| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: WoT |
| Roger Ailes Blasts Bill Clinton's 'Assault' |
| 2006-09-28 |
| Fox News chief Roger Ailes says former President Clinton's response to Chris Wallace's question about going after Osama bin Laden represents "an assault on all journalists." Ailes said Clinton had a "wild overreaction" in the interview, broadcast on "Fox News Sunday." Hundreds of thousands of people subsequently watched clips over the Internet, with Fox foes rallying behind Clinton. "If you can't sit there and answer a question from a professional, mild-mannered, respectful reporter like Chris Wallace, then the hatred for journalists is showing," Ailes said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. "All journalists need to raise their eyebrows and say, `hold on a second.'" Wallace has said he asked Clinton about bin Laden partly because of ABC's recent docudrama "The Path to 9/11," widely criticized as full of falsehoods by former Clinton administration officials for depicting a bungling effort at going after the terrorist leader. Wallace asked: "I understand that hindsight is always 20/20, but the question is, why didn't you connect the dots and put him out of business?" Clinton said his administration did more than President Bush to go after bin Laden before the terrorist attacks. While Clinton said Wallace's question was legitimate, he called it a "conservative hit job" and accused Fox of not being similarly tough on Bush. Clinton aides later said they considered the question an attack. "They're out there saying (Wallace) was savage, he sandbagged (Clinton), he was taking orders on the question," Ailes said. "Chris Wallace has never taken orders on questions in his life. There's never been a discussion of that. I frankly think the assault on Chris Wallace is an assault on all journalists." Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio and Television News Directors Association, said she worked with Wallace at NBC's "Meet the Press," where she was once executive producer. Wallace, who left ABC News to become "Fox News Sunday" host in 2003, was always a professional who asked tough questions and was not partisan, she said. But Cochran said she would not comment on the larger question of what this meant for all journalists. The liberal media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, which has repeatedly criticized Fox News Channel for favoring Republican and conservative points of view, said it could see why Clinton got frustrated. Steve Rendell, FAIR senior media analyst, said it appeared Wallace was trying to cut off Clinton's answer. "I would dismiss Roger Ailes' complaint as simply whining in an attempt to make Fox News appear the victim in this fight," Rendell said. |
| Posted by:mcsegeek1 |
| #7 I think you've nailed him, NS. Once the adrenal kicks in, there are no rails, lol. You have to be thoroughly trained to overcome it - and President Pussy had none. Smarmy little stage whore. I enjoyed the interview immensely, myownself. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-09-28 17:12 |
| #6 Roger Ailes Blasts Bill Clinton's 'Assault' tribute to Clintoon's set piece, like a rubber biscuit LOL! Bow bow bow... (Um, do that again) Bow bow bow... Have you ever heard of a wish sandwich? A wish sandwich is the kind of a sandwich where you have two slices of bread and you, hee hee hee, wish you had some meat... Bow bow bow... Ummm... the other day I had a ricochet biscuit. A ricochet biscuit is the kind of a biscuit that's supposed to bounce back off the wall into your mouth. If it don't bounce back... you go hungry! Bow bow bow... Umm, umm, umm... the other day I had a cool water sandwich and a Sunday-go-to-meetin' bun... Bow bow bow... Hee hee hee hee... What da ya want for nothing? ... a rubber biscuit? Bow bow bow... |
| Posted by: RD 2006-09-28 17:10 |
| #5 His answer was prepared. But Wallace threw him off. Recall that Clinton tried to interrupt Wallace's question to give his prepared response but Wallace pushed back and finished his question. Clinton didn't like that one bit. But he had his canned answer ready. Note that in the first or second sentence Clinton said he wanted to talk about Path to 9/11 and the "three things asserted against me directly contradicted by the 9/11 Commission report." But then he never did a 1, 2, 3 thing enumerating the false assertions. I think the other camera would show that Wallace was engaged in sub-orbital eye rotation and barely suppressed belly laughing in addition to the smirk. That caused Clinton to lose it and go into uncontrolled outrage mode. At that point it would be a good 30 minutes before Clinton's adrenaline level returned to normal and the interview was out of his control. Then as Clinton would calm down just a bit, Wallace would eyeroll and smirk and pow, Clinton would hit escape velocity for another 10 minutes. Clinton never got another hard ball interview in his Presidential career except the Hillary stand by your man interview. When he got grilled he wilted. What would he do if he had to put up with the shit Rumsfeld does? The world now knows we were run for 8 years by a guy as crazy as Ahmedinajihad. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-09-28 17:07 |
| #4 Britt Hume should have done the interview. Would have paid to see them in an old fashioned fist fight. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-09-28 17:05 |
| #3 I call BS on the "assault on all journalists" crap. Leaving aside the validity of Clinton's argument (no heavy lifting there), he isn't required to to meekly say "yes Mr. Wallace" to every question. Let him make his case. He probably won't like the results anyway. |
| Posted by: just sayin 2006-09-28 17:02 |
| #2 "Mess with my wife at your peril. Yours truly, Beej." |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-09-28 17:01 |
| #1 Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting *snicker* DhimmiWatch. The more I think about it, the more I accept that it was a set piece. The anger was genuine, since he's a gutless turd who wants history to buy into the Camelot-II BS, but he had to expect the questions because of the kerfuffle over the docu-drama and the Dhimmi mewling. Re: Camelot-II: Nobody with a brain believes he had fuck-all to do with the economic good times and the fall of communism which temporarily cleared the world stage - both just dropped in his lap... Others did the heavy lifting while he was waving his sausage in Paula Jones' face. Since he opened his can o' worms himself, I hope critics come out of the woodwork to bitch-slap fantasy-boy around. Thank you, Mr Ailes. More, please. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-09-28 16:53 |