Check out the grilling Fox & Friends gave candidate Greg Orman (I-KS) – who may prevent Republicans from taking over the Senate - over the faux controversy of his “clown car” comment. Then let’s compare that to their treatment of Republican Joni Ernst who was embroiled in a real controversy of ducking Iowa's editorial boards.
Orman is in a very tight race against Republican incumbent Pat Roberts. The Democratic candidate has dropped out. As I write this, the RealClearPolitics average has Orman up by .8.
Yesterday’s Washington Post explains the “clown car” kerfuffle:
Speaking earlier last Friday, Orman derided the stream of GOP surrogates who have come to Kansas to boost Sen. Pat Roberts (R), a three-term incumbent. Political visitors have included Mitt Romney, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). “It sort of seems like a Washington establishment clown car to me. Every day a new person comes out of that car,” Orman said.
In concert with Republicans, Fox News seized on that comment as an insult against the eminent Bob Dole.
WaPo also noted that Orman has since sent Dole a lengthy email of explanation that included the following:
“My reference to a ‘clown car’ was commenting on the near-endless number of political supporters of Senator [Pat] Roberts who have piled out of Washington to support him, none of whom I think are clowns. I certainly wasn’t calling you - or any of the others supporting Senator Roberts - a ‘clown.’”
This morning, Fox & Friends spent more than 2½ minutes of their 7½ minutes with Orman on this faux issue.
Steve Doocy said, “It sure sounded like you referred to Bob Dole as a clown.”
Brian Kilmeade chimed in to quote Dole, saying, “I don’t think I’ve ever been called a clown before. I’m disappointed by Mr. Orman’s statement.”
Kimberly Guilfoyle said condemningly, “You called it a ‘clown car’ so doesn’t that make sense that anybody coming out of that ‘clown car’ of supporters is a clown? Why would you call it a ‘clown car’ if there aren’t clowns inside? That’s the disconnect with the voters and why people are upset.”
Orman explainined he was referring to the “never-ending stream of people coming out of Washington.” As if the Curvy Couch wouldn’t have made the same point on his behalf had he been a Republican speaking that way about Democrats. Instead, Doocy condescendingly said, “Maybe that would have been better to say than ‘clown car.’”
And even that was not the end of it. As our reader Rob said in his email to us about the segment, the hosts acted like they were running a congressional confirmation hearing.
Let’s compare that to the lapdog behavior from the hosts when Iowa’s Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst visited recently. She's in another tight race that could determine control of the Senate. As I wrote then, there were no pesky about criticisms against her for canceling major editorial board meetings in Iowa in which she would have been asked substantive questions about her policy prescriptions. This as she has deliberately hidden her Tea Party persona under an Iowa-farm-girl persona.
Instead, she got fawning softballs that promoted that persona, such as this one:
It appears you’ve captured the imagination of voters and the national voters’ imagination. Tell us about your background. Why is your experience as a lieutenant colonel in the national guard, an experience in Iraq, and a tour there, how will that assist you in this campaign and how will that assist you in being a United States Senator if you win?
Watch the two interviews below: