Posted 5:12 PM by Scoobie Davis

Roger Ailes and Bill Clinton Versus Roger Ailes and George W. Bush

In yesterday’s post defending Tom Daschle for his criticisms of hate radio, I also mentioned that Roger Ailes was Limbaugh’s executive producer. Some people noticed this and wanted to know if the inclusion had something to do with the revelations from Bob Woodward that--as head of the alleged journalistic outlet, the Fox News Channel--Ailes had given advice to the Bush regime.

Yes, that is the reason. David Plotz once called James Baker “the Bush family janitor” for his longtime practice of cleaning up messes for the Bushes. Ailes deserves to be considered for that title. As an adviser for George H. W. Bush, Ailes was assigned to do dirty work. After that, Ailes was executive producer of Rush Limbaugh’s television show. I watched the show and it ranks as one of the most dehumanizing shows in American TV history.

This leads me to suggest how we should assess the advice-giving transgression by Ailes. The New York Times has a thoughtful editorial on the matter. However, what is needed is an comparison of his treatment of Bush versus his treatment of the prior occupant of the White House. Defenders of Ailes are coming out and say that Ailes was simply being a patriotic American who was offering Mr. Bush some advice during some troubling times.

Fine. I’m willing to cut Ailes some slack (something he would never do for the left) were it not for the way he treated Bill Clinton at times America was facing some troubling times. In the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, Ailes was spreading his smears about Vince Foster’s death being caused by the Clintons (to date, no apologies to the Clinton or Foster families). In the aftermath of the tragedy in Somalia, the television show he produced had a segment in which Limbaugh showed footage of a US soldier being dragged through the street to which Limbaugh said something to the effect of “They [the Clinton administration] wanted this to happen." Ailes stood by when Limbaugh spread the Gore/Monticello hoax (click here and scroll down to 7/5). Let’s not forget that Ailes was executive producer of the show that had the host mentioned the White House dog and put up a picture of 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton (The riotous laughter by the mouthbreathers in studio audience wasn’t exactly Nuremberg 1934, but it was a loathsome and nauseating spectacle). Ailes also stood by Limbaugh when he lied and said it was an accident. Even before Woodward uncovered this advice giving, there were some in the mainstream media who gave Ailes the benefit of the doubt when he said that his alleged news channel would be “fair and balanced.” However, for those of us familiar with this man’s past, the “fair and balanced” label is just another weapon in his ideological arsenal.