Fox & Friends this morning repeatedly aired video clips of Speaker of the House John Boehner's unapologetic response to Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace's question to Boehner about his smoking. The hosts tied Wallace's question to President Obama, alleging a media double standard on asking Boehner about his smoking habit, but not doing the same to Obama. In fact, the media obsessed with Obama's smoking habit, including Fox News.
During a discussion of Boehner's January 30 Fox News Sunday interview where he was asked about his smoking habit, the Fox & Friends hosts had this to say:
[begin video clip]
BOEHNER: I choose to smoke. Leave me alone.
[end video clip]
DOOCY: That's a great answer! I mean, how many times do people ask President Obama about smoking?
KILMEADE: Not often.
DOOCY: No.
KILMEADE: Every once and a while he says he's struggling to stop and he's uh...
DOOCY: Double standard?
Perhaps someone should define a double standard for the Fox & Friends hosts. Since I have the floor, I'll have a go at it.
Double standard (n) -
A set of principles that applies differently and usually more rigorously to one group of people or circumstances than to another.
Not only has Fox News in general discussed President Obama's smoking habit at length, Fox & Friends itself has discussed it. Double standard indeed:
CARLSON: Let's talk a little bit about Time magazine because there are some very intriguing Barack Obama photos in this week's edition. They were taken a long time ago when he was actually a student at Occidental College, out in California. Maybe he's 18, 19, 20 years old here. They were taken by a friend. And up until this point in time, we never saw any of these. Look at this one. This is him smoking a cigarette, of which we have not seen --
DOOCY: Is that a cigarette?
CARLSON: Well, I don't -- I'm not sure exactly what it is.
KILMEADE: I hope so.
CARLSON: But here he's looking very dapper in a nice jacket -- and these pictures now just coming out. But would it --
DOOCY: Well, it's -- it's convenient.
CARLSON: Would it have -- yes, after the election. Would it have -- I don't know. Would it have served any purpose to release these photos before the election?
DOOCY: Yeah, well, you know, so here you've got these pictures of the president and some of the headlines that said something about, look he was cool even back then. What if somebody else like McCain had pictures like that, that -- you've got to figure that they probably would have come out before the election.
So yes, Mr. Doocy, there is a double standard, and all fingers should be pointed at you and your employers.