Good move, and classy to come to Obama's defense as well:
You may have heard by now that John Edwards was the first candidate to officially say no to the Fox News debate in Nevada -- and because of the hard work of so many grassroots and netroots Democrats, news is breaking tonight that Fox is out.
Fox has already started striking backat John for saying no. (There's a surprise - Fox attacking a Democrat.) Last night, Roger Ailes - the life-long Republican operative who is now Chairman of Fox News Channel - said that any candidate "who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake" and "is impeding freedom of speech and free press."
And John's not their only target. Tonight Fox News Vice President David Rhodes is telling news organizations not to get involved in the Nevada Democratic Caucus because of "radical fringe" groups - meaning grassroots Democrats (that would be you) - who objected to Fox's long history of spreading Republican propaganda at the expense of Democratic leaders.
The whole right-wing is getting in on the attack; the Drudge Report is blaring the headline: "War! Dems Pull Out of Fox News Debate."
Enough is enough. It's time to send a clear message to Fox News and their allies that their right-wing talking points and temper tantrums won't go unchallenged anymore - when it comes to what Democrats should do in the Democratic primary, we'll decide - no matter what they report:
https://johnedwards.com/...
Fox News has already proven they have no intention of providing "fair and balanced" coverage of any Democrat in this election.
In recent weeks they have run blatant lies about Senator Obama's background. And Fox was only too happy to give Ann Coulter a platform to spew more hate a few days after her bigoted attack on Senator Edwards and the gay community.
Now it's time for Democrats to stand together and send a clear message to Roger Ailes, Fox News and all the rest of them: bias isn't balance, but turning tables is fair.
The truth is, Fox News can "report" whatever they want. And when it works for us, we'll deal with them on our terms. But this campaign is about responsibility and accountability, and we need to send the message to Fox that if they want to be the corporate mouthpiece of the Republican Party more than they want to be an impartial news outlet, they shouldn't expect Democrats to play along.
You can send that message by contributing today, and remind Fox News that in this election, Democrats won't take their spin lying down:
https://johnedwards.com/...
Thank you for standing up for what we believe in.
Jonathan Prince
Deputy Campaign Manager
Edwards for President
P.S. If the folks at Fox wonder why nobody thinks they play it straight, they should take a look at what Roger Ailes said about debates in 1988 when he was a top Republican spinmaster for then Vice President Bush: He
told the Washington Post, "I don't know that we need to do more than one [debate]. There's no reason to think we'd need more than one." And he told the New York Times, "I don't think you learn anything about the
issues" from debates. So please send Roger Ailes a message: Hypocrisy isn't fair and it isn't balanced; it's just hypocrisy - and we've had enough of it from you.
And while I still haven't made up my mind who I'll support, I have no problem putting this fundraising appeal up. I think it's great to reward good behavior.
Meanwhile, Atrios has the perfect response to the threats and demands Fox News is currently throwing out:
Do actual respectable "balanced" news networks issue press releases telling candidates and political parties what they are and aren't supposed to do?
But, but, but ... All Fox News and conservatives everywhere wanted was to help Democrats reach out and attract new voters! [/concern troll]
Update: Further riffing off Atrios' point, check out the Fox News response:
“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 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.”
A supposed "fair and balanced" network uses the words "radical fringe ... interest groups" to describe mainstream Democratic grassroots groups. Would a truly unbiased outlet call MoveOn "radical fringe"?
Nope, those are right-wing GOP talking points. No surprise, but it's funny how even their hissy fit betrays their radical right-wing Ann Coulter agenda.
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