan of Cruz. Wallace said, "(A)s soon as we listed Ted Cruz as our featured guest this week, I got unsolicited research and questions, not from Democrats, but from top Republicans ...to hammer Cruz. Why are Republicans so angry at Ted Cruz?"
One would strongly suspect that at least some of that unsolicited research came from Rove, himself. As Crooks and Liars pointed out, conservative heads exploded around the internet in response to Wallace's remarks, including those of Fox News contributors Michelle Malkin and Sarah Palin. But unlike Malkin, who tweeted, "'See your filthy paw prints, Rove' Who sent oppo research on Ted Cruz to Chris Wallace?" Palin went after Wallace. She tweeted: "@FoxNewsSunday Keep it TRULY fair & balanced. Release the GOP names encouraging you to trash @SenTedCruz. No more anonymous sources."
Given that Ailes notoriously dislikes "shooting in the tent" at Fox, this could be problematic for Palin. Also, since Wallace had already cited three on-the-record GOP attacks on Cruz, it's hard to see why more names would be relevant.
It's worth noting that Palin and Rove hate each other, too.
Grab the popcorn!
Videos below are of Wallace's contentious interview with Cruz (via Fox News) and a clip from his panel discussion via Crooks and Liars.