It seems like when it comes to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Fox wants to be the only network with the right to discuss his appearance. In recent days, Fox News hosts have twice called the NJ governor “fat” or “big.” The Five co-hosts Andrea Tantaros and Eric Bolling have remarked that Christie is “too big to be president,” while co-host Greg Gutfeld has said that Christie is “too big to fail.” And yes, there were laughs all around.
But on the September 28 edition of Fox Business' Follow the Money, Bolling lit into The View's Joy Behar for daring to bring up Christie's weight. On Monday's episode of The View, Behar said that the thing Christie offers that Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann don't is “Krispy Kreme's.” She went on to say: “I don't think the country's ready for a fat president again.”
Bolling stated: “Wait a minute. Did she say Chris Christie's too fat? Is Barb too old? Is Joy too dull? Is Whoopie too chubby? Is Elizabeth too smart for the curvy couch, or the couch?”
Bolling's guest, Sandra Smith, joined in, saying that the comments were “completely ... inappropriate to be making on national television about a standing, you know, governor of the United States of America and the state of New Jersey.” She added: “It's one thing to attack a politician on his or her policies and things that they're doing while in office, but to pick on somebody's physical looks, that's just bullying. They've just taken that to another level.”
However, Bolling had nothing but laughs for the Five crew when they were discussing Christie's weight and calling him “too big to be president” and “too big to fail.”
On the September 27 edition of The Five, Gutfeld called Christie “the big, large, White politician,” while discussing “the great thing about Christie.” He went on to agree with radio host Leslie Marshall's suggestion to submit Christie for The Biggest Loser TV show, saying “that would be the first president on a reality show.” The discussion continued:
GUTFELD: But also, he'd be great for editorial cartoonists because they really miss having the big, large, White politician in the three-piece suit with the watch fob and the top hat.
PERINO: Yeah, they would have loved Hayley Barbour.
GUTFELD: Yeah. Yeah.
TANTAROS: Greg is saying, I think, that Chris Christie may be too big to be president.
BOLLING: Too big to be president.
GUTFELD: Too big to fail.
Co-host Dana Perino later added: “Jim Gerrity of National Review had a great line today, he said 'everybody loves Chris Christie because he's the fat guy that gives us the skinny.' So I thought that was a great line.”
Not once during this exchange did Bolling stop his co-hosts and express the outrage he displayed toward Behar on his Fox Business show. In fact, Bolling laughed when he repeated Tantaros' “too big to be president” line.
And the day before, the Five had also mentioned how “fat” Christie is. Yet Bolling never objected. When Gutfeld added, “He's really fat. I like that,” Bolling again remained silent, raising nary a criticism about how Christie's weight had nothing to do with his presidential aspirations.