Fox News: Unbalanced and Unfair

It's been five years since 9/11 and Bush still hasn't caught Osama bin Laden.

I've watched Chris Wallace's interview of Bill Clinton several times now, and have seen it twice on Olbermann's show on MSNBC. Tonight, Olbermann showed his own interview with Clinton just minutes after the Chris Wallace interview; Clinton was much more himself on Olbermann's show but Olbermann wasn't playing games like Chris Wallace was. Through both interviews, Clinton seemed to me to be just telling it like it is. He admitted he failed to get Osama bin Laden, but at least he tried. He pointed out that Bush in his first eight months did not try.

S.W. Anderson of Oh!Pinion has some commentary on Clinton appearance with Chris Wallace:

Fox News personality Chris Wallace’s gotcha moment with former President Bill Clinton didn’t go off as planned Sunday. Instead, Clinton turned the tables on Wallace, setting the Republican propaganda outlet’s right-wing viewers straight on critical points of recent history in the process.

While Clinton was obviously annoyed and being strongly assertive, at no time did he act or speak in an uncivil or even impolite way. What got off with Wallace then, and other Fox News talking heads ever since, is that aside from forcefully telling his side of things, Clinton told Wallace straight to his face what Wallace and Fox were up to.

That’s not something the unfair and unbalanced broadcasting home of bullies like Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly is accustomed to. Guests are for beating up on, not for being beat up by.

The greater significance of Clinton telling Wallace and Fox off is that it models for other Democrats a useful way of responding to future gotcha attempts.

Right wing Republicans are scrambling to deal with the obvious damage to Bush; of course, it's been an issue all along, just not much discussed in a media that's been far too easy on the current president. Bush's behavior in his first eight months in office is still puzzling to many Americans, including Democrats, independents and many thoughtful Republicans; why didn't President Bush try to do more in those first eight months? Why did he ignore the warning from the Clinton Administration? Didn't he know about Osama bin Laden? Why did he go months without doing a thing? Even after being briefed about Osama bin Laden on August 6, 2001, why did he still do nothing? Was it because he was on vacation? Was it because Condi Rice told him not to worry? Was it because he didn't understand the threat? Maybe Bush could not have stopped the 9/11 attack, but history will remember that Bush didn't even try. That staggers everyone when they stop and think about it: he didn't even try.