There’s nothing wrong with Fox News’ Jesse Watters ambushing Senator Bernie Sanders in public, per se. But Watters wasn’t trying to get answers, he was trying to embarrass and demean Sanders.
The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discussed this point in a recent video, below.
“If you’re gonna come in there and ask him [Sanders] hard questions about his policies, then I actually would be 100% on your side,” Uygur said about Watters. But, Uygur pointed out, “They treated him like a joke.”
Kasparian added, “It is a reporter’s job, a reporter’s duty to ask the tough questions. But the questions have to have some sort of credibility behind them...and the questions he was asking were just ridiculous!”
As I previously noted, O’Reilly's excuse for ambushing Sanders was bogus in the first place. O’Reilly complained that Sanders “has been dodging us” when, in fact, Sanders appeared on The O’Reilly Factor in April. How much more interest do you really think O'Reilly had in what Sanders has to say?
In fact, if O’Reilly really wanted to interview Sanders, he’d have made sure Sanders was asked real questions and not only ones meant to demean him such as, “You’re not so big time now that you’re gonna forget about your friends, right?" and "O’Reilly’s a little concerned that if you do become president you might seize his house. Should he be worried?"
Furthermore, Hillary Clinton has not been on The Factor at all. As Uygur comments in the video, Watters will almost certainly not be ambushing her.
I’m not as optimistic about Sanders’ chances at becoming president as Uygur is. But for those of us who recall O’Reilly’s meltdown when President Obama was re-elected, “President Sanders” would certainly be a lovely payback for this hit job.
@ Ed Bradford – The Donald’s same old, same old will quickly wear thin with even his most avid supporters. If, by some miracle, he makes it through the primaries, any of the three potential Dem candidates will make mincemeat of him in the debates. He has said a lot of words, but has no solutions. Trump elected? Nah. He’ll never get past the more experienced Jeb! or Christy.
No-spin Bill O’Reilly is anything but no-spin. Sycophant Jesse Watters has hitched his wagon to “The Factor” hoping, I assume, to hit the right-wing big-time on Fox News and get a real job. Right-wingers, of course, love his political hatchet jobs and swallow the propaganda down whole. As all the liberals are pointing out, it it’s a transparent hit piece trying to embarrasses Sanders.
What I don’t get is GOP TV’s strategy. Sure, they hate Sanders like they hate all liberals. However, GOP TV has been unusually kind to both Sanders and potential candidate Biden (previously they pretty much only covered his gaffs and son’s death). My thought was Fox News hates Hillary Clinton with such a burning passion and sees her as a threat to them seizing control of D.C. and shoving Ailes’ right-wing wet dream down America’s throat so they’re building up the opposition.
Is Bill off script? Or did jackass Jesse not get the memo? Or is what it is on its face – Bill trying to push Sanders onto “The Factor” yet being unexpectedly kind to him when he shows up with some smirking ‘See, Bernie, I’m a fair, nice guy’ at the end?
I still stick to my position posted on another News Hounds thread, Sanders should have stopped and addressed Jesse’s bs. He’s an experienced politician and he’s smart and articulate enough to handle a wuss like Jesse who’s nothing but a clown. Which is an extension of what Cent is saying.
Sanders had a similar issue with Black Lives Matter interrupting his stump speeches. He becomes grumpy and runs away. It looks bad. Really bad.
As to Watters NOT doing this to Clinton is because