The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 3)

Gonzales is also suffering from a sub-par press office, where in yesterday's Washington Post, his deputy director for public affairs, Brian Roehrkasse, claimed that Gonzales had begun initiatives that had seen "a tenfold increase in child-predator cases, a doubling of human-trafficking cases and a doubling of gang-related convictions by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives."

Only problem: all of those programs were initiated under former Attorney General Ashcroft's leadership.

p> FOX TROTS br> Nevada State Democrat Party chairman Tom Collins had already made the decision to pull out of the Fox News co-sponsored presidential debate to be held in his state in August. /p>

Late Friday, Collins and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, released a letter -- via MoveOn.org -- announcing that the state party was insulted by remarks made by News Corp executive Roger Ailes and was no longer participating in the Democrat presidential debate. Fox News was co-sponsoring the event.

According to sources inside CNN and MSNBC, officials of the state party made calls to both networks on Monday, March 5, inquiring if there was interest on the part of either cable netlet to be involved in the debate should "negotiations" with Fox News break down.

"They asked specifically about Keith Olbermann as the moderator," says the MSNBC source. "They said that discussions with Fox weren't working out."

One problem: the discussions between Fox News and the state party had long been completed, and a deal announced.

Last Thursday night at the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation Awards dinner in Washington, D.C., Ailes joked that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama "was on the move" and that President Bush was going to have to ask the Pakistanis to find him.

Democrats in Washington and Nevada claimed Ailes was comparing Obama to a terrorist, when it was clear from the joke that President Bush was the butt of the humor.

"This was just a convenient ruse for them to get out of the debate that was causing them heartburn on the far left of the party," says a Senate Democrat leadership staffer. "Reid and Collins have been talking about getting out from under the deal for at least a week. Reid was tired of getting asked about it."

topics:
John McCain, Barack Obama, Television, Abortion, Law, Pakistan, NATO