Roger Ailes loved him some Petraeus
by digby
I always knew that The Man Called Petraeus was the dream candidate for the GOP kingmakers and was he ever:
In April 2011, Ailes sent Fox News contributor Kathleen T. McFarland to Kabul to make a pitch to then-General David Petraeus. “He adored Petraeus,” a senior producer said. “When Moveon.org put the ‘General Betray Us’ ad in the newspapers in 2007, Roger said it was treasonous and we reported it as such.” Ailes had already told Petraeus that if he ran for president, he would quit Fox News to run the campaign. War hero presidents were especially impressive to Ailes. It was why he spoke almost daily to George H. W. Bush. “The big boss is bankrolling it,” McFarland told Petraeus, referring to Murdoch. “Roger’s going to run it. And the rest of us are going to be your in-house.”
We’ve heard this in earlier accounts, but I hadn’t heard Petraeus’ specific answer before:
“It’s never going to happen,” he told McFarland. “My wife would divorce me.”
In 2011, the good General was involved in something else I’m sure he thought might be even more threatening to his marriage.
Generals are the conservatives’ perfect candidates. It was clear that Petraeus was being groomed for president (and that the Obama people quite smartly took him under the tent.) Ailes and Murdoch certainly wanted that and they have a lot of pull. But for some reason, the right wingers just aren’t able to reel in a big military hero to lead them. I wonder why?
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