Gillibrand Spars With Fox News Host Who Kept Interrupting Her During Town Hall

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Presidential hopeful Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) came to her Fox News town hall ready to rumble on Sunday, getting into scrapes with host Chris Wallace about gender equality and abortion as he interrupted her comments.

She garnered raucous applause after her parries on inclusion and intersectionality.

“We want women to have a seat at the table,” Gillibrand said.

Wallace interrupted: “What about men?”

“They’re already there,” Gillibrand shot back, “do you not know? It’s not meant to be exclusionary, it’s meant to be inclusionary.”

She also did not hold back on Fox News’ coverage of the abortion debate, accusing the network of spreading a “false narrative” around the issue.

Wallace again cut her off. “I understand, maybe, to make your credentials with the Democrats who are not appearing on Fox News, you want to attack us, I’m not sure it’s frankly very polite when we’ve invited you to be here,” he snapped.

Unfazed, she continued, though she said she’d attack the network “politely.”

“The debate about whether or not women should have reproductive freedom has turned into a red herring debate,” she said. “What happens on Fox News is relevant because they talked about infanticide for six and a half hours — six and a half hours — right before President Trump’s State of the Union. That is not the debate of what access to reproductive care is in this country.”

Gillibrand has struggled to get her campaign off the ground, not yet qualifying for the first Democratic debates. Back in April, she blamed her lackluster fundraising on donors being vindictive because of her calls for then-Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to resign.

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Notable Replies

  1. So basically, “we invited you, you’ve got to be nice to us”.

    But Warren is the “problem” for not accepting.

    And Wallace is one of the “fair” and “moderate” hosts.

  2. Gillibrand’s points are good and I like some of her phrasing. But judging from polls, I’m afraid she might not be the best messenger for her messages. I hope the eventual winner can adopt some of her thinkings.

  3. “I’m not sure it’s frankly very polite when we’ve invited you to be here,” he snapped.”

    Guess the memo from the home office made it down to the troops.

  4. Avatar for jcs jcs says:

    Wallace interupts constantly, while she politely rebukes him. Speaks volumes.

    Don’t let women at the table. Don’t let them talk. Don’t let their voices be heard.
    All while pretending to be a news source.

    Not only was Gillibrand polite, she did it while speaking of the obsurdity of the anti-abortion Republican men infanticide argument.

    Dripping irony.

  5. Gillenbrand had to take questions from a Republican operative, Chris Wallace, at her Democratic Primary town hall. That is the only way to describe it. Chris Wallace is an agent of the Fox News corporation. Fox News is an appendage of the Republican party, with the former Republican house speaker a member of their board.

    While Gillenbrand handled this well, she shouldn’t have been there in the first place. My support will be for candidates like Warren and Harris, who don’t feed the Fox beast.

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