Tell the Truth

Chris Wallace, the disgraceful FOXNews host who has been a source of right-wing talking points for years, tried to embarrass Bill Clinton during an interview this weekend (transcript here). But, it seems that Wallace "misunderestimated" his guest and Clinton exposed him for the hack that he is. In a particularly effective segment, Clinton exposed Wallace's double-standard and called upon him to "tell the truth":

WALLACE: I asked a question. You don'’t think that'’s a legitimate question?

CLINTON: It was a perfectly legitimate question but I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of. I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked: Why didn'’t you do anything about the Cole? I want to know how many you asked: Why did you fire Dick Clarke? I want to know…

WALLACE: We asked…Do you ever watch Fox News Sunday sir?

CLINTON: I don'’t believe you ask them that.

WALLACE: We ask plenty of questions of…

CLINTON: You didn'’t ask that did you? Tell the truth.

WALLACE: About the USS Cole?

CLINTON: Tell the truth.

WALLACE: I... with Iraq and Afghanistan there'’s plenty of stuff to ask.

[...]

CLINTON: And so, if you'’re going to do this, for God'’s sake, follow the same standards for everybody…

But, it would appear that (surprise, surprise) Wallace didn't tell the truth because ThinkProgress has followed up and finds that:

Neither Chris Wallace, nor his predecessor, Tony Snow ever asked anyone in the Bush administration why they failed to respond to the bombing of the USS Cole, according to a Lexis-Nexis database search. Wallace and Snow have had plenty of opportunities:

-– Vice President Dick Cheney has been on Fox News Sunday 6 times.

- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been on Fox News Sunday 9 times.

- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been on Fox News Sunday 23 times.

-– National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley has been on Fox News Sunday 4 times.

For the record, this was Bill Clinton'’s first solo appearance on Fox News Sunday.

Instead, the record shows that Wallace has been a consistent hack and ThinkProgress has the evidence here, here and here.