Ricks mocks Fox, which cuts and runs

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Maybe I am getting
cranky as I go into my third week of book tour. I was on Fox News yesterday morning and said (as I had
indicated beforehand that I would) that the whole Benghazi story has been hyped. The anchor pushed back, so I defended my position. My view -- that Fox is openly
supportive of the Republican Party, and that the Benghazi incident was hyped in
part because it occurred near the end of the presidential campaign -- induced
heart flutters in some quarters.

I was surprised
that they cut me off instead of doing the manly thing and riding to the sound
of the guns. Whattabunchawimps. It reminded me of something that Col. Nathan R. Jessup
once said. Or, as a defense reporter commented to me yesterday, "The
story is not about Benghazi, it's about how Fox
can't tolerate criticism."

Some guy apparently claiming to be a spokesman for Fox
misinformed the Hollywood Reporter
that I apologized afterwards.
Unfortunately the Hollywood Reporter
didn't ask for specifics, or even ask me about it -- and I am not hard to find.
(Dude, that's an automatic F in Journalism 101.)

Finally: Okay, no network is responsible
for the hateful comments made by its viewers. But for what it is worth, here is
a sampling of e-mails I got from supporters of Fox. I was surprised at how few
wished to engage on the facts and instead just spewed nasty thoughts.

This was from Donna: "What
a sleazel Tom Ricks is spreading is Obamaganda! Guess he thinks his opinions,
etc. are so superior to half the country that he will say and do anything."

From Thomas: "You just showed what a liberal ass looks like
with his pants down. What an idiot!"

Jim wrote, "I saw your
Fox News interview on the HuffPost portion on my AOL page. I thought your 'performance' was really arrogant. Smug assholes like you is why I don't watch
the news anymore. You guys have divided up into either Obama bashers or Obama
ass kissers. As for what happened in Bhengazi [sic] it is obvious the Fox News
reporter you smartassed to does not know what happened there. You know what
though? You don't know what happened either. I think it deserves a little
scrutiny instead of a 'happens all the time' attitude that you offered
in your bullshit appearance on Fox."

From LH: "Shove off commie."