It’s exceedingly rare these days for Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) to voluntarily face the media, fearful he might have to answer uncomfortable questions about his former aide Brent Furer, and whether his most recent scandal is hurting him in his primary against conservative Chet Traylor.
But all bets are off when it comes to Fox News, where Vitter can be in the hot seat for 10 minutes and face precisely zero questions about any of his pressing political controversies.
The segment was dedicated to the Gulf oil spill, so it’s not as if all topics were on limits except ones that make Vitter uncomfortable. But given how unusual it is for Vitter to submit to an interview it’s a big missed opportunity for host Chris Wallace not to set aside a couple minutes to make Vitter squirm…unless those were the ground rules.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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