For reasons that remain unclear (maybe they were at a dinner party together?) Fox News head Roger Ailes spoke "exclusively" to Russell Simmons this morning following the shootings in Arizona.

Short version: Ailes has told his staff to "tone it down, make your argument intellectually" but makes it clear Fox sees no connection between themselves and the events in Arizona. Also? The left is just as bad if not worse.

You know, they’re using this thing...apparently there was a map from one of Palin’s things that had her (Congresswoman Giffords) targeted district. So, we looked at the internet and the first thing we found in 2007, the Democrat Party had a targeted map with targets on it for the Palin district. These maps have been used for for years that I know of. I have two pictures of myself with a bull's-eye on my head. This is just bullshit. This goes on... both sides are wrong, but they both do it.

I told all of our guys, shut up, tone it down, make your argument intellectually. You don’t have to do it with bombast. I hope the other side does that.

Ailes also feels Fox is being conveniently targeted.

The education system knew about this guy...they kicked him out of school and told him until he gets a letter saying he’s not going to kill anybody, he can’t come back to school. The police department picked him up five times and let him go and nobody screened him for getting a weapon...So, by the time he decided to go to a mall and and wanting to kill somebody, he was attached to nobody. He was a flag burner. He just was not attached to the Tea Party.

It’s just a bullshit way to use the death of a little girl to get Fox News in an argument.

Read the full interview here >