Chris Wallace

Apparently, John McCain got the enmity out of his system on Saturday night, because when the Republicans—sans Ron Paul—convened for their second debate in two nights on Sunday, the Arizona Senator was relentlessly diplomatic toward his main antagonist, Mitt Romney.

Time and again on Sunday, Romney—and the debate's moderator, Chris Wallace—sought to bait McCain into the kind of heated confrontation with Romney in which he repeatedly engaged the night before. But McCain, who has opened a small but clear lead in New Hampshire polls, met each attempt with smiles and shrugs, downplaying their personal differences and seeking to play the role of confident and self-assured front-runner.  read more »

I have to politely take issue with Portfolio.com's Jeff Bercovici, who agrees with Chris Wallace that Democrats are wrong not to go on Fox News. Jeff writes:

Democrats don't avoid Fox as some kind of sop to the MoveOn.org crowd. They do it for the same reason they limit their press availability in general: because they're afraid of getting tripped up, caught in a flip-flop or a contradiction.

But this isn't quite right, in my view. It's true that, as Jeff says, Democrats are more likely to get tripped up during an interview on Fox News than on other networks. But they didn't start consistently snubbing Fox until liberal activists, led by watchdog groups like Media Matters, made it into an issue...  read more »

Fox News' Chris Wallace unloads to The Politico about the Democratic presidential candidates' refusal to appear on debates moderated by his network:

"Just imagine if the Republicans, under pressure from right-to-life groups, refused to appear on CNN or MSNBC. I think there would be holy unshirted hell. I think there would be such talk about these people being captives of the extreme right wing and why are they afraid to answer questions. And I think the absence of that is very telling.

"At this point, it has become kind of a loyalty test inside the Democratic Party, ... pandering to the far-left-wing. And we live with it."  read more »

In preparation for Don Imus' impending return to radio, Fishbowl DC has made yet another journalistic attempt to figure out which of his high-profile guests will go back on the show if asked. Chris Matthews, Chris Wallace, and Craig Crawford all say yes. Others still seem to be waiting to see how things play out.  read more »

Chris Wallace, the host of Fox News Sunday, conducted a lengthy, exclusive interview with the former President that left every relevant question unasked.  read more »

In case you missed it, Hillary Clinton had a busy day yesterday, making the rounds on the Sunday talk shows (and getting a particularly tough time of it from Chris Wallace, whose career has profited greatly from Clinton-sassing).

At around the 3:40 mark on this clip of Meet the Press is another confrontational moment, as Tim Russert reads a series of her statements about whether to withdraw troops from Iraq by a certain date, and concludes, “You’ve changed your mind.”

Hillary’s reply: “Well, the circumstances on the ground have certainly compelled me to continue to evaluate what is in the best interest of our country and our troops."

And speaking of making the rounds, Councilman David Weprin will be debating Pat Buchanan on Harball tonight over whether Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ought to be allowed to speak at Columbia University, Weprin’s office just told me.

That’s at 5 p.m.

Then, at 7 p.m., Weprin will debate the same issue with Glenn Beck on CNN.

Supposedly, it’s Rudy Giuliani who’s the preferred presidential candidate of Fox News. But the honor may actually belong to Hillary Clinton.  read more »

It was another gorgeous day today in Washington. The White House Correspondents Association dinner weekend has been bathed in sunshine and warm but unoppressive weather. 

"I could use some whiskey," said Senator Craig Thomas of Wyoming in the elevator up to television host John McLaughlin's annual brunch on the Hay-Adams hotel rooftop, overlooking the White House.

"Ewww," said his wife Susan.  read more »