Former Vice President Joe Biden told a Fox News reporter he could handle what he viewed as purposely negative coverage Tuesday, saying he was a "big boy."
In Iowa, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked Biden if he was bothered to see a progressive challenger like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) draw a 12,000-person crowd in Minneapolis. Biden retorted he was focusing on different kinds of events but still drawing large crowds.
"It depends on what the nature of the event is," Biden said. "What I'm trying to do is go around from town to town, and I'm drawing as big a crowd or bigger than anybody. Have you seen anybody draw bigger crowds than me here in this state?"
"Yes," Doocy replied.
"Oh, you have? Where?" Biden asked.
"Des Moines," Doocy said.
Biden smiled, but according to Doocy, his question irked him enough that he said a few minutes later that he expected nothing less from Fox News.
"I know you're going to go after me no matter what," Biden said, according to a Washington Post reporter tweet flagged by The Daily Beast. "And it's OK, it’s good. I’m a big boy. I can handle it. But ... I notice you didn’t ask me why I’m ahead in all the polls still. I notice you didn't ask me how I feel about the new CNN poll."
Biden looks at a Fox News reporter: "I know you're going to go after me no matter what...And it's OK, it's good. I'm a big boy. I can handle it. But...I notice you didn't ask me why I'm ahead in all the polls still. I notice you didn't ask me how I feel about the new CNN poll."
— Matt Viser (@mviser) August 20, 2019
Doocy also relayed the "big boy" comment in a segment on his exchange with Biden for Special Report, drawing a grin from anchor Bret Baier.
The CNN survey Biden referred to showed him with support from 29 percent of Democratic voters, giving him a healthy lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Warren.
Fox News frequently got under the skin of Biden's old boss, President Barack Obama. The 44th president often singled Fox out in response to its conservative punditry, once describing it as "one television station entirely devoted to attacking my administration."