Greta Van Susteren Scolds Katrina Vanden Heuvel for Insulting Fox News

November 11th, 2012 1:10 PM

Greta Van Susteren on ABC's This Week Sunday took exception with a cheap shot at Fox News from Nation magazine's Katrina vanden Heuvel.

This came after vanden Heuvel said of former CIA director David Petraeus, "Don't forget that over at your network at Fox, he was your candidate for a while" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST: It could create complications for President Obama as he puts together his national security team though. I want to put up a chart right now. We already know that Secretary of State Clinton was planning on leaving. Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense, planning on leaving. We know the Secretary of the Treasury is going as well. Perhaps the Attorney General and the White House chief of staff. Greta, this is one hole the president didn't expect to have in January.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS: But, yes, of course he didn't expect to have it, but this is also quite a serious matter. I mean, this is the guy who was in charge of intelligence. And this was, if you look at Benghazi, this was an act of terrorism on 9/11. And here is the most important person in our intelligence community, and everyone says, "Well, it's a personal problem, it's a personal problem." Well, the problem is it's a personal problem with someone who's extremely important, and we don't know to what extent it may have jeopardized or put him -- made him vulnerable.

I'm not the least suspicious he did anything wrong vis a vis the American government, the American people, but it is not unreasonable to be very suspicious that we don't have all of the information.

KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL, THE NATION: You know, I think, listen, I think the relationship between President Obama and General Petraeus has been a rocky one. Don't forget, that over at your network at Fox, he was your candidate for a while. I mean, he was going to be the Republican candidate. So I don't think--

VAN SUSTEREN: I don't think, wait a minute.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That may have been a factor in why he was made CIA director.

[Laughter]

VANDEN HEUVEL: You keep your foes close. But I also think that there are many people who can fill this hole, and I just wish that there was a different approach to foreign policy, a less militarized one, that emphasizes political solutions and diplomacy.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The problem may be with the president, though, and not with General Petraeus. Go ahead.

VAN SUSTEREN: Let me say one thing. For the many journalists at our news organization, we have very many world renowned journalists, Jennifer Griffin, Catherine Herridge, and when you say, "Your candidate over at your network," let me just say that there are a lot of people who work really hard, and I think you're probably speaking for some of our conservative people like Sean Hannity.

VANDEN HEUVEL: Yes.


Nicely done, Greta. Brava!