On Wednesday, presumptive Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama blamed his wife's high negative ratings on "the conservative press—Fox News and the National Review" as well as "rants by Sean Hannity."
He also said, "And you know, the problem is that rarely do these folks have the guts to say it to your face."
On Thursday, Hannity struck back (video embedded right):
Senator Obama, here is my invitation. Anything I've ever said about you, you can sit right here, and I will say it to your face. Do you have the guts to come on this program and take some tough questions?
As you might imagine, Sean said a lot more on Thursday's "Hannity & Colmes," but before we get there, here's the quote from Glamour's Glamocracy blog which set this whole thing off (emphasis added):
GLAMOUR: An AP poll shows that while the positive ratings on Michelle are higher than those of Cindy McCain, her negative ratings are higher as well. I'm curious about how as a husband that makes you feel. Does it mystify you? And what do you want to say to those Americans who don't know the woman that you know?
SENATOR OBAMA: It's infuriating, but it's not surprising, because let's face it: What happened was that the conservative press—Fox News and the National Review and columnists of every ilk—went fairly deliberately at her in a pretty systematic way...and treated her as the candidate in a way that you just rarely see the Democrats try to do against Republicans. And I've said this before: I would never have my campaign engage in a concerted effort to make Cindy McCain an issue, and I would not expect the Democratic National Committee or people who were allied with me to do it. Because essentially, spouses are civilians. They didn't sign up for this. They're supporting their spouse. So it took a toll. If you start being subjected to rants by Sean Hannity and the like, day in day out, that'll drive up your negatives...And you know, the problem is that rarely do these folks have the guts to say it to your face.
As you might imagine, this didn't sit well with Hannity:
So let's get this straight, Senator. Your wife campaigns for you, does public speeches, and says things like she's finally proud of her country, and that America is a downright mean country in 2008, and she should be immune from criticism? [...]
[H]e also said in this very same article, you know, that the problem is rarely do these folks ever have the guts to say it to your face. Senator Obama is welcome on this program. I'll give him -- I'll let him co-host my radio show for three hours, he can be here, I'll let him fill in for Alan one night for a full hour...I'll let him have -- I'll even throw in "HANNITY'S AMERICA" for an hour.
Every -- I am not ashamed of anything I've ever said. I think we've asked some very tough questions, but this is the most important job in this world, and it seems to me, and maybe this is unsolicited advice to Senator Obama, and that is, Senator Obama, you know, you singled me out, and I want to give you advice. It seems to me that if you want to be taken seriously, he needs to be -- be acting like a statesman. He needs to be acting presidential. [...]
I want to say this to Senator Obama because you said, Senator, that -- "and you know the problem is, is that rarely do these folks have the guts to say it to your face."
Senator Obama, here is my invitation. Anything I've ever said about you, you can sit right here, and I will say it to your face. Do you have the guts to come on this program and take some tough questions?
Now I know you're bringing your three press secretaries -- Charlie Gibson, Brian Williams, and Katie Couric on your trip to Iraq. They didn't go with John McCain. But if you come on the program, I promise you I'll say it to your face. That a fair deal?
Sounds fair to me, Sean...but don't count on it.
