Reply #7: Roger Ailes was Bush, Sr.'s media guru. He continued to assist Dubya. After 9/11 he told Dubya:

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From page 207 of Woodward's book, Bush at War: http://www.slate.com/id/2074115/

"Rove also kept in touch with the party apparatus and leading conservatives. One important-looking confidential communication came in to Rove from one of Bush's senior friends, so Bush took it to the Oval Office.

"Roger Ailes, former media guru for Bush's father, had a message, Rove told the president. It had to be confidential because Ailes, a flamboyant and irreverent media executive, was currently the head of FOX News, the conservative-leaning television cable network that was enjoying high ratings. In that position, Ailes was not supposed to be giving political advice. His back-channel message: The American public would tolerate waiting and would be patient, but only as long as they were convinced that Bush was using the harshest measures possible. Support would dissipate if the public did not see Bush acting harshly."

Ailes has been part of the GOP media mash going back to Nixon, when he worked with Rove and other dirty tricks operatives out of the basement of the White House: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1322885

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/07/in-the-nix...

In the 'Nixon papers:' Young Karl Rove; Roger Ailes; Nixon's media strategy

• A Feb. 15, 1973, letter and accompanying document from Karl Rove (now President Bush's top strategist) to Anne Armstrong, counselor to the president, thanking her for meeting with him and laying out his suggestions for a "1974 election program." That prescription focused on "new federalism," or the scaling back of the federal government and shifting of authority back to the states.

• The document that also got Smoking Gun's attention -- a May 4, 1970 memo from Roger Ailes (who at the time was a consultant and would later rise to be the force behind Fox News Channel) to Haldeman. Ailes critiques some of the president's TV appearances, the coverage they were given and the White House's work in staging them.

At one point, Ailes writes about some technical glitches during a presidential appearance and says:

I can keep this from happening in the future, however, as you know, I am walking a very fine line on how much I can actually say to the networks without creating a situation where they scream "management of news..."