On Friday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s ‘The Five,” co-host Greg Gutfeld challenged a recent CNN poll that showed a majority of Americans believe the Republican Party is “too extreme,” arguing that the survey is part of a media effort to vilify the GOP for partisan reasons.
“So according to a new CNN poll, a majority of Americans say the GOP beliefs are not mainstream,” Gutfeld said. “The polling director … says this may be due to tarnished Republican brand. Perhaps. But the Republican Party is indeed extreme, if you accept the portrayal of them. If you try to explain how taxing the top 2 percent doesn’t help the deficit, you’re extreme. If you think government shouldn’t give money to failed green energy projects, you’re extreme. If you think school decisions are better made at local level than in D.C., you’re extreme.”
“If you think it’s weird that government would jail [someone] for making a poorly done video, extreme,” Gutfeld continued. “If you want a debate about the real impact of man-made global warming, extreme. If you think bloated government is unsustainable, way extreme. If you own a gun for protection, you’re extreme. If you aren’t a liberal, you’re extreme.”
Gutfeld suggested the GOP should embrace the “extreme” label, which he said is actually an inadvertent compliment.
“If you hold to any specific principle grounded in what your grandparents called common sense, you are extreme,” Gutfeld said. “And by extreme, the media really means mean. Yep, it’s an old stereotype. The media is mad at the daddy who didn’t hug them. And so they conduct a survey to soothe their wounds. So yes, I am extreme. To me that is a compliment. For it means I stick to my principles. So if you are like me, embrace your inner extremist. In another age, it was called a spine.”