If Roger Ailes does it, it isn't a scandal

"Imagine waking up to this breaking news alert: "In spring 2011, Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC, advised Sec. of State Hillary Clinton to abandon her plans for life outside the public sector and run for president against Barack Obama in 2012."

The next breaking news alert you'd be likely to receive is this one: "Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC, to step down."

That would likely be true if it were the president of CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, The New York Times or any other news organization. But Roger Ailes, the president of Fox News, makes his own rules. Last night, The Washington Post's Bob Woodward reported that in spring 2011, Ailes tried to enlist then-Gen. David Petraeus to run for president. Yet since news broke, Ailes has received no substantial criticism and the reputation of Fox News remains intact."

Roger "I'm not in politics any more" Ailes

Bob Woodward, David Petraeus, Roger Ailes, and hidden agendas

"Now, Woodward has revealed that Ailes approached Petraeus in 2011. But when did Woodward become aware of this? After the 2012 election? That's not clear from his article.

It makes me wonder if there's more to this than meets the eye. Because when Woodward is at the centre of a surprising revelation, I've become accustomed to suspecting that someone in the backrooms, including the CIA backrooms, has a reason for bringing it to the public's attention."

Mark Sanford Mulls Second Act in South Carolina

Don’t rule it out. In an interview, the former South Carolina governor said he’d been by bombarded Thursday by calls and emails from former donors and allies encouraging him to consider a run in the 2014 election for Mr. DeMint’s seat. And, guess what? He’s not dismissing the idea.

“It’s not a ‘no,’ but it’s not a ‘yes,’ ” Mr. Sanford said.

The “love guv” is best known nationally for the embarrassing disclosure in 2009 of an extramarital affair, after he was intercepted at the airport flying back from Argentina – after aides had claimed he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Mark Sanford, the "Love Guv"

On Fox, Journalist Tom Ricks Accuses The Network Of Operating As A Wing Of The Republican Party Ricks Rips Fox's Overblown Coverage Of The Benghazi Attack

National security journalist Tom Ricks appeared on Fox News to blast the network's incessant coverage of the attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. After saying that "Benghazi was hyped, by this network especially," Ricks went on to say that "the emphasis on Benghazi has been extremely political, partly because Fox was operating as a wing of the Republican Party."

Thomas Edwin 'Tom' Ricks

Can Fox Still Hand-Pick a President?

Fox News chief Roger Ailes is seen in the popular imagination as a genius in two ways: He promotes the conservative cause, and he creates amazing television. But in the last few years, it seems his first goal has become entangled with his second. Ailes asked David Petraeus to run for president in early 2011, The Washington Post's Bob Woodward reports today, and advised him through an intermediary to turn down an offer he expected from President Obama to be director of the CIA. Fox correspondent Kathleen McFarland told Petraeus at the end of a 90-minute interview in Afghanistan that Ailes might resign from Fox to run Petraeus's presidential campaign, and News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch would "bankroll" it. Petraeus took the CIA post instead. By pushing for Petraeus, it seems Ailes was after a candidate with more centrist appeal. Of course, Fox did no favors to the eventual Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, in his struggle to appeal to the center. It's all a fascinating look into how Ailes doesn't just reflect so much as try to shape the Republican Party. But the question remains: Does Fox's behind-the-scenes political power actually work?

Roger "I'm no longer in politics" Ailes with Bill O'Reilly, proponent of the
pseudo-controversy "The War on Christmas."

Roger Ailes uses 'fair and balanced' Fox for a political pitch

Just a little more than a week ago, military affairs journalist Tom Ricks outraged the right-wing faithful by saying that Fox News Channel obsessed on the terrorist attack on Benghazi, Libya, in part because the station “was operating as a wing of the Republican Party.”

Roger Ailes

 Former CIA Director David Petraeus and his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

Oh the rudeness! The gall! The sheer outrage it took for one of America’s most honored reporters on military affairs to suggest, while a guest on Fox News, that Fox News was not quite on the up-and-up.

Decatur police arrest 2 more suspects in Krystal double murder

Decatur police arrested two more suspects in the armed robbery and double murder at Krystal Wednesday morning. Police said a total of three suspects, all employees of the restaurant, were involved.

The suspects in the August 2011 Krystal murders, Jordaan Creque, left, Ezekiel Gholston and Cassandra Eldred are escorted to the Morgan County Courthouse by deputies Wednesday afternoon for their arraignments on capital murder charges in the August 2011 slayings of Jeffrey Mark Graff, 50, of Huntsville and Jessie Aguilar, 23, of Decatur at the Sixth Avenue Krystal.

The restaurant reopens after the armed robbery and murders.