What Ailes Us

In interviews during my book tour, I was delighted to be constantly asked about something I thought everyone already knew about: Roger Ailes' work, long before he went on to found Fox News, as bamboozler-in-chief for Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, specifically his role in inventing the fake candidate "town meeting" staged for TV but closed to the press. (Find the whole riveting story here.)

Specifically, curious interviewers have been honing in on the story of the time one of the citizens panels set up to question the president included a psychiatrist. Len Garment, then a Nixon campaign aide, blanched, because he knew Nixon bore an irrational (rational?) fear of psychiatrists. Ailes hit on an idea for a substitute: "A good, mean, Wallaceite cab-driver. Wouldn't that be great? Some guy to sit there and say, 'Awright, Mac, what about these niggers?'"

Point was, Nixon could abhor the uncivility of the words, while endorsing a "moderate" version of the opinion. Ailes walked up and down a nearby taxi stand until he found a cabbie who fit the bill.

That's the creep who runs America's vaunted "fair and balanced" network. Here's the thing: maybe someone should ask him if he used the N-word quoted above often, and when was the last time he used it.