Graham Defends Fox News Chief Ailes on Immigration
1:21 pm
Jan 14, 2014
Laura Meckler
Wall Street Journal
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File Photo: Members of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” who crafted the immigration reform bill, speak after final passage in the Senate, at the Capitol in Washington in June 2013.
Associated Press
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) says Roger Ailes is getting a raw deal in a new biography, at least as far as immigration is concerned. The book quotes Mr. Ailes offering a harsh prescription for illegal immigrants.
But Mr. Graham, an architect of last year’s Senate immigration bill, said in an interview that the chief of Fox News supported fixing the broken immigration system and that his network was “far more balanced” in covering the debate than it had been during the 2006-2007 effort. Mr. Ailes has also been quoted on the record supporting the immigration overhaul, including its most contentious piece, a path to citizenship for those here illegally.
“I met with him at least three to four times in person and talked to him a lot,” Mr. Graham said. He said he and others aggressively courted Mr. Ailes in hopes of toning down what Mr. Graham described as vocal opposition on Fox in the past. “People who observed the debate noticed that the tone was different and not so one-sided. It wasn’t ‘amnesty’ every 15 minutes.”
The new book, which goes on sale Tuesday, is titled “The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News and Divided a Country.” It recounts a conversation in which Mr. Ailes said that if he were president, he would send Navy SEALs in training to the border as part of a certification process.
“I would make it a requirement that you would have to personally kill an illegal immigrant coming into the country. They would have to bring home a dead body,” Mr. Ailes told a local politician, according to the book.
The book’s author, Gabriel Sherman, volunteered this anecdote in an interview Sunday on CNN. He said that Mr. Ailes has appeared supportive of immigration but “obscures his true agenda.”
A Fox News spokeswoman responded by pointing to on-the-record, pro-immigration comments from Mr. Ailes. She also pointed to a passage in an authorized biography of Mr. Ailes by Zev Chafets where Mr. Ailes makes comments about Navy SEALs at the border but suggests that only drug dealers should be killed.
“Every country has to be able to enforce its borders. Otherwise there is no sovereignty. If I was president I’d do what’s necessary, including putting Navy SEALs on the border with orders to shoot to kill drug dealers who are trying to infiltrate the country,” the book quotes him as saying. “Immigrants who have committed crimes should be rounded up and punished. But at the same time, a lot of conservative views on immigration are reactionary. Immigrants from Mexico are cultural conservatives and we should be encouraging them to come legally.”
Fox News’ parent, 21st Century FoxFOXA +0.14%, and News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, were until late June 2013 part of the same company.
Mr. Graham said he was sharing his views on the matter because he had been asked about it and because he doesn’t think it is fair for Mr. Ailes to be painted as an immigration opponent.
“When people do try to help I feel some obligation to say it was noticeably different this time around,” he said. “All I can say my engagement with him was very constructive.”
He said that Mr. Ailes didn’t endorse the Senate bill but that he was “very willing to listen” and “very much in the mindset that we have to fix the broken immigration system.”
A Graham spokesman added that Mr. Graham was speaking up both because he believed the book was unfair to Mr. Ailes and because it isn’t helpful to the future of immigration legislation if House Republicans, who have stalled action, think that the chief of Fox News favors shooting illegal immigrants.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/0...n-immigration/
