Fox News and the rest of the right-wing media machine has been up in arms all day about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s decision to spend New Year’s Eve in Miami, Florida. So when the channel’s afternoon host Sandra Smith kicked off a segment called “Rules for Thee, Not for Me,” she figured her guest would be on board the outrage train.
“Well, it seems AOC is A-OK with ditching the mask, when in Miami at least,” Smith snarkily began, while showing footage of the New York Democrat “partying up” in what the host described as a “crowded bar” in Florida—while neglecting to acknowledge that it was outdoors under a tent.
“Critics are calling her a hypocrite as COVID cases spike back in her home state of New York,” Smith continued, before posing that leading question to her guest, Fox Business Network correspondent—and occasional Trump critic—Charles Gasparino. “Is it fair that many are calling her out for being a hypocrite while partying it up in Florida while her home state is battling a record COVID surge?”
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His answer seemed to take her by surprise. “To be honest with you, no!” Gasparino said. “It is unfair. I don’t see why she can’t go to Florida and have a good time.”
“Nobody said she can’t,” Smith pushed back, defensively. “They’re just questioning the hypocrisy.”
Gasparino went on to say that it could be considered hypocritical if Ocasio-Cortez was attacking Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis while giving her own state’s leaders a pass. But more to the point, he added, “This is a Fox News alert. I am going to support AOC on this. And here’s why: She was outside!”
Unless Ocasio-Cortez has said that people should wear masks at all times even when eating outside, “then it’s not hypocritical,” he concluded, much to the host’s disappointment. There goes the narrative!
