Military expert booted after accusing Fox News of ‘operating as wing of the Republican Party’

“I think that Benghazi was generally hyped by this network especially,” Ricks explained. “And now that the [2012 presidential] campaign is over, I think [McCain] is backing off a little bit. They’re not going to stop Susan Rice from being secretary of state.”

At that point, Scott shifted the interview’s focus from McCain to defending his employer, asking Ricks, “How do you call that hype” when four Americans died in the Benghazi attacks?

“How many security contractors died in Iraq, do you know?” Ricks wondered.

“I don’t,” Scott admitted, seemingly at a loss for words.

“No, nobody does because nobody cared,” Ricks pointed out. “Several hundred died but there was never an official count done of security contractors dead in Iraq. So when I see this focus on what was essentially a small fire fight, I think — number one — I’ve covered a lot of fire fights, it’s impossible find out what happened in them sometimes.”

“And second, I think the emphasis on Benghazi has been extremely political, partly because Fox was operating as wing of the Republican Party,” the author added.

“Alright, Tom Ricks, thanks for joining us today,” Scott said, ending the interview less than two minutes after it began.