Am I being fair in my description? No?
The different candidates have responded to the uproar with Edwards pulling out of the debate all together:
Edwards: NoCertain Nevada Democratic groups have also come out against it:
Richardson: Yes
Obama: Decision will be made within the week
Clinton: Too early to make a decision
Dodd: They haven't decided yet
Biden: No response
WHEREAS, Fox News is not a neutral source of news - it's a right-wing mouthpiece like Rush Limbaugh that smears Democrats and spreads blatantly false information; andPersonally, I don't think Democrats should be treating Fox like a real news channel. Engagement is good, but Fox News doesn't offer that. It doesn't offer good-faith debate and consequently offers little to challenge the preconceived notions of liberals.
WHEREAS, Democrats granting Fox News the illusion of credibility would allow Fox to more easily "swiftboat" our 2008 candidates by pushing false Republican attacks into the mainstream media; and
WHEREAS, everyone supports reaching out to new people, but 1 day of Fox coverage is not worth legitimizing Fox's misinformation the other 364 days a year; and
WHEREAS, plenty of better alternatives exist to Fox News - in Nevada, MSNBC plus its NBC affiliates, for example, get approximately double the viewers of Fox cable plus its local affiliates; and
WHEREAS, we believe that Democrats need to fight back against Fox News and the right-wing smear machine in the 2008 election cycle--not enable it.
BE IT RESOLVED, the Carson City Democratic Central Committee opposes the proposal to let Fox News host a Democratic presidential debate and strongly urges the Nevada Democratic Party to drop that proposal.
2 comments:
We're not talking to Fox News. We're talking to the people who watch Fox News. It's a form of subversion and counter-media, not a form of submission. Republicans do this all the time by demanding equal time on PBS, or the NYT, or CNN. It's paid big dividends to them. It's time Democrats do the same. And who better to talk to but people that are not currently voting for Democrats? Appearing on PBS or whatever is just flock-preaching.
Taking the longer view, I think not-engaging is the kind of avoidance policy I don't want voters to see. It smacks of running away. It says that there's no chance of winning over Fox viewers. Even if Fox attacks, you gain respect and toughness by standing up for yourself. You learn how to fight the opposition. You learn how to speak to marginal Republicans.
The only downside is the odd argument against 'legitimizing' Fox News as a news outlet. What? Of course it's an outlet. An important one. Yes, it's biased, so what? We are all of us biased to some extent. There are no "legitimate" news outlets anymore, there is only the task of navigating it to reach voters.
If Fox news was offering a fair debate format wherein the viewers of Fox News got a chance to compare and contrast the various positions of the Democrats and Fox News that would be one thing, instead what's being offered is a debate sure to be hosted in an extremely unfair way which runs a good chance of no helping anyone understand anything.
At any rate the debate was called off after Richardson pulled out.
Post a Comment