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So the Democratic state leadership in Nevada is still thinking of having their debate hosted by Fox News even though many in the state and the rest of the country say it's a bad idea.
What is it with these people that we elected last November? Have they gotten stuck on stupid or what? So Fox offered to stick a representative from air America on the panel. Big deal! One token Democrat, progressive, or whatever you wish to call the victim.
Personally, the presidential contenders should do as John Edwards did and tell the state of Nevada and Fox News to go to hell. but that's just me.
CBC to get in bed with Fox?
by kos Thu Mar 08, 2007 at 01:47:40 PM PST
So now the Congressional Black Caucus wants to get in bed with Fox News?
Later this week, the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute plans to announce two debates in concert with Fox News, according to a source familiar with the negotiations, which have apparently been going on for weeks. The CBC Institute previously worked with Fox on a 2003 Democratic presidential primary debate in Baltimore.
"Both CNN and Fox have presented the Institute with two great proposals and at some point in the coming days we will be making an announcement," she said Candice Tolliver, a consultant working with the CBC Institute on the debates, adding that the Institute's plans are not final.
Funny that the CBC wants to get in bed with a network that has made a habit of trashing African American interests. I mean, just look at last week:
On the February 28 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, during a segment discussing the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, the church to which Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) belongs, co-host Sean Hannity stated that "many" call Trinity "separatist," adding that "in some cases, even drawing comparisons to a cult." Guest Erik Rush, a columnist for the conservative website WorldNetDaily, said that the church's "scary doctrine" is "something that you'd see in more like a cult or an Aryan Brethren Church or something like that." Just the day before, Hannity -- referring to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) -- had claimed: "We created a new religious litmus test. This is very troublesome to me, and no other candidate is getting that scrutiny."
Referring to "The Black Value System," which is advocated by Trinity, Rush stated: "I would go beyond saying that they're Afrocentric. They're African-centric. They refer to themselves as an African people, and that somewhat disturbs me from the viewpoint of, well, do they consider themselves Americans? Do they consider themselves Christians? Are they worshipping Christ? Are they worshipping African things black? Well, I mean, what is it?" Later in the segment, when co-host Alan Colmes asked: "Are you questioning Barack Obama's Christianity?" Rush responded simply: "Yeah."
Of course, this isn't out-of-character for Fox and its lilly-white lineup, but bizarrely, the CBC thinks it's a good idea to get in bed with them.
Hopefully, CNN gets the gig and all will be well. It wouldn't be a bad thing for the CBC to use Fox as negotiating leverage.
Meanwhile, the Nevada Dems' effort to find a "compromise" to their problem has run up against a solid wall of rejection. From an email floating around (I think from MoveOn):
Air America, PoliticsTV.com, Carson City Democratic Committee, MoveOn, national blogs, and Nevada blogs reject NV Dem Chairman Tom Collin's fake offer. Many voices call on NV Democratic Party to drop Fox.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PoliticsTV.com CEO Dan Manatt:
"PTV rejects participation in Fox's 'egregiously unfair and unbalanced debate'
[Statement below]Air America Radio President Mark Green:
"Fox has said that it would consider having one AAR person on a panel with three Fox people...I would be interested in co-sponsoring a debate among the Democrats running for President; but not in a way that AAR would be outweighed as tokens in a largely Fox line-up."
http://airamerica.com/...Carson City Democratic Committee
This resolution passed AFTER Tom Collins' proposal had been offered. "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."
http://www.dailykos.com/...MoveOn.org Civic Action:
In AP article entitled "Edwards passes on Fox News Channel debate in Reno," MoveOn debunks NV Dem Chair Tom Collins' compromise as "a lame proposal that would have multiple Fox personalities joined by one lone Air America panelist. That's a rigged, unfair and unbalanced debate...the Fox debate should just be canceled and a more legitimate news source should be found."
http://www.lasvegassun.com/...Markos at DailyKos.com national progressive blog:
"In effect, what this does is give Air America a token questioner, sitting with three Fox News questioners. Nothing more. It would still be billed as a Fox News debate, legitimizing the network as a neutral news provider...Too late. The time for compromise is past. At this point, all that's left is killing this Fox News Debate dead."
http://www.dailykos.com/...Matt Stoller at MyDD.com national progressive blog:
"Tom Collins offered publicly the same exact deal that was rejected last week, a deal that still validates Fox News as a neutral news outlet. Collins addressed none of our concerns, was completely non-transparent about the decision, and is continuing to poison the Nevada Democratic Party with poor decisions...Fox News is not a neutral news outlet, and it shouldn't be treated as such. And it's pretty clear that these people are offering Nevada Democrats and activists nothing but bad faith nonsense. They are willing to scuttle the opportunity for a real debate about the future of the country rather than admit that what hundreds of thousands of Democrats believe is important."
http://www.mydd.com/...LasVegasGleaner.com blog in Nevada:
Parody of what Tom Collins said in his announcement: "We're trying really hard to circumvent a head-on up-front discussion of the argument that, by hooking up with Fox, the Nevada Democratic Party is ennabling the network and lending legitimacy and credibility to its all-day every-day bias in favor of Republicans and conservative policies...We've proposed a series of utterly inconsequential and insignficant actions calculated to do nothing whatsoever to cast doubt on Fox's legitimacy -- note, for instance, the agreement to let the Reno radio station air the debate, but nothing is said about feeding the signal to the Air America's markets nationwide."
http://www.lasvegasgleaner.com/...
Update: CBC contact info, from the comments:
The Congressional Black Caucus
Political Education and Leadership InstituteCBC Institute
227 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E., Suite 201
Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 785-3634
Fax: (202) 544-1912General Questions:
info@cbcinstitute.orgCongressional Black Caucus Foundation
1720 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-263-2800
Fax: 202-775-0773
email us at info@cbcfinc.orgCBC Chair Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick
WASHINGTON OFFICE
2264 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2215
Tel: (202) 225-2261
Fax: (202) 225-5730
Office Hours: Monday-Friday (9:00-5:00pm)
