Hasselbeck on Obama: "[H]e seemed for a while more willing to give the fist bump to Ahmadinejad than our own General Petraeus"

Written by Matthew Biedlingmaier

Published

On Hannity & Colmes, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, co-host of ABC's The View, asserted of Sen. Barack Obama: "[I]t bothered me that he seemed for a while more willing to give the fist bump to [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad than our own General [David] Petraeus."

On the June 18 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, co-host of ABC's The View, asserted of Sen. Barack Obama: "[I]t bothered me that he seemed for a while more willing to give the fist bump to [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad than our own General [David] Petraeus." Hasselbeck continued: “It bothers me. It bothers me as a mom. It bothers me as a working woman. It bothers me as a citizen of this country.”

Hasselbeck's reference to Petraeus is not the first time that someone on Fox News has echoed attacks by conservatives for what they suggest falsely is Obama's refusal to discuss the situation in Iraq with Petraeus. Vets For Freedom chairman Pete Hegseth, on the May 29 edition of Fox News' Your World, falsely claimed that Obama has “never met with General Petraeus,” which host Neil Cavuto did not challenge. In fact, Obama has, as recently as April 8, questioned Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker at a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on Iraq.

Hasselbeck's statement comes nearly two weeks after Fox News host E.D. Hill teased a segment on Obama's fist bump with his wife, saying, “A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? The gesture everyone seems to interpret differently.” Subsequently, on the June 10 edition of America's Pulse, Hill addressed her June 6 comments, saying: “I mentioned various ways the Obamas' fist pump in St. Paul had been characterized in the media. I apologize because unfortunately, some thought I personally had characterized it inappropriately. I regret that. It was not my intention. And I certainly didn't mean to associate the word 'terrorist' in any way to Senator Obama and his wife.”

From the June 18 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HASSELBECK: I think that this is something that -- in terms of lack of judgment, it seems to be that the people that cause controversy like the Reverend Wright, you could take [Antoin] Rezko, aren't the people that Senator Obama thought they were.

That seems odd to me. And we're supposed to place full trust in his judgment. That concerns me. You know, I just -- and it bothered me that he seemed for a while more willing to give the fist bump to Ahmadinejad than our own General Petraeus. It bothers me.

HANNITY: Yeah.

HASSELBECK: It bothers me as a mom. It bothers me as a working woman. It bothers me as a citizen of this country.