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Biden blasts Fox News at WHCA dinner, offers COS to ‘tell Sean Hannity what to say’

May 1, 2022 | | Print Article

 

The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner took place in D.C. Saturday, and not surprisingly, Fox News received its share of swipes, including from President Joe Biden who noted that every Fox News anchor in attendance had to be “fully vaccinated and boosted,” despite any doubts they may have expressed on the network.

“Everyone had to prove they’re fully vaccinated and boosted,” the President said. “So if you’re at home watching this, and you’re wondering how to do that, just contact your favorite Fox News reporter. They’re all here — vaccinated and boosted — all of them.”

As the crowd roared, the camera panned to Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy, whose frequent verbal spars with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki have been the subject of many a post on social media.

Biden took several jabs at former President Donald Trump, who boycotted the annual WHCA dinner during his time in office, telling Fox News, he’s “really sorry your preferred candidate lost the last election.”

Biden saved a special punchline for Fox’s Sean Hannity, referencing an exchange of election-day text messages between Hannity and then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadow.

“To make it up to you,” Biden told Fox, “I’m happy to give my chief-of-staff to you all so he can tell Sean Hannity what to say every day.”

Biden opened his address with a Trump joke in which he referred to his predecessor’s time in office as a “horrible plague.”

“This is the first time a president has attended this dinner in six years,” Biden said. “It’s understandable. We had a horrible plague followed by two years of COVID.”

Needless to say — given soaring inflation, crippling gas costs, spikes in crime, and warnings of impending food shortages — the joke didn’t sit well with some conservatives.

Fox and the COVID vaccine was fodder for many a predictable joke during the evening.

The Daily Show host Trevor Noah likened Fox to a Waffle House saying, “It’s relatively normal in the afternoon, but as soon as the sun goes down, there’s a drunk lady named Jeanine threatening to fight every Mexican who comes in.”

He then took aim at Fox’s primetime lineup.

 

 

“How about that Fox primetime lineup? Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham,” Noah said. “Their coverage of COVID was really impactful. Their segments about vaccines moved their viewers — into the ICU.”

Noah honed in on Hannity, commenting on his designation as the longest-running cable news host in history and on his personal relationship with Fox & Friends cohost Ainsley Earhardt.

“I actually think its beautiful to see an office romance at Fox that won’t end in a $20 million settlement,” joked Noah. “I’m sure wherever Roger Ailes is right now, he’s looking up and smiling.”

Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson were next in Noah’s crosshairs.

“Laura Ingraham,” he said. “Wow. what can you say about her that hasn’t already been said by the Anti-Defamation League? Powerful.”

“I’m just sad that Tucker Carlson isn’t here,” Noah continued. “He’s my favorite. What a talent. Tucker Carlson, are you kidding me? That man’s a beast. Who else could fill an entire show each night asking questions that Google could easily answer. ‘Do vaccines work? Who really won the election? Who is the president right now? Is this America?’ Gripping stuff.”

While the crowd of mostly like-minded media members found the digs hilarious, again, they fell flat with many Americans who are concerned about the moves the media has taken to squash reports — such as Hunter Biden’s laptop — and shield the Biden administration from any of his alleged ties to China.

“The USA is supposed to have a ‘Adversarial press’ to keep presidents honest,” one user tweeted. “But instead as we can see at tonight’s WHCD we have THE OPPOSITE which means the most corrupt & destructive Anti-USA press in history! Now we have the Hollywood-of-China News Media pushing propaganda 24/7.”

 

Melissa Fine
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