New York – 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 docu drama “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, and on Wednesday a spokesman for the former president cited what he called Ailes’ and the network’s “right-wing political agenda.”
“Chris Wallace was clearly carrying the water for Fox,” spokesman Ben Yarrow said. “President Clinton was prepared for a partisan attack; he wasn’t afraid to hit back hard and he’ll do it every time.”
Ailes dismissed the criticism: “They’re out there saying (Wallace) was savage, he sandbagged (Clinton), he was taking orders on the question. 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.”
Ailes said he was surprised the story created such a reaction and that he understood the political response.
