HACK - Chris Wallace

Chris Wallace had Senator John Kerry in studio today and felt it necessary to spend the vast bulk of the interview badgering Kerry on his supposed botched joke (C&L has the video).

Much like Wallace did several weeks ago when he interviewed President Clinton and sandbagged him the whole way, he utilized all manner of straw man arguments and other nonsense to pummel Kerry over something he apologized for weeks ago. Over and over, Wallace demonstrated a tenacious streak that would serve him and the country well if he would instead direct at it those in power who have gotten us into the Iraq quagmire rather than on a senator taking a potshot at Bush.

I'm not sure how much clearer Kerry could have been in his responses. His joke was never an insult to the troops; he took himself out of campaigning of his own volition and not at the request of colleagues; and people don't care about this as it's in the past, and the American people want to look forward and to changing the direction of the country.

Chris continued his attack, using out of context video that Kerry immediately called him on. He then again stressed that the American people voted for change, yet that did not dissuade Wallace from again beating the dead horse of a joke. It's like Kerry could have flagellated himself on national television in penance over the remark and Wallace still would have continued harping on it. A reminder - this "botched joke" happened three weeks, one election and two Democratic chamber takeovers ago. Wallace's inability to let it go is an example of a pre-November 7th mindset. Americans have moved on, Wallace would benefit from doing the same.

MY LETTER TO CHRIS WALLACE

CHRIS WALLACE


Dear Chris,
Dude, you got cocky. You and your crew over at Fox News have been eating Dems for breakfast for over half a decade. You're so used to dealing with an opposition party that so many times has demonstrated they are afraid of their own shadow the second that national security is brought up. You all have developed something of an overinflated sense of self as night after night your left-of-center guests are browbeaten by the likes of Hannity and O'Reilly. You all got complacent as you dealt with Democratic presidential candidates like Al Gore and John Kerry who were quickly pigeonholed by your noise machine as an exagerator and a flip-flopper, respectively. Nothing against those two gentlemen, but on their very best days, they will never be President Bill Clinton.
See, you thought that you could lull him in and make him feel comfortable with a couple of softballs; nothing too strenuous or controversial. But then you went ahead and made your mistake. You went in for that shot - why he didn't do enough to get bin Laden. Oops.
You site this as a question that countless of your faithful viewers and emailers desparately need an answer to. As you prattled on about some book that I'm sure you thought would bolster your case, the camera focused on Clinton, and you could just see that look in his eyes. It was a calculating look that said, "I am going to completely and utterly destroy you."
How long did it take for you to realize that you had bitten off more than you could chew? How long did it take for you to realize that this was not some milquetoast Dem that carefully measures everything that comes out of their mouth for fear that some slip might be taken out of context and used against them. In this interview, you took on a man who will never run for office again and therefore has little to lose. He is a man who sees his legacy being attacked by calculating right wingers with an agenda and he simply will not stand for it. He is a man who spent eight years being attacked and investigated and even impeached; did you think that your little veiled attacks on him were supposed to make him piss his pants?
It's been a long time since we've all seen a Democrat stand up tell it like it is. I would sort of think that Clinton made his first and last appearance on your program this Sunday, lest other Dems watching start to grow a spine and stand up the next time they're attacked. As it is, you and your company have attempted to minimize Clinton by calling him crazed. If by crazed you mean someone who stands up and calls you out when you attempt to use your bs talking points on him, then I can only hope that there are more crazed Democrats coming down the pike.

Sincerely,

Paul Fogarty