Sean Spicer Defends Sarah Sanders From ‘Disgusting’ Comments

In a November 1st column by Los Angeles Times editorial cartoonist David Horsey, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner described White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders as a “slightly chunky soccer mom.” Conservative and liberal-leaning media outlets alike condemned Horsey for writing the column and the Times for publishing it in the first place, prompting a public apology from the cartoonist and a subsequent retraction by the paper. If Sean Spicer‘s Tuesday appearance on Fox & Friends was your only exposure to the story, however, then you probably thought no one else besides Fox News had spoken out against Horsey’s column.

“I think Sarah does a phenomenal job. She is a great person,” Spicer said after telling co-host Brian Kilmeade Horsey’s column was not appropriate:

“It’s interesting to me that so many of the media loves to take pot shots when they think things are out of bounds and inappropriate, and yet the deafening silence from so many of these same individuals that are so concerned when attacks get lobbed from members of the Republican party. When it’s another member of the establishment media, a ‘Pulitzer Prize-winning, well-established journalist’ makes these disgusting kinds of comments about somebody’s appearance. There’s a deafening silence from so many of these network anchors that are so easily appalled at so many other comments.”

While Horsey’s comments about Sanders were undeniably “disgusting,” per Spicer’s word choice, the favorite target of President Donald Trump’s administration (and Fox News) was not silent about it. As Time magazine noted, “women on both sides of the political aisle [weren’t] pleased” about Horsey’s column, as were members of the media at large. Or as Teen Vogue writer Lauren Duca put it, “Sanders is an unabashed enemy of the truth” but the Times column “is sexist trash.”

Meanwhile, Fox & Friends couldn’t resist asking Spicer one final question about Sanders — specifically, the fact that his former tormenter, Saturday Night Live is now targeting her. “Could that damage her reputation?” Kilmeade asked. “No,” Spicer quipped. “They’re going to do everything they can to undermine the conservative movement, Republicans and this administration.”

(Via Fox News and New York Times)