Wallace: "I felt as if a mountain was coming down in front of me. "

Following today's buzz generating conversation with Bill Clinton, Chris Wallace shared some of his post-interview thoughts with FishbowlDC: I was delighted to get the chance to interview former President Clinton. This was the first one-on-one sitdown he's ever given "Fox News Sunday" during our 10 years on the air. The groundrules were simple--15 minutes--to be divided evenly between questions about the Clinton Global Initiative and anything else I wanted to ask. I intended to keep to the groundrules. In fact--I prepared 10 questions--5 on the CGI and 5 on other issues. I began the interview with 2 questions about Mr. Clinton's commitment to humanitarian causes. His answers were cogent and good-humored. Then--I asked him about his Administration's record in fighting terror--fully intending to come back to CGI later (as indeed I did). I asked what I thought was a non-confrontational question about whether he could have done more to "connect the dots and really go after al Qaeda." I was utterly surprised by the tidal wave of details--emotion--and political attacks that followed. The President was clearly stung by any suggestion that he had not done everything he could to get bin Laden. He attacked right-wingers--accused me of a "conservative hit job"--and even spun a theory I still don't understand that somehow Fox was trying to cover up the fact that NewsCorp. chief Rupert Murdoch was supporting his Global Initiative. I still have no idea what set him off. Former President Clinton is a very big man. As he leaned forward--wagging his finger in my face--and then poking the notes I was holding--I felt as if a mountain was coming down in front of me. The President said I had a smirk. Actually--it was sheer wonder at what I was witnessing. I tried repeatedly to adhere to the ground rules--to move the President along--and back to the CGI. But he wanted to keep talking about his record fighting terror. When it became clear he wanted to throw out the ground rules--then I just went with the flow of the interview.

Fishbowl

Wallace: "I felt as if a mountain was coming down in front of me. "

Patrick

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