It’s never a slow news day over at Fox News. The conservative news network has announced Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s official start date. In related news, Gretchen Carlson, who will be getting her own show when Elisabeth comes on board, talks about the “Obamaphone.” We’ve got the latest news update on America’s leading cable news source.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck excited conservatives everywhere when she announced that she was headed over to Fox News. Hasselbeck quit her lucrative television deal over at The View.
A lot of speculation has been made over why Hasselbeck quit her longtime morning talk show. Many believe that it stems from her relationship with Barbara Walters, who is notably more liberal than Lis. Others claim that Fox offered her much more money than The View was willing to shell out.
Regardless of the reason, Hasselbeck terminated her contract with Barbara and Crew and plans on joining the cast of Fox and Friends.
According to Fox, Elisabeth will begin work on September 16. This is good news for both her and Gretchen Carlson, as The LA Times reports:
“The network announced Thursday that Sept. 16 will be Hasselbeck's debut alongside Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade. The men have been with the program since it began in 1998. Former Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson is departing to host her own daytime show on Fox News.”
That’s great news for Gretchen, who will be replacing the slot left vacant by Megyn Kelly. When Kelly returns from maternity leave, she will be hosting a prime time hour (that once belonged to longtime veteran Fox anchor Sean Hannity).
According to sources, Carlson is thrilled at the opportunity of hosting her own afternoon program. Fans seem excited by Carlson’s promotion, as she isn’t afraid to speak her mind or elicit controversy.
We saw that recently when she discussed the “Obamaphone.” The phone program, which is provided to qualifying elderly persons and the poor to use in the event of an emergency and to communicate with their doctors, only includes two hours of talk per month.
Carlson was proud of herself for having a video go viral that identified the program as being an “entitlement,” telling viewers:
"It forced the Obama administration to respond that the Life Line program was started by President Reagan; but what they didn't say was how much it has expanded now under President Obama."
She continued to rail against the program on Fox and Friends, claiming that "it is riddled with fraud, riddled with waste." Her guests chimed in that 41% of users were engaged in fraud with the device.
As usual, no source was provided for their accusations.
