Daily Caller editor-in-chief Tucker Carlson ridiculed Alan Colmes’ rosy suggestion Wednesday that the American economy is improving under President Obama, asking the liberal radio host if he’s “been to America recently.”
Carlson and Colmes spoke with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer about the Obama’s recent poll numbers, the worst of his presidency. “These are bad numbers,” Carlson said. “To put them in perspective, only Nixon, among modern presidents, has had numbers this low in the first year of his second term.” He declared the president’s decline is “not some fleeting poll dip; this is the result of his policies being profoundly unpopular.”
Colmes insisted that most Americans really want President Obama’s policies, even if they no longer much care for the president himself. He blamed “far right-wing extremists” for getting in the way of the White House’s highly-popular agenda.
“I find it hilarious, the talking points,” Carlson retorted. “The far right-wing, extreme, fascist, scary, probably heavily armed — [laughing] it’s so crazy.”
Hemmer noted that 8 in 10 Americans believe the United States remains in an economic recession. But Colmes contended that the economy has significantly improved under Obama, prompting an incredulous reaction from Carlson:
HEMMER: The reality is that 8 in 10 Americans still think we are in a recession.
COLMES: That is a problem.
CARLSON: Well we are!
HEMMER: I mean, 2014 is 12 days away!
CARLSON: Have you been to America recently? If you get outside of Santa Monica and Georgetown, it’s like collapsing. I mean, it’s real.
COLMES: You really wanna compare where we are now to where we were at the end of the last administration? I mean, honestly?
CARLSON: Come on, Alan! Have you left the Upper West Side?
HEMMER: Alan it wasn’t 51, it was 79 percent!
COLMES: You know, this is a long game. We will see where things are. He still has three years left in this presidency. This is not a static number, and we have to see where things are going to go.
HEMMER: Well, as Tucker said, you get outside of Santa Monica, you get out of New York City, and you’ll see where things are. And they are not good because they are still stuck — stuck where they are.