Barack Obama spokesman Bill Burton learned the hard way today that you can't go on the air with Fox News' Megyn Kelly and talk trash about Fox News. Burton was invited on the show to respond to a new series of anti-Obama ads from the National Rifle Association. Burton called the ads "complete crap," but rather than stop there, he blasted Fox News for giving them "free air time" and said the network wasn't being "balanced" just because it gave him time to respond to the ads. Kelly would have none of Burton's anti-Fox crap. "First of all, Bill," she shot back, "it's not just on Fox. It's all over the Internet and it's all over other TV stations, and we're giving you the opportunity to come on and respond to it."
She added: "If [the ads] are false, you're free to claim that and to prove it to the viewers. I'm not in the business of taking opinions on these things." And when Burton kept interrupting her, Kelly snapped: "Excuse me. This is my show and I'll run the interview." Kelly then presented Burton with two examples of documented evidence that Obama previously supported a ban on the "manufacture, sale and possession of handguns" in Illinois. His response: Obama didn't complete the questionnaire (even though his handwritten notes were on one version of it), and "it has never been his position." "This document, which you're candidate handled, at least injects a question into the matter, and that's the NRA's point," Kelly said. "So don't come on here and give Fox News a hard time for raising the question." -- K. Daniel Glover