For years, the right wing has spread the myth that the news media has a “liberal bias” when it comes to covering stories. It’s a myth that has more or less been accepted by many Americans. However, the myth is just that, and its fallacy was proven when former President Bill Clinton was interviewed on FOX News Sunday by Chris Wallace on Sept. 22.
Clinton went on the program to discuss the Clinton Global Initiative, a non-partisan program dedicated to solving many of the world’s problems. During the interview, however, Wallace attacked Clinton’s performance as president in regards to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. “Why didn’t you do more, connect the dots and put them out of business?” asked Wallace.
This kind of partisanship from FOX News should not be a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention over the past few years. The network has always shown to have a very strong conservative bias, and it really came out in this interview. Clinton, who has remained very reserved about comments against current President George W. Bush, finally struck back.
“I think it’s very interesting that all the conservative Republicans, who now say I didn’t do enough, claimed that I was too obsessed with bin Laden,” said Clinton. The former president went on to attack Wallace and FOX’s softball reporting towards the Bush administration. “You did your nice little conservative hit job on me. What I want to know is … how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of,” said Clinton.
The only thing one can say in response to this is “Bravo, Mr. Clinton.” This is a man who has not criticized Bush over the past several years. But the gloves came off on Sept. 22, and Clinton was not afraid to tell it like it is.
All it took was one interview, and Clinton made not only Wallace, but the FOX network as a whole, look like fools and partisan hacks. The real joy, though, is that Clinton did it on Wallace’s own show and publicly humiliated a man who passes off propaganda as journalism.