The Nevada State Democratic Party is pulling out of a controversial presidential debate scheduled for Aug. 14 in Reno and co-hosted by Fox News, according to Democratic insiders.
The debate was being hosted by Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio, the Nevada State Democratic Party and the Western Majority Project.
At some point the Democrats will need to realize that in order to win this election, it will require them to participate in something other than a softball Q&A period. FOX News may not be to their liking. But they are going to have to consider some things and one of them is: Not only do conservatives watch it, independents do too. These are the people they must win over, not their base.
Just winning your base does not guarantee a victory and the sooner the Dems can learn to believe this, the better for them. There is a whole host of independents that a candidate must convince to vote for him/her, and this move gives the distinct impression that the Dems are not up to facing the tough questions.
Like it or not, one only needs to look at the weekly ratings of FOX News to know for a certainty, they are major players in the media these days. Politics is a discipline that is about numbers and FOX beats the competition combined. But MoveOn.Org and the Daily Kos both want to flex their muscles a bit and demonstrate they own the Democratic Party, because they despise the network they have little influence over. For the Dems to allow them to hold a political institution hostage can, and likely will, alienate more voters than they attract.
This may very well backfire and may not hold up. But if it does hold up, there will be political casualties and damage. It will come with a cost. It may not happen immediately, but this will be an issue in the general election that will not go away. They will have to deal with FOX at some point in the process, if they hope to have a chance.
10 comments:
The reason the Democratic party pulled out of this debate is because Fox News is not a legitimate news station. They are in the business of spinning and lying for the Bush administration. Tell me why they should be taken seriously. For Fox News to whine about being blacklisted by the Democrats is laughable. If Fox News wants to be treated like professional journalists, they had better start acting like it.
How many times has Barack Obama been called "Osama" on this so-called fair and balanced news station, LA? How many times have they continued to spin their lies, even after they have been proven false?
Why should Hillary Clinton, a respected Senator and former First Lady who is a strong and viable candidate running for President respect a news organization who pays swiftboaters like Dick Morris to fill hours of coverage on "Hannity & Colmes" with vile comments about her, especially when the head of the network thinks it's funny to dredge up painful parts of a couple's past when one of them was the most successful two-term president since F.D.R. ?
Democrats won't fall into the trap of the likes of those like Ailes, who has used his network to be a shill and propaganda machine for the Republican party. The days of swiftboating and getting away with it are over, LA. Get used to it.
Those who are fans of Fox News think this will hurt the Democrats. I say it will make them stronger. The last thing our party needs is for mouth breathers like Fox News fans telling us we have to reach out to them in order to win an election. We certainly didn't do that in the 2006 election, and we did just fine.
I think this is a telling sign that there is a very strong push in our party to unite against the likes Fox News, the laughing stock of the news organizations.
I also wouldn't be too sure of yourself when you talk about moveon.org as an organization who can't bring in the Independent vote. I worked for MoveOn.org in the last election, making calls to Independent voters. Fox News was reporting, all the way to the last minute that the Republicans were going to do a lot better than anyone thinks....they were wrong, MoveOn was right. They've proved themselves to be a viable organization that will bring in votes, especially Independent votes. Reid knows that, because without MoveOn, he wouldn't be Majority Leader.
This is a legitimate news station?
http://tinyurl.com/2vhjnc
ME,
//How many times has Barack Obama been called "Osama" on this so-called fair and balanced news station, LA? //
How many times did Ted Kennedy call him that?
You Dems can rale all you want about how FOX is a tool of Bush and company, but they have the ratings, the people watch them. Those networks that have made a hard turn to the left, are declining in ratings. What's that tell you?
//The days of swiftboating and getting away with it are over, LA. Get used to it.//
I am telling you, yo might want to get used to a GOP president, then. Becuase FOX isn't going anywhere. In fact, have you seen the latest ratings?
LA
Do you know what other shows have high ratings? Jerry Springer, Jackass, Wife Swap, American Idol.
Just because a lot of idiots watch the show, doesn't mean they will have any effect on the outcome of the election. Did Fox help the Republicans win the Congress or Senate? No, because they aren't as important as they (and you) think they are.
Ted Kennedy made a mistake when he mixed up the name, Fox news goes out of their way to slander Obama and use that name at every chance they get. They constantly make reference to Obama as a muslim terrorist. Just the fact that you would even use Ted Kennedy as an example to cover for Fox's purposeful misuse of Obama's name shows me that you can't even make a reasonable argument in this matter.
Ailes, the head of Fox News, said this, the other day.
It is true that, just in the last two weeks, Hillary Clinton has had over 200 phone calls telling her, in order to win the presidency, she must stay on the road for the next two years. It is not true they were all from Bill.
And it is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don't know if it's true that President Bush called Musharraf and said: "Why can't we catch this guy?"
And you think that the Democrats would be treated with respect in that debate? If a news organization wants to be respected and given the responsibility to hold a Presidential debate, they have to prove themselves to be legitimate. Fox News is nothing but a shill for the Republican right wing, a propaganda mill.
You had better get used to the idea that the American people are sick of Bush's lies and those who spread them...those who watch Fox News and take it seriously are the 25-30% of brain dead who would vote for a Republican just like Bush, anyway.
The Democratic party made a smart move in walking away from that train wreck of a news (and I say that with a laugh) organization.
Fair and balanced? Yeah...right.
ME,
//Fair and balanced? Yeah...right.//
But yet, you think NBC and other MSM outlets aren't guilty of the very same tactics?
Look, I am not the smartest man in the world, but I am no idiot. I watch FOX and the others, when the moment presents itself. So, does that make me an idiot?
I do not watch Springer and the others. Look at the demographics. I rather doubt that those viewers watch any kind of news show, so to compare them to the FOX News audience is a faulty comparison.
I know you do not like them, that's always a given. But you, like so many others will have to get used to FOX being around for awhile.
LA
Here, watch this video and tell me that Fox News is a legitimate news organization. They are shills for Bush and big corporations. It's all about the money, and not about integrity or journalism.
http://tinyurl.com/s7ybc
I know that a majority of your posts rely on the faux news you get from Fox, which shows me that you do take them seriously. I don't think you're stupid, you just prefer not to do the hard work of looking at both sides that anyone who is a true Independent would do.
//I know that a majority of your posts rely on the faux news you get from Fox, which shows me that you do take them seriously.//
Find all of the sources I use here, then tally them up and tell me how many of them are from FOX. Do it ME, I want to see this.
Not unless you pay me by the hour, LA.
Besides, the Fox News resources are used by many other blogs, such as Drudge, which you also use quite often. Face it, LA....you're a Fox News hound. I think there may be a program you can enter to break away from this kind of thing, Fox rehab or something... :-D
Did you watch that video, BTW? Got an idea how Fox gets it's news? It's faxed to them by lawyers of corporations and the White House. That's real journalism, ain't it?
From the AOL news page:
In a letter sent to Fox News, Nevada State Democratic Party Chairman Tom Collins and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Ailes "went too far" with comments made the night before.
The letter makes no reference to a crusade by the liberal activist group MoveOn.org to boycott Fox, which it calls a "right-wing mouthpiece." Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards dropped out of the debate Thursday, citing in part Fox's participation.
The letter also does not specify which comments by Ailes lead to the decision, but a Democratic source told Reuters it was a joke Ailes made about Obama and President Bush during a speech Thursday night.
AOW,
Amazing, isn't it? The left can say the most horrible things about the GOP and others that disagree with them, but let one person make a joke and they are demonized as Satan, incarnate.
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