Chris Wallace had some tough love Friday morning for his Fox News colleagues that took issue with President Barack Obama knocking the network in a televised speech.
“There’s a reason fewer Republicans are running against Obamacare – because while good, affordable health care might seem like a fanged threat to the freedom of the American people on Fox News, it’s working pretty well in the real world,” Obama told an audience Thursday at Northwestern University.
The hosts of “Fox and Friends” joked that the President was referring directly to Wallace, who hosts the network’s flagship Sunday news program.
“I don’t know why anybody would be upset about that. It’s kind of a badge of honor,” Wallace responded. “First of all, I think it’s fair game. We’re big boys. We have been very critical of the President and Obamacare, and I think rightly so. It’s not like we think there’s anything wrong with our reporting. The President is trying to gin up his base about a month before the election, calls us out. We should view it as a badge of honor.”
“I just didn’t think we belonged in the dialogue,” Brian Kilmeade insisted. “Just tell me what you think and take on the other party.”
“Are we at the presidential level?” Steve Doocy asked. “Isn’t he punching down?”
“Stop being crybabies, my gosh,” Wallace said.
“You criticize the president for being thin skinned and you’re being thin skinned,” he added as the hosts continued to protest.
Other network personalities were incredulous that Obama called Fox News out in his speech. The hosts of “The Five” — minus token Democrat Bob Beckel — went off on the President for the slight and knocked him for downplaying Obamacare as an election issue.
“He bashes FNC more than ISIS, and we don’t behead anybody,” Greg Gutfeld said.
“If I would’ve had a draft speech sent to me for review that took a shot at MSNBC, I would’ve been on the ceiling,” Dana Perino chimed in. “The thing is, the President never would have said it. President Bush never would’ve said it.”
On “The O’Reilly Factor,” host Bill O’Reilly said it was understandable that Obama would take a swipe at Fox News given that the network has hit the President hard over the last few months as his administration struggled through several scandals.
Laura Ingraham disagreed with O’Reilly and accused the President of lifting from the playbook of late left-wing organizer Saul Alinsky.
“Liberalism, Obama-style, is failing,” she said. “So, it’s Fox’s fault, it’s talk radio’s fault, it’s Laura Ingraham’s fault, ‘she’s being mean to Obama.'”
Watch the “Fox and Friends” segment below, courtesy of Fox News:
