Conservative columnist David Frum — who was named a CNN contributor last month — writes about the past, and the future, of the Republican party in New York magazine this week. Buried toward the end of the piece is an interesting few sentences about what may be the source of the rift between Frum and Fox News Channel, which he has frequently been critical of in the past two years:
Back in 2009, I wrote a piece for Newsweek arguing that Republicans would regret conceding so much power to Rush Limbaugh. Until that point, I’d been a frequent guest on Fox News, but thenceforward some kind of fatwa was laid down upon me. Over the next few months, I’d occasionally receive morning calls from young TV bookers asking if I was available to appear that day. For sport, I’d always answer, “I’m available—but does your senior producer know you’ve called me?” An hour later, I’d receive an embarrassed second call: “We’ve decided to go in a different direction.”