Fox News Chief's Failed Attempt To Enlist Petraeus As Presidential Candidate

Petraeus For President? Fox News Chief Once Advised General To Run
FILE - In this July 18, 2011 file photo, Gen. David Petraeus salutes during a changing of command ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan. America's best-known general, is retiring as arguably the most consequential Army leader of his generation. After a farewell ceremony Wednesday, Petraeus will open a new chapter as director of the CIA. In that job he will try to keep up the pressure on al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, while working closely with the military he knows well. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)
FILE - In this July 18, 2011 file photo, Gen. David Petraeus salutes during a changing of command ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan. America's best-known general, is retiring as arguably the most consequential Army leader of his generation. After a farewell ceremony Wednesday, Petraeus will open a new chapter as director of the CIA. In that job he will try to keep up the pressure on al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, while working closely with the military he knows well. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)

Roger Ailes, the longtime Republican media guru, founder of Fox News and its current chairman, had some advice last year for then-Gen. David H. Petraeus.

So in spring 2011, Ailes asked a Fox News analyst headed to Afghanistan to pass on his thoughts to Petraeus, who was then the commander of U.S. and coalition forces there. Petraeus, Ailes advised, should turn down an expected offer from President Obama to become CIA director and accept nothing less than the chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top military post. If Obama did not offer the Joint Chiefs post, Petraeus should resign from the military and run for president, Ailes suggested.

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