Mike Wallace Would Ask Bush Why He's Left America "So [Expletive] Up"

Jim Romenesko picks up on this morning's Boston Globe interview with 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace. Highlights follow; the questioner is the Globe's Suzanne C. Ryan.

Q. President George W. Bush has declined to be interviewed by you. What would you ask him if you had the chance?

A. What in the world prepared you to be the commander in chief of the largest superpower in the world? In your background, Mr. President, you apparently were incurious. You didn't want to travel. You knew very little about the military. . . . The governor of Texas doesn't have the kind of power that some governors have. . . . Why do you think they nominated you? . . . Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that the country is so [expletive] up?

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Q. What do you think of Fox News?

A. Well, my son [Chris Wallace] works for them. . . . [Fox News chairman and CEO] Roger Ailes is a man I admire very much. He understood there was a market that was not being served. He was right.

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Q. You said recently that you thought Dan Rather should have resigned after his producers lost their jobs over the infamous story last year about President Bush's military service record.

A. When everybody who helps you put together a piece like that gets fired, don't you think it ought to cross your mind?