Hemmer: Megyn’s “Sexual Tension”

Sexist slam or merely bad joke? You decide. After an especially contentious interview between America’s Newsroom co-anchor Megyn Kelly and White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton (over the “chilling effect” of the WH’s solicitation of “fishy” healthcare e-mails), co-host Bill Hemmer seemed somewhat dismissive. Addressing Megyn, he declared, “The sexual tension between the two of you is so real and vivid.”

Megyn demanded, “Did you say, ‘Sexual tension?'” Digging himself in deeper, Hemmer replied, “It was a joke: I’m only kidding. I love when the two of you flirt.” With her hands and legs crossed and her eyes downward cast, an incredulous Megyn animatedly asked, “Flirt?” Defensively, Bill asserted, “Yeah. Well, [that] was a joke, too.” Aptly, Megyn responded, “Alright, I’m not going to touch that one with a ten-foot pole.” Trying to laugh it off, Bill replied, “Please, don’t!”

Perhaps, Bill did not intend to belittle her tough questioning of Burton but he did in the author’s opinion. Megyn is a talented and tenacious interviewer who deserves to be respected, not demeaned. Of course, she does not need to be defended by the author or anyone else: She is more than capable of running with–and ahead of–the big boys.

AN – 08/12/09 – @10:23 a.m. ET

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F&F Bashes Burton Back

Sex sells: White House rails! After Fox News reported that the White House had given out a sex chat phone number accidentally to journalists for an “on-the-record briefing call with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton…to discuss the NATO summit,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton was not amused. He acerbically asserted, “A corrected phone number on a press release is probably one of the stupider things FOX News has covered lately.”

Today Fox & Friends hit back. In the show’s first segment, F&F co-anchor Gretchen Carlson stated, “I think it’s totally immature what he said.” Co-host Steve Doocy declared, “Well, Bill, get the number right in the first place and we won’t talk about it!” Carlson continued, “We always commented during the campaign about how nice he was to come on our show, and [sic] how young he was, and how successful he was to have that position but this is an immature line: He’s showing his age by saying a comment like that!”

Later, in the final hour during Geraldo Rivera’s weekly program promo, Steve brought up the issue again. Of Geraldo, Gretch asked, “Why does he [Burton] have to be immature like that?” Geraldo responded, “It’s surly, it’s gratuitous, [and] it’s a cheap shot.”

Fox & Friends or Fox & Fiends? Carpe Diem reports: You decide.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/02/white-house-corrects-toll-free-number-mishap/

Megyn 2 O’Reilly: Who Cares?

On the O’Reilly Factor last night, a strong, sexy, and assertive Megyn Kelly dismissed Bill O’Reilly’s palaver the same way that she does other East Coast political panjandrums. In the “In the Crosshairs” segment concerning Megyn’s confrontational interview with Barack Obama spokesman Bill Burton (after he accused FNC, Drudge, and McCain of an alliance), an impertinent O’Reilly asked, “Are you rooting for McCain?” Megyn responded, “Who cares who I’m rooting for? It’s irrelevant.” Megyn then asserted that she had received flack from both sides for her tough interrogations of their respective spokesmen.

If one has watched Megyn interview both Bill Burton and Tucker Bounds (McCain spokesman) on America’s Newsroom, one would be hard pressed to view her as anything other than an equal opportunity abuser.

Megyn Flustered

Spirited Megyn Kelly, America’s Newsroom co-host, got flustered a bit today in her segment with Joe Farah, WorldNetDaily.com editor and friend of Obama Nation author Jerome Corsi. (Corsi had been detained by the Kenyan government because he allegedly did not have a work permit.) The feisty, foxy esquire prefaced her interview with statements that Corsi was in Kenya to promote his “unflattering” book, had been deported, and had made “disproven” claims that Obama was raised a Muslim.

Farah responded, “Let me correct a few errors there”: He stated that Corsi had not been deported and that Obama had indeed been raised a Muslim. Defensively, Megyn responded, “Understood but there’s no dispute that today Barack Obama is not a Muslim.” Farah replied that Corsi said that Obama is a Christian today. Megyn answered, “Got it. Okay. I’m not trying to smear Jerome Corsi.”

Then Megyn asserted that the AP had good sources and that it had said that Corsi had been deported and that she did not know the truth. Then she claimed anew that Corsi had gone over to promote his book: Farah scoffed, “Nobody goes to Kenya to promote a book: Jerome Corsi went down to continue his investigative work into Obama’s connections with Prime Minister Odinga.” After Farah elaborated further, Megyn heatedly replied, “Listen, don’t get defensive: I’m just trying to get to the bottom of why your guy has been detained in Kenya.”

Megyn relishes a combative approach to her interviews. E.g., later in AN, she put Obama spokesman Bill Burton (as to Bill Ayers) and McCain spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer (as to the Keating Five) through their paces in rigorous aerobic workouts. (The generally conservative Megyn does not seem to be in the tank for either candidate.) However, today she seemed to take more from Farah than she dished out.

Cf. https://jakeho.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/gretch-sandbagged/ for a similar dust-up between Gretchen Carlson and Lanny Davis.

Megyn’s Aerobics Class

Megyn Kelly, America’s Newsroom co-host and former aerobics instructor, put Barack Obama spokesman Bill Burton through a heart-pounding exercise program today. Previously, the physically fit blonde had put John McCain’s spokesman Tucker Bounds through an equally rigorous regimen the same day that Bill Hemmer Hammered Obamaton.* In today’s show, an NRA ad aired that alleged that Obama supported a handgun ban: Burton seemed to evade the issue initially but realized that Megyn would have none of it.

Even though Burton denied that Obama favored the banning of handguns, Megyn pointed to a questionaire with a question answered in the affirmative and an amended one with the same answer and Obama’s personal annotations on it. Megyn gave him no quarter throughout the interview but let Burton know that it was not personal at its end: she said, “Bill Burton, thanks so much for coming on: always fun sparring with you, Buddy.”

Megyn’s Aerobics: Good for your mind, too.

*Cf. https://jakeho.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/hemmer-hammers-obamaton

Hemmer Hammers Obamaton

Bill Hemmer, America’s Newsroom co-host, hammered Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton for an ad attacking John McCain as being out of touch. The commercial claimed that McCain can’t use a computer nor send e-mail: however, it failed to mentioned that McCain reportedly cannot use a keyboard because of his prisoner-of-war injuries. Hemmer asked Burton repeatedly about the assertion: Burton continued to skirt the issue by robotically repeating his talking points and failing to respond. At the end of the interview, an exasperated Hemmer said, “I asked you a lot of questions some [of which] you answered part way but next time we’ll do it again.”

Another example of the “ferocity” promised by David Plouffe?