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Chris Wallace Denies Rolling His Eyes At Palin; Takes Shot At Scarborough

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After his Fox News Sunday interview with Sarah Palin, the show’s host Chris Wallace either rolled his eyes or didn’t, depending on whether you believe MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough or Wallace himself. Whether it matters or not is an entirely separate issue, but the MSNBC accusation was enough to get a response from Fox News and Wallace, who not only clarified that he did not roll his eyes, but said that chatter about the interview has not been focused on him, but on the formidable candidate Sarah Palin.

Then, when asked if he was offended at the accusation, Wallace took a direct shot at his contemporary, saying that he’s “offended that people watch [Scarborough] on MSNBC.” Scarborough called Wallace “embarrassed” and said, “He will deny that, but Chris was sending a message to all his friends: ‘Yes, I know, she is not a serious thinker.’” In his dismissal, Wallace said, “No, is the quick answer to that,” before comparing Scarborough’s reception of a secret message to the serial killer Son of Sam. “I came away from the interview with nothing but admiration for Sarah Palin,” Wallace said.

Here’s the clip, including a super close-up of the disputed eye-roll:

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  • The Real Royal King

    An eye roll. Yes.

  • m

    Chris Wallace should be above the fray of making silly jabs towards competing networks. He’s a journalist, not a pundit.

  • Ted

    Wallace mentioned Broder; does he mention that the same WAPO that Broder writes for shows that 7 in 10 do not believe Palin is qualified to be President and is losing ground among Republicans? No? I’ll bet most people don’t know this but Chris Wallace used to be a journalist.

  • The Real Royal King

    I remember when Chris was a journalist. And, this is not his first eye roll or his first use of body language to convey frustration or irritation of simply puzzlement.

  • TfT

    Joe works for MSNBC. MSNBC suffers PDS and TPMS big time. Joe’s exclamation that he knew what Wallace was thinking and was sending a message was typical MSNBC BS. I’m glad Wallace answered the question in such a fashion as to be completely dismissive of MSNBC. If Joe think he is helping MSNBC gain viewers by expressing his own PDS/FDS/TPMS on air, he is sorely mistaken. Mourning Joe is going down the drain and deservedly so.

  • TfT

    That should be TPMDS.

  • The Real Royal King

    I have to agree with you, TfT, “Morning Joe” is a dreadful show. However, going down the drain? I haven’t seen any evidence of that. In any event, I like to start my morning with comedy, so I watch the “Friends”. They’re a funny bunch. Very funny.

    Have you seen Dylan Ratigan? He hasn’t found his format, yet, but I rather like him.

  • The Real Royal King

    I think Wallace might look more comfortable if he started wearing one of those beanies with a propeller on the top.

  • Facebook User

    Reagan spokesman Larry Speakes once wrote of Chris Wallace, “obnoxious, and a bit slow on the uptake.”
    Dad must be so proud.

  • http://www.sailrabbits.com Magister

    I watched the Scarborough clip when it was first posted to this site and I’m sorry, but I just didn’t see it.

    It looked to me, he was checking to see if he was on.

  • writer

    As opposed to Keith Olbermann, whose eyes are usually crossed.

  • Barney

    The Morning Joe show is a train wreck. My 14 year old daughter watches each it day before school for the paper she’s doing on media bias for her social studies class, so I’m forced to suffer through it.

    Scarborough gets more idiotic each passing day. He’s quickly moving into the Matthews/Olbermann clown category. This morning, he showed a clip of Kit Bonds on the Chuck Todd/ Savannah Guthrie show from yesterday.

    Scarborough said Bonds made of a fool of himself because he answered Guthrie’s question about why it was wrong to Mirandize Abulmuttallab when the Bush administration did the same with the shoe bomber. Bonds said it was because we didn’t have the military commission in place.

    Scarborough basically called him stupid. Thing is…Bonds was right..and Scarborough the alleged lawyer had no clue as to what he was talking about. The commission wasn’t established until 2006

    I think the only criteria for getting a show on MSNBC is that you have to be a obnoxious and a complete moron.

  • TfT

    Joe also made up that whole story about how FNC used bad lighting during the Stewart/O’Reilly interview.

    Let’s not forget that Joe got his hand publicly slapped after he said shame on Keith for his over-the-top commentary on Scott Brown.

    Joe knows who is in charge at MSNBC and it’s Keith so he is playing the PDS game because MSNBC is highly infected with it

  • same2u

    I see the eye roll, but it was probably directed at a producer acknowledging that she survived the interview. It was sort of a “whew”, wipes eyebrow moment.

    And of course Wallace has to then play the weasel acting as if there was nothing to it.

  • TfT

    Oh and BTW; Morning JOe is consistently in fourth place in the morning show ratings.

  • ImNotBlue

    I guess if you “wanted” to see it, you’d see it. Funny how hate and ego can cloud the mind.

  • MichelleF

    I love Megyn, I have a total girl crush on her. If any of you think you saw an eye roll, you are drunk on the kool-aid. I know I’m not an unbiased observer, but I looked at it several times and didn’t see an eye roll. The things they try to make storeies of are really amusing sometimes.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    Not really news, but I doubt Wallace rolled his eyes. His integrity is equal to that of any of the usual suspects at Fox Not News — nonexistant.

  • bamman

    To me, it looked like he was glancing at the cameras to see which had its red light on.

  • liberalontogeny

    Just a tactic. Scarborough was after getting Wallace to respond with:

    “I came away from the interview with nothing but admiration for Sarah Palin,” Wallace said.

    Oh, and ratings.

  • Jim R

    I think Joe periodically knocks those on the right to burnish his credentials, such as they are, with the vaunted middle he’ll need to run for some office again.

    Of course, then he goes back into the right wings memes unchallenged, no climate change or it’s a solar cyclical thing beyond man’s input in spite of the warmest decade on record just past, when the sun is actually at its low point in that cycle.

    And don’t get him started on the nonexistent value of torturing people and the nonexistent record that shows doing so has ever produced more than an erection for the perpetrators.

    Hey, Joe, tell you what, give slapping around Mika a rest one morning and invite me on. We’ll have our own version of Obama swatting away flaccid Republican talking points, only it will be one commoner beating a former Congressman instead of a new President beating 140 Republicans silly.

  • ChrisNH

    Forget about Iran getting nuclear weapons; I’m figuring all the cable news networks are on the verge of getting them, too. The whole media industry is getting vicious; but the ones who are getting raked over the coals really do deserve it.

  • Ted

    How do those of you with PSUS feel about the fact that the vast majority of Americans, patriots and lovers of freedom do not want Palin anywhere near the oval office? I mean a VAST majority, including Republicans and its getting worse for SP by the day. How do you sleep at night knowing this?

    BTW – did Wallace ever convince SP to sit on his lap…wearing a beanie cap…with a propeller?

  • Socalgal

    I like Joe a lot but nah, no eye roll. I’ll believe Mike, they’re his eyes he ought to know what they’re capable of.

    Nothing but wishfull thinking from the peanut gallery

  • http://trickletown.vox.com/ Trickletown

    I remember Bill Clinton chewing out Wallace and accusing him of ‘smirking’. Wallace does smirk. Wallace’s smirk, however, is nothing compared to the eyeball rolling of, oh, David Shuster. And don’t even get me started on Keith Olbermann.

  • stevelaw

    Always entertaining when a mud fight breaks out at the bottom of the barrel, where all the really odious stuff settles.
    Chicago liposuction

  • Nachi

    Wallace, Palin, Scagborough: Birds of a filthy feather. Good Murcuhn Christuns tew!!

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