Fox News anchor Chris Wallace gushed over President Joe Biden’s inaugural address Wednesday, going so far as to claim that it was the best one he ever heard.
“I thought it was a great speech,” said the “Fox News Sunday” anchor, who is a registered Democrat. “I have been listening to these inaugural addresses since 1961. John F. Kennedy’s ‘ask not’. I thought this was the best inaugural address I ever heard.”
Wallace went on to praise Biden for being “colored by the emotion” that lingers in the wake of the recent Capitol riot. “There was a mob of thugs, of insurrectionists, of domestic terrorists on the inaugural stand. And Joe Biden was saying that democracy prevailed. We were able to get through that, and he was talking about how we need to get through that in the future if we are going to be a united country.”
Describing it as “part sermon, part pep talk,” Wallace also commended the speech for condemning white supremacy and domestic terrorism.
“It was a call to our better angels,” Wallace continued, using a line from Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address. “A call saying look, we’ve got tremendous challenges, COVID, the economy, racial injustice, climate change but there’s nothing we can’t do if we come together,” he said.
“There’s one other thing he said that I think especially us in the media must note,” said Wallace. “He said that there is truth and there are lies, lies that are told for power and lies that are told for profit. I think it was a call to all of us, whether it’s us on the air, on cable, or broadcast, whether it’s us on social media, on our Twitter accounts, understanding that we have to deal from facts, from the truth, to hear each other out, as he said, a right to disagree, but not a right to violence.”
WATCH:
Fox News' Chris Wallace: "Martha, I thought it was a great speech. I have been listening to these inaugural addresses since 1961. John F. Kennedy's 'ask not'. I thought this was the best inaugural address I ever heard." pic.twitter.com/LVnziRqqEY
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) January 20, 2021
Wallace has faced accusations of being partisan and was widely criticized for his performance as debate moderator during the first presidential debate in September. As The Daily Wire reported:
Fox News anchor Chris Wallace expressed regret on Wednesday after the chaotic nature of the presidential debate he moderated on Tuesday was met with fierce criticism.
“I’m just sad with the way last night turned out,” Wallace said in a phone interview with The New York Times about the first square-off between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden. He further characterized the tense 90-minute back-and-forth as “a terrible missed opportunity.”
Explaining how he “never never dreamt that it would go off the tracks the way it did,” Wallace also addressed the widespread criticism of his moderating. “I’ve read some of the reviews, I know people think, well, gee, I didn’t jump in soon enough,” he said, referring to Trump’s interruptions. “I guess I didn’t realize — and there was no way you could, hindsight being 20/20 — that this was going to be the president’s strategy, not just for the beginning of the debate but the entire debate.”
Related: Fox News Ratings Crash: Trailing CNN and MSNBC For The First Time Since 2000