children, or health care, those are heart issues. They concern people.”
Ailes has become increasingly disenchanted with the format of presidential debates, which he considers formulaic, predictable, and unenlightening. “I’d stage a series of three debates, so that if somebody screws up, there’s a chance to fix it next time. I’d hold the debates in an empty studio, nobody there but the two candidates sitting face-to-face and five cameras. No audience. No questioners. No moderator. I wouldn’t even tell them who goes first, just turn on the lights and let them talk to each other. That’s the debate that I’d like to see.”
• • •
Over the years, Ailes stayed in touch with his old boss, Woody Fraser, who was in New York producing network shows including
Good Morning America
and
Nightline
. They sometimes met for lunch at the Redeye Grill in Midtown, near Ailes Communications. “Roger was very proud of his company and the clients he had,” says Fraser. “He had become a man of the world. I was impressed by the fact that he knew how to get things done without breaking legs or screaming, which were my usual methods as a producer.”
One of Fraser’s projects was a talk show hosted by basketball legend Bill Russell, an intimidating figure with a keen intellect and an ego to match. The show got off to a rocky start: Fraser couldn’t get his star to take it seriously or prepare. “I’d go up to his apartment, which was always filled with friends and old teammates walking in and out, a real party scene. I’d try to sit him down and get him ready for the show. He was nice, but he didn’t really pay much attention. I very much wanted this to work—I was a huge Russell fan—and I went to Roger for advice.”
As Ailes diagnosed the problem, Fraser had himself to blame. Ailes told him, “Don’t go up to his place; make him come to your office, no distractions. It will make him realize you are in charge, and that you mean business.”
“I was pissed off,” said Fraser, “but I took the advice. Russell began coming to me. And you know what? He started doing his job and the show worked. It seems like a simple thing, but I realized that Roger had learned over the years how to manage powerful people.” Ailes had dealt with a lot of them in his career, from Mike Douglas and Bob Hope to Dick Nixon and Ronald Reagan. But he had never really been the top banana. George H. W. Bush gave him that chance.
CHAPTER FOUR
1988
George H. W. Bush was elected president of the United States against all political logic. “It wasn’t a tide-of-history election,” says Democratic consultant Paul Begala. “Republicans had been in for eight years and people were ready for change. And the only vice president who had ever succeeded his boss after eight years in office was Martin Van Buren. It was Roger Ailes who created the dominant issues in that campaign. He did it by defining Dukakis. The campaign was incredibly impressive, and it was mostly because of Ailes. He has an intuitive grasp of what Bill Clinton calls ‘walking around people.’”
Ailes played many roles. Brit Hume, who covered the campaign for ABC News, remembers him as a spine stiffener for the sometimes indecisive Bush. When Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis began publicly complaining about the aggressive tone of the Republican ads, some in the Bush camp counseled toning them down. Ailes advised the candidate to double down and tell his opponent to quit whining. It was a tactic that worked; it cast Dukakis as a wimp who couldn’t take criticism.
Ailes also acted as Bush’s morale officer. The patrician vice president had a tendency to come off as stiff and distant; Ailes wanted to keep him loose. Early in the campaign, Republican opposition researchers discovered that Dukakis, as governor of Massachusetts, once vetoed a law that would have made it illegal for humans to have sex with animals. It had been tacked onto a piece of
Ailes has become increasingly disenchanted with the format of presidential debates, which he considers formulaic, predictable, and unenlightening. “I’d stage a series of three debates, so that if somebody screws up, there’s a chance to fix it next time. I’d hold the debates in an empty studio, nobody there but the two candidates sitting face-to-face and five cameras. No audience. No questioners. No moderator. I wouldn’t even tell them who goes first, just turn on the lights and let them talk to each other. That’s the debate that I’d like to see.”
• • •
Over the years, Ailes stayed in touch with his old boss, Woody Fraser, who was in New York producing network shows including
Good Morning America
and
Nightline
. They sometimes met for lunch at the Redeye Grill in Midtown, near Ailes Communications. “Roger was very proud of his company and the clients he had,” says Fraser. “He had become a man of the world. I was impressed by the fact that he knew how to get things done without breaking legs or screaming, which were my usual methods as a producer.”
One of Fraser’s projects was a talk show hosted by basketball legend Bill Russell, an intimidating figure with a keen intellect and an ego to match. The show got off to a rocky start: Fraser couldn’t get his star to take it seriously or prepare. “I’d go up to his apartment, which was always filled with friends and old teammates walking in and out, a real party scene. I’d try to sit him down and get him ready for the show. He was nice, but he didn’t really pay much attention. I very much wanted this to work—I was a huge Russell fan—and I went to Roger for advice.”
As Ailes diagnosed the problem, Fraser had himself to blame. Ailes told him, “Don’t go up to his place; make him come to your office, no distractions. It will make him realize you are in charge, and that you mean business.”
“I was pissed off,” said Fraser, “but I took the advice. Russell began coming to me. And you know what? He started doing his job and the show worked. It seems like a simple thing, but I realized that Roger had learned over the years how to manage powerful people.” Ailes had dealt with a lot of them in his career, from Mike Douglas and Bob Hope to Dick Nixon and Ronald Reagan. But he had never really been the top banana. George H. W. Bush gave him that chance.
CHAPTER FOUR
1988
George H. W. Bush was elected president of the United States against all political logic. “It wasn’t a tide-of-history election,” says Democratic consultant Paul Begala. “Republicans had been in for eight years and people were ready for change. And the only vice president who had ever succeeded his boss after eight years in office was Martin Van Buren. It was Roger Ailes who created the dominant issues in that campaign. He did it by defining Dukakis. The campaign was incredibly impressive, and it was mostly because of Ailes. He has an intuitive grasp of what Bill Clinton calls ‘walking around people.’”
Ailes played many roles. Brit Hume, who covered the campaign for ABC News, remembers him as a spine stiffener for the sometimes indecisive Bush. When Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis began publicly complaining about the aggressive tone of the Republican ads, some in the Bush camp counseled toning them down. Ailes advised the candidate to double down and tell his opponent to quit whining. It was a tactic that worked; it cast Dukakis as a wimp who couldn’t take criticism.
Ailes also acted as Bush’s morale officer. The patrician vice president had a tendency to come off as stiff and distant; Ailes wanted to keep him loose. Early in the campaign, Republican opposition researchers discovered that Dukakis, as governor of Massachusetts, once vetoed a law that would have made it illegal for humans to have sex with animals. It had been tacked onto a piece of
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