Fox's Wallace Snaps at Radio Host: Romney 'In Trouble,' 'Got to Win' Debate, and Poll Critiques are 'Craziness

Fox's Chris Wallace apparently is sick of hearing critiques of polls showing Mitt Romney trailing President Obama, and isn't afraid to let a wide audience know it. In a clip captured by Media Matters, Wallace tells radio host Mike Gallagher that criticizing the polls is an example of what he terms "craziness," and that "no self-respecting pollster" weights their polls to make party ID even.

Those comments followed others that said Romney is "in trouble" and must win the upcoming presidential debate. In fact, he even had some harsh words for Gallagher when the host called out Wallace for thinking there's trouble for Romney and believing the polls.

"I actually did some research on this today, which is more than you've done," Wallace said sharply:

Wallace's harsh delivery, coupled with his dismissal of an argument that a number of conservative pundits find persuasive, obviously won't sit well with a number of conservatives trying to maintain optimism in the face of poll margins that increasingly look bad for Romney. However, his attack cuts both ways, as he lays into the mainstream media, saying he's "never seen such bias" in the mainstream media. However, he apparently doesn't believe the polls are biased in the same way.

He has some evidence for this, in that typically conservative media outlets have shown problematic margins for Romney in recent weeks. Fox News' own poll shows Romney trailing Obama by five points nationally, with an NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll showing the same margin. Indeed, even Rasmussen shows Obama ahead by one point.

Update: Some regular listener's of the Mike Gallagher program have pointed out that Wallace is a frequent guest on the program and that Wallace and Gallagher often trade good-natured barbs.