Fox chief advised Bush, book says

The new book “Bush at War,” by Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward, says Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes offered advice to President Bush in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Ailes is a former media advisor to Bush’s father and other prominent Republicans, but he said he left politics when he took the job at the Fox News Channel.

According to a report that ran Saturday in the Post, Ailes sent his memo to Bush senior advisor Karl Rove, who took it to the president.

The Post wrote: “His back-channel message: ‘The American public would tolerate waiting and would be patient, but only as long as they were convinced that Bush was using the harshest measures possible,’ ” Woodward wrote. The Post reported that Ailes also “added a warning: ‘Support would dissipate if the public did not see Bush acting harshly.’ ”

Ailes released a statement Monday that said, “In the days following 9/11, our country came together in nonpartisan support of the president. During that time, I wrote a personal note to a White House staff member as a concerned American, expressing my outrage about the attacks on our country. I did not give up my American citizenship to take this job.”

Fox rival CNN devoted part of its Monday “TalkBack Live” to the topic. One guest, historian Douglas Brinkley, said the report “does show that Fox News is very close to the White House.” Fox’s claim to be “fair and balanced,” he said, “is a lot of bunk.” But conservative radio host Armstrong Williams, defended Ailes, suggesting that it’s not uncommon for news executives to be close to politicians.. He noted that former CNN executive Rick Kaplan was a close confidant to President Bill Clinton.