Roger Ailes, Fox News Chief: I'd Like To Hire Hillary Clinton

Roger Ailes responded to several recent articles about him in an interview with Newsweek's Howard Kurtz which was published Monday.

Ailes has been the subject of two profiles--one in New York, and one in Rolling Stone--in the past few weeks. They have alleged, among other things, that he thinks Sarah Palin is an "idiot," that he despairs of the current crop of GOP presidential candidate, that he is paranoid and security-obsessed and that his boss, Rupert Murdoch, thinks he believes "crazy" things. Ailes refused to speak to both magazines for the profiles.

Ailes has previously turned to Kurtz to speak out about Fox News, though in the past, he has said quite controversial things to the longtime media reporter. For instance, he called NPR executives "Nazis" in a November interview.

In Monday's interview, Ailes struck a more congenial tone, but he pushed back against some of the claims in the recent articles. He denied that he thought Palin was stupid, saying, "she's so smart she's got the press corps running up the whole East Coast behind her bus." And he called the reports of his heavy security detail "fantasy."

Ailes also said he'd like to hire Hillary Clinton as a Fox News contributor.

"She looks unhappy at the State Department," he said. "She'd get ratings."

Read the full interview, including Ailes' thoughts on Glenn Beck, here.

Comments

[Leviathan21]

07:40 AM on 06/10/2011

Uh, listen Roger: Hillary is a historic figure (having been the most successful female presidential candidate in history). Fox News is for rejects and has-beens. Why would Hillary tarnish herself by associating with this group of mis-fits?

[H321]

11:00 PM on 06/08/2011

What would he know about what a woman wants?

[Michael Doane]

09:56 PM on 06/08/2011

I would also like Roger Ailes to retire but firmly suspect that he is immortal and his real name is Lucifer.

[Michael Doane]

09:52 PM on 06/08/2011

I just want her to retire, mutely. No appearances on Meet the Press. No more books, no more speaking tours. Enough already. It was disappointing enough to see Obama give her another four years on the stage. No more Clintons, no more Bushes. Please, pretty please.

[GloriaY]

08:59 PM on 06/08/2011

Good. Let us send Michael Steele to fox noise, and we will have Sec. of State Hillary Clinton at MSNBC.

[NonConforming]

04:20 PM on 06/08/2011

Well the fairly fair an balanced network is always looking for talent from the Left to advocate for more Govt, and Hillary would be a good advocate for more taxes and larger Federal role in the nation. I guess Colmes, Rivera, Beckel, Smith, Sustren and other libs on the network would get some reinforcement. Just not a lot of talen on the Left that don't resort to insults as a form of dialogue (Olbermann).

[aseyeseeit]

12:24 PM on 06/08/2011

Why not? She voted for the war in Iraq and is a blonde-but if he checks under the hood he may pass, as unlike most of the anchors there-he may find more than air.

[LiberalLee]

04:12 PM on 06/07/2011

Well I'll bet you'd like to be young, thin, handsome, and have hair.
But that's not gonna happen either, Rog.

[P3]

04:28 PM on 06/07/2011

Maybe he can set his sights a little lower with Anthony Weiner as an on air correspondent, a man's reach should exceed his grasp, ya know

[LiberalLee]

05:40 PM on 06/07/2011

Even Weiner in his present disgrace is a step or 12 above old Roger the Truth Dodger.

[StopCensoringMe]

02:29 PM on 06/07/2011

I'm hoping she accepts the position of VP candidate to President Obama for his second term and then follows that with her own successful run for the presidency in 2016. Joe offers no benefits to the ticket this time around. Thanks for the service, Joe. Maybe you could talk to Roger about a gig.

[johnny8612]

02:22 PM on 06/07/2011

the prejodice weirdos at msnbc want her

[YOKEL13]

02:59 PM on 06/07/2011

I miss Johnny8611.

[johnny8612]

04:10 PM on 06/07/2011

Dont tell me,I got no Idea who he is.The number 13 is bad luck too..

[AdamWest1313]

03:26 PM on 06/07/2011

How's the trolling going?

[robphilnz]

01:49 PM on 06/07/2011

Perhaps Ailes has looked beyond 2012 and recognised that there is only eternal bleakness for the future quality of GOP candidates, so is preparing to be on the side of the next President after this one.

Glenn Beck's sideways "promotion" was merely the first step.

[Warren Lauzon]

07:29 PM on 06/07/2011

The future of RNC candidates is no better. I probably won't even bother to vote this time.

[robphilnz]

09:15 PM on 06/07/2011

It's very interesting, regardless of which side of the political divide a person stands. I don't live in America, nor am I American, but I have become fascinated by American politics and the vagaries, and often straight out weirdness, of people who offer themselves as candidates. I also enjoy watching how the public responds, giving it a bit of a prod where I see the opportunity, but especially when I see hypocrisy rear its head.

In this instance I think Murdoch's hands are all over Aile's change of direction, as their more vituperative and divisive attacks seem to have diminished substantially.

There were strong and widespread rumours that Ailes talked him out of supporting the election of President Obama through all his media interests. The story is that Ailes said he could make better money with Fox if it followed the GOP, but the reality is more likely to be that Ailes is paranoid about the Democrats (and just about everything else on the planet), if a recent bio is reasonably accurate.

Beck appears to have had far too much influence, and his active promotion of extreme groups with full backing from Ailes has resulted not in the expected left/right clear divide, but in the formation of a conservative party with multiple heads facing in completely different directions, each faction believing that they have the power and numbers to formulate the party policy.

[JudeOnPolitics]

08:24 AM on 06/07/2011

It would be extremely distressing, if Madame Secretary signed on with a network deliberately dishonest, distorting all truth to benefit the (GOP)>Greedy Oppressive Politicians.

Jane Akre and her husband were fired from Fox for refusing to falsify the documentary they filmed.

"[4][9] Project Censored called their story one of the "Most Censored Stories" of 2003,[4] claiming that the "Court Ruled That the Media Can Legally Lie"

An appeal was filed, and a ruling in February 2003 came down in favor of WTVT, who successfully argued that the FCC policy against falsification was not a "law, rule, or regulation", and so the whistle-blower law did not qualify as the required "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102 of the Florida Statutes.[8] ... Because the FCC's news distortion policy is not a "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102 of the Florida Statutes.

Corporation, owning Fox News Channel, Shareholders:


Rupert Murdoch from Australia & Prince Alaweed Bin Talal al Saud from Saudia Arabia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_News_Corporation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Akre

[NonConforming]

04:21 PM on 06/08/2011

Poll: Fox Most Trusted Political News Source
Suffolk University poll revealed that Fox News is the most trusted political news source among those surveyed.

http://www.aim.org/don-irvine-blog/poll-fox-most-trusted-political-news-source/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DonIrvine+%28Don+Irvine+-+Blog%29

[JudeOnPolitics]

10:16 PM on 06/08/2011

If you ask those same citizens, if they believe the media are required to tell the truth in reporting, you will find people actually believe there are laws requiring truth from our journalists and "government watchdogs."
It was a total shock to me to learn that is not the case, as it was what I used to believe,. I learned this on my own to begin with, having watched a live speech on C-Span, then turned to Fox...my once upon a news source...only to find them totally and deliberately twisting, misquoting, and lying about what had been said.

It was then I began investigating Fox News and came across other misiformation they were perpetrating on the trusting public. And, another person on Huffington Post pointed me to the law suit.

The point is: a poll showing people trust them, has nothing to do with Fox News actually being truthful and worthy of trust.

[nappyman]

08:00 AM on 06/07/2011

They wouldn't know what to do with a smart blond.

[wildwmmn]

07:59 AM on 06/07/2011

This is laughable. Hilary doesn't need Ailes, Fox, or more money or clout. She's already an icon of what a mature, brilliant, fiercely strong, formidable, and independant woman looks like. She and Bill have enough money to last them throughout their richly rewarded and well deserved lives.
I'll miss her terribly when she does decide to call it quits.
And when Ailes says "she'll get ratings" he really means he'll get ratings. Ratings is all Ailes cares about. He'd put satan on if he could make a buck off of him. Oh wait, he did have Beck, and still has Hannity. Close enough.

[traceymarie]

10:46 AM on 06/07/2011

fanned for that wonserful description of Hillary Clinton.

[NonConforming]

04:20 PM on 06/08/2011

That's right. Hillary and Bill still have the 10 million 'donation' from convicted tax evader Mark Rich and was pardoned on the last day of the Cinton's once the check cleared. Our current Attorney General did the papers for Mr. Rich. But the Cintons were all about helping the working man.

[wildwmmn]

09:50 PM on 06/08/2011

yes they were

[couer]

05:21 AM on 06/07/2011

She's probably already bored and is laughing just hearing the rumors. Too smart, too savvy to waste her time.