Petraeus Will Retreat to Fox News Following Testimony

This post, written by Steve Benen, originally appeared on The Carpetbagger Report

Given that he's working hand-in-hand with the White House's public-relations team, Gen. David Petraeus enters today's congressional testimony as an advocate for the president's policy, not a neutral and objective observer. To reinforce this belief, Petraeus has decided to spend some of his evening today with the "fair and balanced" team at Fox News.

After spending the day telling Congress that President Bush's Iraq escalation should continue, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will take their PR campaign to a more comfortable setting: Fox News.

On Fox News Sunday this morning, host Chris Wallace announced the interview: "Now a special program note. Tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern on the Fox News Channel, Brit [Hume] will have an exclusive interview with General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker about the state of the Iraq war and their testimony to Congress. Please be sure to watch."

This isn't an entirely new concern. In July, Petraeus chatted with far-right activist and blogger Hugh Hewitt, prompting Andrew Sullivan to note, "There's concern [Petraeus is] not a disinterested party in a critical debate. There is worry that by talking to partisans like Hugh Hewitt, he will only undermine his credibility." Now, the next question is what other news outlets Petraeus may speak with today. When FNC claims to have an "exclusive" with Petraeus, that only means that Brit Hume will have a one-on-one discussion with the General. Petraeus can, however, have other "exclusive" interviews with other networks. In fact, given the interest in his perspective, Petraeus could probably get as much airtime as he'd like on every network.

So, will Petraeus stick to the friendly confines of a partisan network, from which he can expect fawning questions, or will Petraeus seek a broader, more mainstream audience?