Siding with radical far-left elements such as MoveOn.org, DailyKos.com and MyDD.com, the Democratic Party has officially Cut and Run from an arranged primary debate in Nevada that was to be hosted by FoxNews. On a side note, the debate in South Carolina, to be hosted by MSNBC, is still on. This is cowardice and hypocrisy at its best.

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Nevada Dems Nix Fox Debate

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 a letter released late Friday from state party chairman Tom Collins and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev).

The letter said Nevada Democrats had entered into the agreement with Fox, despite strong opposition from Democratic activist groups such as MoveOn.org, as a way of finding "new ways to talk to new people."

But Collins and Reid wrote that comments on Thursday by FOX News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, when he jokingly compared Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, to Osama bin Laden, "went too far," and prompted Nevada Democrats to end the partnership.

"We cannot, as good Democrats, put our party in a position to defend such comments," the letter said. "In light of his comments, we have concluded that it is not possible to hold a presidential debate that will focus on our candidates and are therefore cancelling our August debate. We take no pleasure in this, but it is the only course of action."

The debate was to be hosted by Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio, the Nevada State Democratic Party and the Western Majority Project.

A statement released Friday night from Fox Vice President David Rhodes said: "News organizations will want to think twice before getting involved in the Nevada Democratic Caucus, which appears to be controlled by radical fringe, out-of-state in interest groups, not the Nevada Democratic Party. In the past, MoveOn.org has said they 'own' the Democratic party. While most Democrats don't agree with that, it's clearly the case in Nevada."

Fox officials also argued that Ailes' remark about Obama, made at the Radio and TV News Directors Foundation Awards, was meant to poke fun at President Bush, not the Illinois senator.

Ailes said: "And it is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don't know if it's true that President Bush called (Pakistani President Pervez) Musharraf and said, 'Why can't we catch this guy?' "

Controversy has been brewing for weeks about the debate. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said Wednesday he would not participate, citing Fox's conservative ties as a factor. His deputy campaign manager, Jonathan Prince, sent an e-mail to the liberal website DailyKos, which was posted on the site.

“We’re definitely going to debate in Nevada, but we don’t see why this needs to be one of them,” it read.

The state party has been under pressure from progressive activists across the country, led by MoveOn, to cut its ties with the debate.

According to MoveOn, more than 265,000 people signed a petition sent to the Nevada State Democratic Party.

In announcing the event, a statement posted by the state Democratic Party has Reid offering high praise of the debate partnership with Fox.

“This is more great news for Nevada,” he said in the statement. “I'm happy FOX News will be a partner for the August presidential debate. Western issues will be a major focus of this debate in particular. With FOX News as our partner, candidates will have an opportunity to not only speak to Nevada voters, but voters across the West who will be instrumental to electing a Democratic president in 2008.”

Ailes lauded the idea, too: “FOX News is proud to be a leader in coverage of the 2008 campaign season and a co-host of this important presidential debate. We look forward to working with the Nevada Democratic Party and the Western Majority Project.”

State Democratic party chairman Collins, in a letter posted on the party web site Wednesday, said Reid now shared activist concern about the event. Collins wrote the Reid "has asked us to take another look."

A spokeswoman for the state party did not immediately return a call.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0307/3069.html

I personally prefer PBS and Jim Leher(sp?) to run the debates. If I want "info-tainment", I watch the Daily Show.

I don't understand why even Dem party peons agree to go on Fox News to "debate" issues (ie get yelled at) with whoever the host of the hour is.

If you want to host a debate as a cable news network, try having some iota of journalistic credability.

OH NOES LENINFLUX IS BACK WITH HIS STINGING RHETORIC AND CAPITALIZED BUZZWORDS!!

Fuck FoxNews. This is exactly the kind of balls Americans want from the Democratic party. The 30 percenters just don't get it.

And mark my words, Ailes and Rhodes will be fired from Fox before too long. Moderate Americans (the majority in this country), are growing tired of this divisional bullshit.

Oh Really? Well I guess Congressman Kucinich doesn't "get it" either....

http://homepage.mac.com/mkoldys/iblog/C ... 309195255/

(give the graphic two clicks with your mouse to play the video)

And I quote, from the Democratic candidate for President -
"You know what...I love Fox....I have to tell you that....I know that Fox is the absolute vehicle for anyone who would ever run for anything.....so thanks for the opportunity."
Yup, Kucinich is one of the 30% that doesn't "get it," right?

As for the Democrats having "balls" in doing this - are you out of your mind? The Democrats look nothing but weak and scared. This debate was given the blessings of both party chairman Howard Dean and Senator Harry Reid before the loons from the radical far-left websites stepped in and John Edwards followed their lead. The Ailes' joke was just an excuse.

So what are the Democrats going to do - cherry-pick the media in which they will associate? Only go to "friendly" confines such as MSNBC? Will the voters be better off having Kieth Olbermann tossing softballs at the candidates? Come on, enough with this "Fox is not a legitimate news organization" bullshit. Do you think that they would have Sean Hannity moderating the debate? Hell no - it would most likely be Chris Wallice and Brit Hume. Ever watch their shows? If you have, then you'd know that they give members of both parties a fair shot and deliver tough questions to each. The rest is the Liberal Spin Machine set in overdrive.

Face it - the Democrats are making a mistake and are opening themselves to being criticized for 1) running from tough questions and 2) aligning themselves with the fringe elements that loon websites like the Daily Kos represents.

the republicans do it, why can't the democrats?

The party chairman and the majority leader were on board before Ann Coulter called one of the candidates a faggot, then got a free ride from Fox "News" on it.

As if the current president hasn't associated with loons like Dobson and Ted Haggard and still gotten your vote. Twice.

You gotta work on a new shtick there buddy.

It's getting really old. Seriously.

But he capitalized it Buggy! It actually makes it mean something if you capitalize it!

like leninflux's WorldWideWar on Terror

Ann Coulter used that word at the CPAC convention, not on FoxNews. I have no idea what "free ride" you are referring to, but CNN booked her and was disappointed when she backed out at the last minute.

You've gone after me in almost every post I've made in the last few weeks - sometimes for no apparent reason. Is there something you want to say besides commenting on "my schtick?" Seriously, because I can live with people disagreeing with me but if you are taking exception because I don't push the "Bush is Hitler" line of bullshit then say the word and I'll head out.
I respect the fact that this is your board but you are hardly being fair if this is the case.

nobody is ever going to take you seriously as long as you use stupid conservative catch phrases like 'cut and run'. nobody. ever.

Nor should they.

Fair enough. I can see that buzzwords such as that could piss people off. Mind you that isn't my intention...I guess you hear it enough and it becomes part of a person's political jargon. I take exception to the idea of it being a "shtick," but I guess a person is free to believe what they want. Like I said it's not my board and I respect those who provide it, but it would be nice if the same expectations could be applied to the entire political spectrum. For example, as much as people can't take "conservative catch phrases" seriously, I don't see how people can take assertions such as "Bush lied about WMDs" and "Bush orchestrated 9/11" seriously. But I guess I would have to have a concrete liberal mindset to understand. Well, to each is own. I hear what you're saying.