“The Foxnewsified Bush Interview:” Cavuto Mentioned Jackson, But Not Iraq

Washingtonpost.com’s Dan Froomkin is taking aim at Neil Cavuto: “Thanks to Fox News’s exclusive interview with President Bush yesterday, the leader of the free world is now on the record when it comes to John Kerry’s Yale grades, Laura Bush’s presidential aspirations and — yes — the Michael Jackson trial’s effect on public policy discourse.

Who wants to talk about that messy war in Iraq, or the Downing Street Memo? Not Neil Cavuto, Fox News executive, anchor, commentator and Bush campaign contributor.“

“Somehow, the topic never came up,” Froomkin continues. The word “Iraq” was never even uttered: “Not a single question, even though according to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, Americans consider the war in Iraq Bush’s number two priority, right after the economy and jobs.”

> Update: 7:02pm: In an e-mail, a Fox News insider wonders: “Instead of taking the easy, predictable hit at Fox, why doesn’t Dan Froomkin look into the fact that his own paper did not write about the Downing Memo until May 15 and only after other news outlets had checked in on it?”