Chris Wallace Didn’t Want To Hear Obama Criticize GOP Candidates

You'd think an interviewer from "fair and balanced" Fox News Sunday would have pressed President Obama to sound off about the Republican presidential candidates. But not Chris Wallace. He didn't even want to bring the subject up during their big interview that's set to air tomorrow.

Wallace appeared on The Five yesterday to tease his Fox News Sunday interview with Obama. The Five cohost Juan Williams wanted to know Obama’s thoughts on the Republican campaign. But, alas, we won’t know from this interview:

WILLIAMS: When you are talking to this president, and the Democrats always say, “Oh, we don’t like to come on Fox. We have this problem, we had that problem.” But here’s President Obama sitting down with you. What does he have to say about the Republican campaign, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Governor Kasich?

WALLACE : […] I didn’t ask him specifically about that ‘cause, frankly, he doesn’t have any problem taking off and criticizing Cruz and Trump. And he does take a veiled shot at both of them in this thing when he’s talking about the terror and some of the comments they’ve made, like “carpet bombing.”

But I did ask him – and I thought this was interesting – about the anger that we’re seeing in this election and the fact that it’s not just on the Republican side but also on the Democratic side with the Bernie Sanders voters. And I said, “Do you feel any personal responsibility that after years of your presidency, so many millions of Americans still feel cut out, still feel like there’s a rigged game in Washington and a rigged game on Wall Street?” He takes some responsibility but I will say he shares the blame with the Republicans.

In other words, Wallace didn’t want to hear comments that might be damaging to Republicans. But he did want to promote right-wing talking points that blame Obama for Donald Trump’s rise and make Democrats look bad.

By the way, you can bet that Hillary Clinton's emails will come up.

I’m a big proponent of Democrats and liberals going on Fox but I believe they must be prepared to respond to and reframe Fox’s agenda, not just answer their questions. Why? Because the questions, alone, are biased, as Wallace inadvertently revealed. So while I feel the Dems should get over it already, it’s no wonder that they don’t want to appear.

Watch it below, from the April 8 The Five.

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Showing 5 reactions

commented 2016-04-10 06:29:58 -0400 · Flag

mj that’s cause Wallace is channeling his inner Ebenezer Scrooge. Except this time Scrooge is hiding under his bed covers. That way, there is no ghost of Christmas past, no ghost of Christmas present or no ghost of Christmas yet to come.

It’s a lot more complicated than their usual game plan of see no evil, hear no evil or speak no evil.

commented 2016-04-09 23:12:43 -0400 · Flag

WALLACE: But I did ask him – and I thought this was interesting – about the anger that we’re seeing in this election and the fact that it’s not just on the Republican side but also on the Democratic side with the Bernie Sanders voters. And I said, “Do you feel any personal responsibility that after years of your presidency, so many millions of Americans still feel cut out, still feel like there’s a rigged game in Washington and a rigged game on Wall Street?”

Riiiight, Chris . . . ’cause, there was no rigged game in Washington or Wall Street prior to January 20, 2009.

That’s Fox for you: determined to milk the “its all Obama’s fault” meme right up until 11:59 AM EST on January 20, 2017 . . .

.

commented 2016-04-09 22:57:03 -0400 · Flag

Wallace admitted on Jesse Watters horror show last night that he absolutely went for the right wing talking points at every opportunity. He tried to get President Obama to attack Clinton, specifically in reference to the emails. The obvious point of the interview was to subject Obama to as many nonsensical right wing red meat tosses as Wallace could fit within a 30 minute window for his interview.

commented 2016-04-09 21:48:34 -0400 · Flag

Is anyone really surprise!!!!!!! It’s not even shocking any more,I know this President will hold his own.

commented 2016-04-09 19:49:55 -0400 · Flag

Well, the problem is they are playing against a stacked deck. Wallace is about as balanced as Fox has. However, as Bill Clinton showed, he knows what his audience wants to — and doesn’t want to — hear. I would say anybody who goes on Fox needs to be ready to fight from the start.