Chris Wallace of Fox News stood up last night after a screening of Ron Howard’s new “Frost/Nixon” movie (opening Friday) to refute the notion put forth by the moviemakers that President Bush is guilty of abuses of power similar to (or even worse than) those of the former president. The Washington Times reports:

“Richard Nixon’s crimes were committed purely in the interest of his own political gain,” Mr. Wallace told Mr. Howard before an audience of a few hundred after viewing the filmmakers new film “Frost/Nixon,” which is about the only U.S. president to resign from office.

“I think to compare what Nixon did, and the abuses of power for pure political self preservation, to George W. Bush trying to protect this country — even if you disagree with rendition or waterboarding — it seems to me is both a gross misreading of history both then and now,” Mr. Wallace said.

If you can stomach it, watch for similar allegations later this week when CNN airs Christiane Amanpour’s special series on genocide, in which she likens the atrocities committed by Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge in the 1970s to the present-day U.S. practice of waterboarding.