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."