Posted on 08/08/2011 4:38:53 PM PDT by Hojczyk
An abashed Mike Gallagher appeared today on “America Live with Megyn Kelly” to (sort of) defend the remarks he made earlier this summer about Kelly’s three-month-long maternity leave. Back then, Gallagher called such a luxurious leave “a racket.”
Today, once again in the host’s chair after the birth of her second child, daughter Yardley, four months, everybody’s favorite Fox anchor appeared keen to elicit a retraction from the radio host. She all but got it.
Gallagher shamefacedly muttered several unintelligible excuses — including a half-hearted hint that he had hoped the comment wouldn’t make it through the grapevine to the great Kelly herself — before saying (one hopes jokingly!), “I’d been drinking.”
“Now you’re more along the path of what I expected,” Kelly quipped back to the man she assured viewers is, in fact, her friend.
But the power mom didn’t let Gallagher off the hook that easily.
“What is it about getting pregnant and carrying a baby for nine months and giving birth to a child that you think doesn’t deserve a little time for bonding and recovery?” she asked, after asserting at the outset of the interview that Gallagher’s comment was a “moronic thing to say.”
Gallagher really had no words. As the interview faded out, he could be heard stating frankly, “I’m sorry,” before welcoming Kelly back to Fox’s dayside.
He wasn’t the only person glad Kelly is back to revive the program that bears her name. Numerous fans on social media sites happily sounded off about Kelly’s new haircut and celebrated her return to Fox.
Unlike Gallagher, I find nothing appalling in Fox funding a three-month maternity leave for one of the top names in news. If anything, I’m just disappointed for Kelly’s sake that she had to return so soon. She says she’s not the sort of mother to be effective as a stay-at-home mom (“I’d worry that I’d get stale because I’d be missing my old life”), but I can’t help feeling at least a little bit that America’s gain is Yates’, Yardley’s and Kelly’s loss. Mother-child time is pretty precious, after all. And while all kinds of families manage to make any number of approaches to child-rearing work, in general, daycare does few favors for children (which is not to say Kelly’s kids are in daycare — I don’t know that for a fact). So, as much as I love Megyn Kelly on-air, if someday we see a little less of her because she wants to scale it back and spend more time with her kiddos, I’ll be OK with that.
(She’s Back) (Check Photo)
That's how we as conservatives know we are on the right side, look at the women God sends us!
““What is it about getting pregnant and carrying a baby for nine months and giving birth to a child that you think doesn’t deserve a little time for bonding and recovery?””
At whose expense?
her mind is excellent
I am all for businesses voluntarily giving employees 3 months maternity leave.
I am all against said leave being mandated by the US government.
Conservatives seem to have forgotten the 11th Commandment. We are our own worse enemy when we treat ourselves this way. Gallagher should be ashamed of himself.
Gallagher has always been a twerp. He was the biggest cheerleader for Janet Reno sending Elian back to the island gulag called Cuba.
Private company employee...none of our business
Government employee...our business through and through
Cute segment, beautiful woman, but now we have to require paid maternity leave nationwide? That should really help the economy.
Welcome back Megyn Kelly, we missed you !
I’m wondering if this comment is the reason that my local station KRLA 870 (Glendale/Los Angeles) went back to 3 live hours of Hugh Hewitt (3p-6p), and moved Mike’s first two hours to 6p-8p, and then his third hour is now at 11pm.
I like her a lot and I didn’t see the segment, but it sounds pretty unseemly. Confront the guy in the hallway if you like, but why waste time calling the guy out on a personal issue on your first day back? She’s 1,000 times better at what she does than he is so why not just ignore him instead of reducing herself to arguing with him?
.....and men get it through FMLA?? Oy
She sure looks good though.
Family and medical leave act. 13 weeks for a new baby.
I have never met a man who took three months off from work when he became a new father.
At Fox News Corp.'s expense, apparently. Obviously the higher management consider it a reasonable investment in the career of one of their major stars. If Mike Gallagher feels short-changed, he could try drawing as much audience as Megyn Kelly does, and then ask for a raise.
Well, I don't know the context of his comments, but I'd certainly agree companies should not be forced to provide 3 months of maternity leave. However if Fox News wants to do that and it fits their business model, more power too them. American companies need to stay competitive and one of our problems, at least when it comes to manufacturing, has been absurdly generous benefits to unionized workers.
The only way Mike Gallagher gets out of trouble is if he can pass a basketball in sympathy.
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