The head of the Fox News cable channel called former President Bill Clinton's finger-wagging, table-thumping, snarling, in-your-face histrionics during this past Sunday's interview with Chris Wallace "an assault on all journalists."

"If you can't sit there and answer a question from a professional, mild-mannered, respectful reporter like Chris Wallace, then the hatred for journalists is showing," said Roger Ailes in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. "All journalists need to raise their eyebrows and say, 'hold on a second.' "

Responding to Democratic criticism that Wallace ambushed or sandbagged the former president with a "conservative hit job," Ailes replied, "They're trying to do this to rally their base, go after Fox News, set up a straw man."

Frankly, the Clintonian tirade was no assault on journalists, but just another day at the office, dealing with political operatives who place far more credence and value in theatrics and emoting than in facts, logic and rational conclusions.

If one of our reporters came back from being berated by, say, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman or Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald -- both perfectly capable of a good, old-fashioned berating -- I'd not be whining about assaults on journalists, but telling the reporter it sounded like he had struck a vein and to get back in there and ask the next question to see where it leads.

Wallace's question was hardly one that Clinton did not anticipate, because he was primed and ready with his talking points.

The question was: "When we announced that you were going to be on 'Fox News Sunday,' I got a lot of e-mail from viewers. And I've got to say, I was surprised. Most of them wanted me to ask you this question: Why didn't you do more to put bin Laden and al-Qaida out of business when you were president?"

Instead of simply answering, Clinton went on the counterattack.

"Now, I will answer all those things on the merits," he said, "but first I want to talk about the context in which this arises.

"I'm being asked this on the Fox network. ABC just had a right- wing conservative run in their little 'Pathway to 9/11,' falsely claiming it was based on the 9/11 Commission report ..."

From there it got personal.

Clinton charged: "So you (Wallace) did Fox's bidding on this show. You did your nice little conservative hit job on me."

And: "You launched it -- it set me off on a tear because you didn't formulate it in an honest way and because you people ask me questions you don't ask the other side."

Still further: "And you've got that little smirk on your face, and you think you're so clever."

After Clinton left in a huff, his spokesman, Ben Yarrow, was quoted by The AP as saying, "Chris Wallace was clearly carrying the water for Fox. President Clinton was prepared for a partisan attack; he wasn't afraid to hit back hard and he'll do it every time."

Attacking the questioner instead of answering the question is a time-honored tactic and one journalists should be prepared for. To his credit, Chris Wallace, unlike his boss, did not cower from the verbal thrusts but parried and pressed.

More importantly, afterward he did not whine or complain about how he was treated by the former president.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Wallace said, "I'm not in the business of doing the former president good or harm. I'm just doing my job, which is to ask questions.

"Given the fact that we got our largest audience in the last three years, I think we did some good for the show and showed what we are all about, which is asking tough questions of both sides."

And when the dust settled, both sides saw the confrontation through the prisms of their own preconceptions.

Liberals saw a sandbagging neo-con reporter and conservatives saw an unhinged liberal politician unable to calmly answer a legitimate question.

And a few of us saw the current state of political debate -- a kabuki of painted masks and wild gesticulations that can be seen from the back of the theater.

Thomas Mitchell is editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and writes about the role of the press and the First Amendment. He may be reached at 383-0261 or via e-mail at tmitchell@reviewjournal.com.