Last week, author Mallory Factor appeared on Fox & Friends. The main purpose of the visit seemed to be to suggest that unions were “calling the shots” at the Democratic National Convention. And, of course, to demonize President Obama.

During the discussion, Gretchen Carlson brought up the North Carolina AFL-CIO’s “Hug-a-thug” booth, an attempt to poke fun at and dispell some of the harsh rhetoric toward unions.

But Factor was too interested in smearing to appreciate any other kind of humor. He explained to Carlson:

Well, uh, the Hug-a-Thug… well, they call themselves “thugs,” and, uh, I just want to know if our Thug in Chief is gonna be there. Obama, because he is the thug in Chief- he really represents these unions. Hug-a-Thug is, you go to a booth and get hugged by a union guy.

Ok, guess which part of that was both unnecessary and tactless? Hint: It’s in bold.

Could you imagine the fallout if CNN or MSNBC showed up at the RNC and staged interviews like this about Romney? Or if a Huffpo reporter trotted out Michael Moore just to make such a comment about Paul Ryan? No, seriously… imagine it.

Yet nobody on the curvy couch even blinked an eye at such a comment, much less challenged it.