Roger Ailes Quotes & Sayings

Television and I grew up together. — Roger Ailes

Phrase it in an interesting way; don't phrase it in a mean or unfriendly way. Bob Dole said that if there's anything he would have done differently, he would have said [to George Bush] "Start telling the truth about my record" instead of "Stop lying about my record." Frankly, had he done that, life might be different for Bob Dole today. — Roger Ailes

My doctor told me that I'm old, fat, and ugly, but none of those things is going to kill me immediately. — Roger Ailes

I've been in entertainment, politics, business, business coaching, public affairs, documentaries, programming, news, theater. So, there aren't many things I see that I haven't seen something like that before. — Roger Ailes

As long asthe audience or the public perceives you to be sincere in your approach and not petty, they will think it's fair and they will wait for the other person's response. But if they sense it's petty or the slightest bit unfair, they'll turn on you right away. — Roger Ailes

I think almost everything in life is life-experience, personality-driven. — Roger Ailes

To be successful, you've got to get the kind of torque that's created by a push and a pull. — Roger Ailes

There was no news in the Dan Rather piece. They didn't say [to Bush]: "We found a piece of paper that was overlooked in the 300,000 pieces of paper that were covered in the Iran-Contra hearings, and we have a piece of news we'd like to ask you about." CBS decided to create a media event and cover it in its own fashion. This was unprecedented in American history. CBS cancelled two-thirds of the newscast ... to get a guy and take him out. — Roger Ailes

Just because someone thinks he is being attacked by the media doesn't mean he is. Many times the media actually is being fair, and they're attacking for good reason. — Roger Ailes

People always describe my successes in life. My successes in life tend to be personal, not career. — Roger Ailes

Growing up in Ohio and just being kind of an average guy from flyover country - my dad was a factory guy - I try to put things on a screen that reflect reality. I don't mind if people want to argue with that, or think that's crazy. — Roger Ailes

Take the [1980] Jimmy Carter-Ronald Reagan debate. Carter kept trying to imply that somehow Ronald Reagan was going to push the button, or was irresponsible with nuclear war. You might have been able to make the case that Carter was responsible. But it's very tough when you see a person with Reagan's nice-guy persona up there to believe this guy somehow wants nuclear war, that he somehow wants to antagonize the Russians into an attack. It's just not credible; it doesn't cut with what all your other senses are telling you. — Roger Ailes

Truth is whatever people will believe. — Roger Ailes

If you have a choice between qualifications and personal qualities when it comes to hiring people, go with personal qualities. You can teach them the job. — Roger Ailes

If you're running because you want a job that's prestigious or because you have this vague knowledge that you're better than everybody else, you're easier to beat. — Roger Ailes

I can't stand cruel people. And if I see people doing something mean to somebody else just to make themselves feel important, it really gets me mad. — Roger Ailes

Capitalism works. In the end, socialism imploded on itself. Communism imploded on itself. Ultimately jihadism will implode on itself, if we stay in the fight and stay on offense because failed philosophies don't work, there's no future. — Roger Ailes

I hire people who can do their jobs and who will advise me of things they don't agree with. The worst thing you can do is get in a room with 14 people who say, "OK!" Then you really are making decisions about engineering and finance and other areas. — Roger Ailes

I grew up in the era when Dan Rather hated Richard Nixon. He was a newsman, but you knew what his opinion was. — Roger Ailes

If somebody wants to book Alec Baldwin on one of our shows, and he wants to come on and talk to our people and say what he wants, I don't care. We would question him on his choice of words. — Roger Ailes

I'm very confident in the management team, very confident in the on-air people. That's the whole secret to everything. It's having people who love to work where they're working and want to win. — Roger Ailes

Reporters have a different point of view and a different job. Consequently, to the extent that you can help them turn in an interesting story that their editor is going to like and that's going to further their careers, they're going to give you more ink and cover you. — Roger Ailes

You've got to attract interest in your candidate. The problem when you're running far behind is that you've got to move through those positive phases very quickly. Then, you have to draw attention to the other guy. You've got to create interest in why you differ from him and you've got to create a desire to remove him. — Roger Ailes

Fighting with the media almost always is a mistake. You can't win the argument, the media has the last word, and most times your argument is not justified. — Roger Ailes

CNN and MSNBC, our primary competitors, are trying to figure out how to beat us. There are some good, smart people at those networks, and even occasionally a blind pig finds an acorn. — Roger Ailes

Does Rupert like me? I think so, but it doesn't matter. When I go up to the magic room in the sky every three months, if my numbers are right, I get to live. If not, I'm killed. Our relationship isn't about love-it's about arithmetic. Survival means hitting your numbers. I've met or exceeded mine in 56 straight quarters. The reason is: I treat Rupert's money like it is mine. — Roger Ailes

I love rich people. Any time I needed a job, I went to a rich person. I like poor people, but they never had a job for me. — Roger Ailes

They [candidates] say, "I don't want to say anything controversial." And so nobody covers them. Then they blame the journalists, saying "Why don't they write down what I said?" In congressional races, 90 percent of the time the answer is, "Because you are boring and you don't have anything that makes me interested in listening to you. Why the heck should somebody write it down? There's nothing here worth hearing." — Roger Ailes

I quit politics because I hated it. — Roger Ailes

Every other network has given all their shows to liberals. We are the balance. — Roger Ailes

You never pull the trigger until you know you can win. — Roger Ailes

I have a soft spot for Joe Biden. I like him. But he's dumb as an ashtray. — Roger Ailes

Audiences are shifting. Platforms are shifting. Ages are shifting. It's better to be in charge of change than to have to react to change. — Roger Ailes

I think I have a good eye for talent. I think I'm smart enough to figure out what the mission is and achieve it. I achieve it by hiring good people. — Roger Ailes

There's something about the American people: They have such an innate sense of fairness that the red light goes on and the bells go off the second you approach that line. Any kind of personal attack is verboten. You shouldn't do it; it's not worth it. — Roger Ailes

When the media gets into creating their own product and then deciding to cover it, they are becoming part of the process and, therefore, could be damaged. — Roger Ailes

The candidates that can't face Fox, can't face al Qaeda. — Roger Ailes

You can get people the qualifications; But you can't teach them the qualities they're going to need. You can't teach integrity, a drive for excellence, refusal to quit under pressure. It's too late to build that into people you're going to hire. — Roger Ailes

Everybody fears the unknown. But I have a strong feeling there's something bigger than us. I don't think all this exists because some rocks happened to collide. I'm at peace. When it comes, I'll be fine, calm. I'll miss life, though. Especially my family. — Roger Ailes

It is a tremendous sacrifice to run for political office in America today. — Roger Ailes

I think the worst decision is usually no decision. If you make the wrong decision you can usually course-correct, but if you don't make it, you've already made it, and it's usually the bad one. — Roger Ailes

When a guy has his ego hurt, he's liable to jump into a fight he doesn't need to have. — Roger Ailes

Tell me who you want to see on the Left, and I'll hire them. If you give me a big name that's out there, that's floating around and wants work, I'd be happy to hire them. — Roger Ailes

You can't sell a book in America if you don't dump on Bush. That's the cheapest shot in the world. You cannot get an advance, and you can't sell a book because the publishers are all people who hate Bush and hate Republicans. — Roger Ailes

I only understand friendship or scorched earth. — Roger Ailes

If you are a good communicator, be unique: put yourself in your own commercials and do something a little different. To the extent you can focus on what it is you want to change, what it is you know how to change, and what it is you think will make life better for other people, you're going to do better. — Roger Ailes

CNN International, Al-Jazeera and BBC are the same in how they report mostly that America is wrong and bad. — Roger Ailes

An enormous problem with paid media, especially at the congressional level, is it all starts to look alike. — Roger Ailes

I hired Sarah Palin because she was hot and got ratings. — Roger Ailes

Everybody who's in the news business today was influenced in a positive way by Walter Cronkite. He had ability, humility and integrity, a rare combination. — Roger Ailes

The thing you always have to remember is, you look at people and they might look like a failure but there's often a narrow thing they do very well. — Roger Ailes

It also has to do with how you look and how you sound. If you look like a mean SOB who's putting the other person down, that's different than if you're inquiring about the process they go through to make a decision on behalf of the public. — Roger Ailes

We're not programming to conservatives. We're just not eliminating their point of view. — Roger Ailes

Obama's the one who never worked a day in his life. He never earned a penny that wasn't public money. How many fund-raisers does he attend every week? How often does he play basketball and golf? I wish I had that kind of time. — Roger Ailes

I want to elect the next president. — Roger Ailes

In the Rather/Bush incident, it was totally unfair. CBS was trying him and convicting him and trying to execute him on national television. They had made up their minds. CBS made the fatal error of trying to become the political opposition to George Bush. And, when they did that, they put themselves in an arena where they can get knocked on their fanny. — Roger Ailes

I think the media is dangerously close to creating their own product. They used to cover the product, which was whatever's happening. — Roger Ailes

If you want to get unpaid media coverage, you had better be quotable. It's an interesting problem, because very few candidates are quotable. — Roger Ailes

Show me a man or woman with a mission, and I'll show you somebody that's tougher to beat. — Roger Ailes

To determine whether or not you have the ingredients to be charismatic, answer the following questions: What are your real feelings about who you are? What do you believe in? Do you have goals or a mission in life? Do you project optimism? Do others turn to you for leadership? Noncharismatic people spend their lives auditioning for others and hoping they'll be accepted. Charismatic people don't doubt their ability to add value to a situation, so they move forward with their mission. — Roger Ailes

They [NPR] are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism. These guys don't want any other point of view. They don't even feel guilty using tax dollars to spout their propaganda. They are basically Air America with government funding to keep them alive. — Roger Ailes

I don't have any focus groups on talent and programming. If I need five people in a mall to be paid $40 to tell me how to do my job, I shouldn't do my job. — Roger Ailes

You've got to find a difierent approach. You've got to create some interest in your language, in the words and pictures you create. If a candidate can't give a 10-minute speech and have reporters reaching for their pens in the first 90 seconds, he probably shouldn't be running. — Roger Ailes

I would advise people occasionally to take the media on, but only when you know it's a manufactured product and not a news interview. — Roger Ailes

There is a - deep down, underneath all the work I do, I think there's a laziness in me. — Roger Ailes

I've found increasingly less effectiveness with the man-on-the street type of stuff that was very standard fare for years. It can still be effective, but it's got to be done well. — Roger Ailes

If you're running far behind in the polls and you decide to use comparative advertising, you have to be able to explain to the people why the incumbent shouldn't have then ob. — Roger Ailes

I don't care what the polls say. — Roger Ailes

Anybody's position on an issue, anything they've said about an issue, and any way they've voted on an issue is fair game. You have every right to question that and go after it aggressively. — Roger Ailes

Taking on the media is something I would never tell a candidate to do. I'd advise him what I would do in that circumstance, but that's about it. — Roger Ailes

I often tell my clients they should do at least 30 percent of all their reading outside their own field. This will give them perspective and knowledge that will make them more interesting. — Roger Ailes

You cover the bad news about America. You do. But you don't get up in the morning hating your country. And so, until somebody shows me lines at the border trying to get out, I think there's some good news. — Roger Ailes

Candidates rarely win battles with the media, and unless you really know what you're doing you should not tangle with them. The exception is when you know this is a search-and- destroy mission on the part of the media and your case is very strong, you are very articulate, you know what you're trying to accomplish - and you have no alternatives. — Roger Ailes

I look for something unique, and I look for people who haven't reached their potential. I think I'm pretty good at developing talent. — Roger Ailes

In general, I think man-on-the- street ads and endorsement spots are having less and less effect on people. The electorate's getting very sophisticated, and they want to make their own judgments. — Roger Ailes

I think it's because I'm unpredictable. I view every situation, every race, and every candidate differently I try not to rely on something that worked before. — Roger Ailes