Last Saturday, firedoglake‘s Book Salon showcased military affairs author and Pultizer Prize-winning journalist, Thomas E. Ricks.  The salon was hosted by Susan Glasser from Foreign Policy, where she is Editor-in-Chief, and Tom blogs.  The author is promoting his new book, The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today.  As is usual with guests at fdl‘s salon, Ricks discussed his most recent work with fdl commenters.

Right after the Thanksgiving weekend, the author was on FOX News, being interviewed by “newsman” Jon Scott on the subject FOX just can’t seem to get enough of these days, uh – weeks.  Benghazi.

Here’s how it went:

Here’s Politico‘s shot at a transcript, after Scott’s introduction:

“I think that Benghazi generally was hyped, by this network especially,” Ricks said. “And now that the campaign is over, I think [Sen. John McCain] is backing off a little bit. They’re not going to stop Susan Rice from being Secretary of State.”

Scott pushed back on the accusation that Fox News “hyped” the attack, asking, “When you have four people dead, including the first U.S. ambassador in more than 30 years, how do you call that hype?”

“How many security contractors died in Iraq? Do you know?” Ricks replied.

“I don’t,” Scott said.

“No, nobody does, because nobody cared,” Ricks said. “We know that several hundred died, but there was never an official count done of security contractors dead in Iraq. So when I say this focus on what was essentially a small fire-fight, I think, number one, I’ve covered a lot of fire-fights, it is impossible to figure out what happens in them sometimes.”

Ricks then slammed Fox News again for their Benghazi coverage.

“And second, I think that the emphasis on Benghazi has been extremely political, partly because Fox was operating as a wing of the Republican Party.

After that, Scott wrapped the interview. “Alright, Tom Ricks. Thanks very much for joining us today,” Scott said.

“You’re welcome,” Ricks replied.

There have been a fair number of stories on this already, not at fdl, as far as I can tell.  The followup on the nutcase right has been all too predictable.  The most questionable so far has been an article published Monday afternoon in The Hollywood Reporter, titled Fox News Exec VP: Guest Who Slammed Network Apologized – But Not Publicly.  It had this lead-in update:

UPDATED: Author Tom Ricks accused the network of “hyped” Benghazi coverage; Fox News’ Michael Clemente says Ricks apologized but “doesn’t have the strength of character to do that publicly.” Ricks disputes.

Ricks must also be excited. After all, he’s busy selling books this month, and Christmas lists are being made all over the place.

I’d trust the Hollywood Reporter about as far as I’d trust FOX News.  Their only claim to fame in the annals of journalism was a long, long time ago, and it was disgraceful – the September, 1947 “Billy’s List,” the first published version of the Hollywood blacklist of 1948.

Ricks isn’t impressed by the hit jobs on him, or by the level of reportage at HR:

Some guy apparently claiming to be a spokesman for Fox misinformed the Hollywood Reporter that I apologized afterwards. Unfortunately the Hollywood Reporter didn’t ask for specifics, or even ask me about it — and I am not hard to find. (Dude, that’s an automatic F in Journalism 101.)

And Ricks’ thoughts on being cut off the air at FOX:

I was surprised that they cut me off instead of doing the manly thing and riding to the sound of the guns. Whattabunchawimps. It reminded me of something that Col. Nathan R. Jessup once said. Or, as a defense reporter commented to me yesterday, “The story is not about Benghazi, it’s about how Fox can’t tolerate criticism.”

Ricks, in his blog post on this, published a few of the many e-mails he got from FOXbots.

image on flickr by Philip Weiss

The Rogue - Searching for the Real Sarah Palin

[This is the extended version of the preface to Sunday's Firedoglake Book Salon, which was limited to about 1,000 words.]

I. Longtime journalist and award-winning author Joe McGinniss’ newest book, The Rogue, is the latest – but by no means last – book about Sarah Palin.  Palin is not only the most famous Alaskan in history, she has uniquely combined political activity, celebrity, motherhood, grandmotherhood, a spousal relationship, borderline religious beliefs, professional victimhood, the American gossip universe, pop culture, legal obfuscation, new media and social networking.  Increasingly known for being thin-skinned and somewhat lacking in spatial awareness,  Palin, more than any American politician in a generation or so, almost begged McGinniss – or any investigative author – to move next door.  As I wrote here last year, a couple of days after McGinniss was able to do just that:

[A]uthor Joe McGinnis, who is writing a critical book about Sarah Palin, was looking for a place in Wasilla to rent this summer, as he continues his research. He was offered the house next door to the Palins’ Lake Lucille cult compound-in-progress. He wasn’t looking for the place. It came looking for him. What would you do?

Having spent time with McGinniss at the crucial point between when he moved in, and the Palins’ reaction to their new neighbor set in concrete the scene for how the book played out, I can say that Joe really was hoping to be able to just be their next-door neighbor.  He did not want to make waves, and was hoping to sit down with Sarah and Todd socially, perhaps professionally, and go through notes with them as work proceeded.  I’m not kidding.

What ended up happening was another over-reaction by Sarah, similar to many those of us who had been watching her for a long time had witnessed before.  Her facebook people went all professional victim for her and, to quote Palin in another context – “Game on!” Read the rest of this entry →

Joe McGinniss’ new Book, The Rogue, comes out on the 20th of September. Thursday morning, he will be on the Today Show.

Gary Trudeau was one of the few people McGinniss gave an early advance copy of the book to, as anyone who regularly reads Doonesbury might have guessed.  Trudeau is upset that at least three major papers, The Chicago Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Newsday have stopped running Doonesbury because it is featuring excerpts and a fictitious story line based upon some of the book’s content.

McGinniss told me last week that advanced sales of the book were approaching a quarter million copies.  He and his publisher have been quite shrewd in getting press in the run-up to release, with The National Enquirer running a story today on NBA star Glen Rice, back when he was a junior in college, playing in the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Great Alaska Shootout tournament, and the rogue was a fledgeling reporter at Anchorage’s preeminent TV station, KTUU.  According to the book (at least, according to Gary Trudeau):

“She was a gorgeous woman. Super nice. I was blown away by her. Afterward, she was a big crush that I had. I talked about her for a long time. Only good things.”— Glen Rice on Sarah Palin, from The Rogue, by Joe McGinniss Read the rest of this entry →