NEW YORK – Wolf Blitzer’s in the news again. CNN’s colorful, attack-dog journalist was involved in another on-air confrontation, this time with “Sicko” filmmaker Michael Moore.

Wait a minute. That Wolf Blitzer?

The only thing colorful about the methodical, old-school reporter is his first name. Yet with Moore, Vice President Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney, that makes three memorable skirmishes during Blitzer interviews in nine months.

It’s less a reflection on the 59-year-old CNN host than on the growing occupational hazard for people like him: the interview subject who’s ready to pick a fight.

Moore was seething before Blitzer even asked anything on the July 9 appearance. CNN had preceded the interview with a taped report by Dr. Sanjay Gupta alleging Moore had fudged some facts in “Sicko.” Moore disagreed, and felt sandbagged.

The combative Moore launched into a diatribe that not only defended his movie and questioned Gupta’s reporting, but attacked CNN for failing to report aggressively at the Iraq war’s outset. Blitzer defended Gupta, ignored Moore’s commentary about the war and tried with limited success to steer the conversation back to health care.

Nothing personal. Both men even flashed some humor when, toward the end, Moore made a reference to Al Gore being right about the war, “unlike CNN. Did I mention that?”

“You did,” Blitzer deadpanned.

Blitzer said later he was surprised by Moore’s combativeness, since he didn’t feel Gupta’s report was that critical. While still angry about the report, Moore did the “gentlemanly thing” and apologized, he said.

“I feel bad that Wolf had to bear the brunt of what I and a lot of others feel about the mainstream media,” Moore told The Associated Press.

But he shouldn’t feel bad about the reaction. Video of the exchange was quickly distributed on the Internet, enhancing Moore’s reputation among like-minded people. Within a week, more than a half-million people had viewed it on YouTube alone.

Comes in handy for someone promoting a movie.

Liberals have learned what conservatives have long known – that there are benefits to being seen as “standing up” to the “hostile” press. Former President Bill Clinton’s testy exchange with Chris Wallace on Fox News Channel last September was particularly instructive. Fans of Democratic presidential candidates are delighted about their refusal to appear in a debate sponsored by Fox.

“I’m much more sensitive to it because I suspect that politicians and people who have political agendas are going to use these forums increasingly not just to answer questions on substantive issues, but to try to score some points and rally their bases,” Blitzer said.

It’s something Blitzer and his staff are increasingly aware of as they prepare for interviews.

During his CNN appearance, Moore was media savvy enough to allude to Blitzer’s Jan. 24 live interview with Cheney, where the vice president was visibly angry to have been asked about conservative critics of his lesbian daughter.

“Why did it take you so long to take on Vice President Cheney?” Moore asked. “It took you to 2007 before you made the man mad at you. Four years! Where were you?”

In asking Cheney about his daughter Mary’s baby with her homosexual partner, Blitzer read a statement from the conservative group Focus on the Family, which said that “just because it’s possible to conceive a child outside of the relationship of a married mother and father doesn’t mean it’s best for the child.”

“You want to respond to that?” Blitzer asked.

No, he didn’t. Cheney called Blitzer “out of line with that question.”

It cemented Blitzer’s pariah status in the Cheney household. The vice president’s wife had attacked Blitzer on the air a few months earlier over CNN’s “Broken Government” series.

Blitzer believed then, and believes now, that there was nothing wrong with what he asked the vice president. Mary Cheney hadn’t hidden her homosexuality. Blitzer was asking about a criticism made by another public figure.

“I’m not there to fight these guys,” Blitzer said. “I’m not there to get into an argument with them… . but I want to make sure they don’t get a free pass.”

Blitzer grew up in journalism with Ted Koppel as a model, re-reading several times a chapter about interview techniques in a book written by the former “Nightline” anchor.

He sees himself as a surrogate for the public, with a responsibility to ask newsmakers about things their critics are saying about them. If a question is ducked, he’ll ask again. If it’s ducked again, he’ll point that out and move on.

Mostly, interview subjects understand his job, he said.

Yet it may seem hostile to an interview subject – or be made to seem hostile – simply because public figures now understand there are so many more opportunities to bypass the Wolf Blitzers of the world.

They could appear on television or radio formats judged ideologically sympathetic. They could choose hosts who primarily lob softballs and let their subjects talk. Or they could use the Internet and cut out the middleman entirely.

“I’m not just there to say ‘why are you so brilliant?’” Blitzer said. “I’m there to ask serious questions – awkward questions at times – that partisans won’t feel comfortable with. That’s the way I was trained all these years, and that’s the way I am.”

Associated Press

Wolf Blitzer