ST. PAUL, Minn.-- Walking around the convention area this afternoon, NewsBusters caught up with Fox News contributor and former Hillary Clinton campaign communications director Howard Wolfson.
Asked about a recent row with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, Wolfson declined to "reopen that can of worms." Queried on the Palin coverage, Wolfson said that "to his credit" Barack Obama hadn't leveled any sexist criticisms of the Alaska governor, but he also added that the thinks the media have been "chastened a little bit" and would ease off.
Below are excerpts of the interview. You can play the embedded video at right.
NEWSBUSTERS: What do you think about the coverage of her last four days, five days?
HOWARD WOLFSON: Well, the coverage has been brutal, there's no question about that.... I think on some of these questions about her family, the coverage has been unfair. I think questions about her experience or about her positions on issues, or about this investigation in Alaska are totally appropriate. So some of it's deserved, some of it's not.
[...]
NEWSBUSTERS: With media going after her for kind of abandoning her kids and this kind of this anti-feminist that we're hearing, do you think that a Nancy Pelosi or even a Hillary Clinton should be coming out and saying, 'hey, wait a minute, it's okay for a woman to have a job and children'?
WOLFSON: That's a good question. There's no question that it is okay for a woman to have a job and children. Most women in America with children are working. And so there are a lot of people who can relate to the difficulties of balancing work and family. The Obama campaign to its credit has really avoided this line of attack and my sense is that the media has probably been chastened a little bit too given what the backlash has been about that specific kind of criticism.
NEWSBUSTERS: Speaking of the media, what do you think is the tremendous animus against Fox News that so many Democrats have? Why do many of the Obamabots seem to hate you so much now?
WOLFSON: Me personally or the network?.... Somebody once asked me about Sen. Obama and I said, "Look, there's probably nobody in America who said more unkind things about Sen. Obama than I have over the past 18 months. So, it was a hard-fought primary and I understand that Sen. Obama has a lot of very strong supporters who feel very passionately about him and that's the way the world works.
NEWSBUSTERS: What about the whole mess that is MSNBC. What's happening over there?
WOLFSON: You know, I'm probably not expert in the inner workings of MSNBC. I had some things to say about MSNBC last week in response to some things they had to say about me. And I think I'll probably just leave it there rather than reopen that can of worms.
NEWSBUSTERS: And so there's not been any response, or has there been?
WOLFSON: Well, I think Keith Olbermann had some comments in a paper the next day, but since then there hasn't really been anything on air.
