Bush praises ABC's Jonathan Karl for never criticizing him

Former President George W. Bush recently commended ABC Senior White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl for never criticizing him while he was in office.

In an interview that aired on Sunday, Karl asked Bush if President Barack Obama got a "bad rap" because he had not done enough for Africa.

"All I can tell you is the State Department under his leadership and under the leadership of Secretary [Hillary] Clinton has been incredibly helpful in our efforts to deal with cervical cancer," the former president explained.

Bush added: "It doesn't surprise me that presidents get criticized."

"You saw that every once in a while," Karl laughed.

"Yeah, not from you, of course," Bush pointed out.

Earlier this year, media observers called Karl's reporting "highly problematic ethically" after he claimed that emails showed that the Obama administration had edited references to terrorism out of talking points about attacks in Benghazi for political purposes. Even after CBS News and others revealed that those emails had been doctored by Republicans, Karl continued to stand by his reporting.

According to the media watchdog group FAIR, Karl's "high profile at ABC demonstrates that conservative messages can find a comfortable home inside the so-called 'liberal' media."

Watch this video from ABC's This Week, broadcast July 7, 2013.