Clinton’s blowup reaps prime ratings for Fox

NEW YORK – Political combat pays: “Fox News Sunday” drew its best ratings in nearly three years for the weekend’s electric confrontation between former President Bill Clinton and newsman Chris Wallace.

Both men’s words were being dissected in the aftermath on Monday, with a Clinton spokesman saying Fox and Wallace had attacked Clinton with “an accusation,” not a question.

The Sunday talk show had its best ratings since the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003, according to Nielsen Media Research’s measurement of the top media markets. It even outrated the morning’s dominant show, “Meet the Press,” although the NBC show was displaced from its usual time slot by golf. (Two versions of the interview were the two most-watched clips on YouTube on Monday, totalling more than 800,000 views.)

The face-off also boosted sales for “Against All Enemies,” an insider account written by former White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke, whom Clinton referred to frequently during the interview. The book was in the top 10 of Amazon.com as of Monday night.

Wallace said Clinton had agreed to a 15-minute interview, half on his philanthropy efforts and half on any issue Fox wanted. As the interview began, Wallace asked about why Clinton is trying to help save lives in developing countries.

Clinton was angered by Wallace’s fourth question, about Clinton’s efforts to track down Osama bin Laden. Wallace asked: “I understand that hindsight is always 20/20, but the question is, why didn’t you connect the dots and put him out of business?”

That question represented an attack, said Jay Carson, a Clinton spokesman who was backstage watching. Wallace hasn’t asked the same tough question of Bush administration officials, he said.

“That wasn’t a question, it was an accusation,” Carson said. “He knew exactly what he was doing and we knew exactly what we were going to do if he did that, as we suspected he would. But it’s not what we wanted.”