Today on his radio show, right-wing host Mike Gallagher spoke with Fox News’ Chris Wallace to promote this weekend’s edition of Fox News Sunday — however, the topic of discussion quickly veered off course. Gallagher told Wallace that he sometimes gets lonely and that he’s an “emotional guy” who sometimes cries “at the drop of a hat.” Wallace shot back, saying that he never cries. “I’m a man,” Wallace said. Gallagher then wondered how Wallace’s wife puts up with him. “Maybe the secret is I know how to satisfy a woman. Has that ever occurred to you?” Wallace said. “What is wrong with you?” asked Gallagher. Later in the interview, Wallace then joked that in order to cure his loneliness, Gallagher should be “a man” and hire an escort or go to a strip club:

WALLACE: Why are you lonely in New York? Don’t you see those numbers on the tops of cabs and things? Call them up! You’re a single guy you got nothing to lose.

GALLAGHER: What does that mean? So I get in a cab and I’m not lonely anymore and then I’m driving around New York in a cab!

WALLACE: On the top of the cabs they have advertisements for like gentlemen’s clubs and escort services.

GALLAGHER: I’m not going to a gentleman’s club. Are you crazy? I would not walk into one of those sordid…

WALLACE: Because you’re not a man!

GALLAGHER: I’m a moral man. … I do not darken the doors of gentlemen’s club. I have standards. I’m a moral guy in an immoral society pal.

Media Matters has the clip:

This morning, Ted Olson — the conservative lawyer who represented President Bush in Bush v. Gore — appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss his recent victory in overturning Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages in California. Throughout the interview, host Chris Wallace attempted to trip up his guest with a series of familiar Republican talking points, all of which Olson repudiated.

Wallace asked Olson to identify the right to same-sex marriage in the constitution and wondered why “seven million Californians” “don’t get to say that marriage is between a man and a woman.” Olson replied that the Supreme Court has ruled that marriage was a fundamental right and pointed out that the constitution made no explicit mention of interracial marriage either. He stressed that under our system of government, voters can’t deprive minority groups of their constitutionally guaranteed protections and reminded Wallace that in the 1960s, “Californians voted to change their constitution to say that you could discriminate on the basis of race in the sale of your home; the United States Supreme Court struck that down.”

When Wallace pressed the point further, likening same-sex marriage to abortion and noting that “the political process in the case of same-sex marriage was working” since states had been deciding the issue on a “state-by-state basis,” Olson asked Wallace how he would like it if Fox News’ right to free speech was decided in such a manner:

OLSON: Well, would you like your right to free speech? Would you like Fox’s right to free press put up to a vote and say well, if five states approved it, let’s wait till the other 45 states do? These are fundament constitutional rights. The Bill of Rights guarantees Fox News and you, Chris Wallace, the right to speak. It’s in the constitution. And the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the denial of our citizens of the equal rights to equal access to justice under the law, is a violation of our fundamental rights. Yes, it’s encouraging that many states are moving towards equality on the basis of sexual orientation, and I’m very, very pleased about that. … We can’t wait for the voters to decide that that immeasurable harm, that is unconstitutional, must be eliminated.

Watch a compilation:

At the end of the interview, Wallace conceded that his right-wing points failed to crack Olson’s arguments. “Mr. Olson, we want to thank you so much for joining us today. We’ll keep following your lawsuit. And I gotta say, after your appearance today, I don’t understand how you ever lost a case in the supreme court, sir,” he said.

Today on Fox and Friends, Brian Kilmeade — who insists that sexism no longer exists — tried to solicit country singer Kellie Pickler for Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, who was tickled when she said she knew who he was:

KILMEADE: The fact of the matter is, I do want your job, and I am willing to make an offer to you. Kellie Pickler, are you out there? Will you do me a favor, and offer your services to Chris Wallace?

CARLSON: What? What?

KILMEADE: Excuse me — offer yourself to Chris Wallace —

DOOCY: Musical services! [...]

PICKLER: Hello, Chris. How are ‘ya?

WALLACE: Well, I’m just great, Kellie. I must say, I’m better right now. … Kellie, let me just ask you a question, and I want an honest answer because I’m a big American Idol fan. … Do you have the faintest idea who I am?

PICKLER: Oh yeah. Absolutely. I have your poster hanging above my bed. [...]

KILMEADE: She remembers you from when you were in Menudo, Chris. Put on some fun tack!

CARLSON: Is Mrs. Wallace watching?

WALLACE: Unfortunately, I think she is, and I’m going to pay a heavy price for this.

Watch it:

Wallace’s attempts to hit on Pickler are consistent with his demeaning behavior toward women. In February, he came under considerable criticism for saying that he hoped Sarah Palin would sit on his lap during their interview. Earlier, he wished he could interview conservative activist Hannah Giles because “she’s pretty cute.” When Dick Armey made a sexist comment about Salon’s Joan Walsh, Wallace said he thought it was “pretty funny” that women were upset about it. He has also responded to criticism from NPR’s Cokie Roberts by saying she would probably like to watch a bondage scene between Bill Kristol and Dick Morris.

Yesterday during an interview with Don Imus on Fox Business, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace was promoting his interview this week with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. When Imus randomly asked whether she will “be sitting on your lap” during the interview, Wallace replied, “One can only hope.” This morning, Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy asked Wallace about his comment. Co-host Gretchen Carlson was flabbergasted by the exchange between Wallace and Imus, and asked, “Would you ask that of a man?” Wallace was silent for a few seconds before stumbling over a response and changing the subject to whether she would sit on Brad Pitt’s lap during an interview:

WALLACE: What happened was I was on Imus, which was my first mistake…and he said to me at the end — just kidding around — “So when you do the interview, will she be sitting on your lap?” And I said, “One can hope.”

CARLSON: Why would he ask such an inane question?

DOOCY: I think it’s a great question. (CROSSTALK) But you said yes.

CARLSON: Would you ask that of a man?

WALLACE: Would he have asked me if a man?

CARLSON: Yeah, would sit on your lap.

WALLACE: I don’t know. Let me ask you a question. Would you do an interview with Brad Pitt, with you sitting on his lap, Gretchen?

CARLSON: Absolutely not. I find nothing hot about Brad Pitt.

Watch it:

Transcript: Read more

This week, former Alaska governor and Fox News contributor Sarah Palin will be on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, in his first Sunday show appearance ever. This morning, Wallace spoke with Fox Business host Don Imus about how excited he is for the segment:

WALLACE: We’re going to be down in Nashville with her at the National Tea Party Convention, and I’m excited. First of all, I’m excited to finally meet and interview Sarah Palin. We’ve been chasing her like Captain Ahab and the great white whale for the last year and a half. [...]

IMUS: When you interview her, will she be sitting on your lap? (LAUGHTER)

WALLACE: One can only hope. (LAUGHTER)

Watch it:

In September, Wallace went on Mike Gallagher’s radio show and mentioned his upcoming interview with right-wing activist James O’Keefe and said that he wished he was also going to have his partner Hannah Giles — who played the prostitute in the ACORN scheme — on the show because “she’s pretty cute.” (HT: Michael Calderone)

This morning on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace selectively quoted the Congressional Budget Office analysis of the merged Senate legislation to suggest that the Senate health legislation would increase government outlays on health care over 20 years and bend the cost-cure upward:

WALLACE: According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, federal outlays for health care would increase during the 2010-2019 period and the government-run health insurance plan would typically have premiums that were somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plan. So here’s the question. The Democratic plan by the CBO’s own scoring fails to bend the famous health care cost curve at all over the course of these 10 years, and could you name a single Congress that has ever cut Medicare by half a trillion dollars as this legislation would?

Watch it:

Page 16 of the CBO report does predict that “federal outlays for health care would increase during the 2010-2019 period,” but the last paragraph of that same page adds that “during the decade following the 10-year budget window, the increases and decreases in the federal budgetary commitment to health care stemming for this legislation would roughly balance out, so that there would be no significant change in the commitment.” As Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) pointed out, the $848 billion bill would actually “save $130 billion in the first 10 years” and $650 billion in the next decade. Over on the Wonk Room, Igor Volsky debunks Wallace’s other claims about the bill failing to “bend the famous health care cost curve” and whether previous sessions of Congress ever cut Medicare.