Fleeing from Fox

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has a good editorial about the Democrats' backing out of a candidates' debate which would have aired on Fox News:

...The Nevada Democratic Party had agreed to let the right-tilting network co-sponsor, of all things, an August debate in Reno between Democratic presidential candidates. Party officials were serious about drawing national attention to the state's January presidential caucus, the country's second in the 2008 nominating process. What better way for the party to reach conservative and "values" voters who might consider changing allegiances?

But the socialist, Web-addicted wing of the Democratic Party was apoplectic. The prospect of having to watch Fox News to see their own candidates would have been torture in itself. So they set the blogosphere aflame with efforts to kill the broadcast arrangement, or at least have all the candidates pull out of the event. Before Friday, the opportunistic John Edwards was the only candidate to jump on that bandwagon.

You'd think the deal called for having Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter mock the candidates between comments. No, even unfiltered, unedited, live debate between loyal Democrats couldn't be entrusted to Fox News.

The approach of outfits such as MoveOn.org is so juvenile it's laughable. Imagine if every political organization created litmus tests for news organizations before agreeing to appear on their programming. Republicans would have boycotted PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, National Public Radio and The Associated Press decades ago.

Actually, even if you accept that these media outlets are as biased against the Republicans as FNC is against the Democrats, I still don't think the GOP would turn down free air time.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, has an interesting piece about how John Edwards has moved to the left this time around. He certainly looks like the Kossacks' Kandidate, and I won't be surprised if Hillary or Obama offer him the vice-presidential nomination. (Whether he wants to go through that again, of course, is another question.)

Damian P.

Posted by damian at March 11, 2007 11:35 AM