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Edwards to freeze out Fox News

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 10:02 AM on March 7, 2007.


First Dem to pass on the GOP propaganda outlet...

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A couple of weeks ago it came to light that Nevada Democratic Party were having one of their presidential debates hosted by Fox News.

Fox, as many have pointed out, is less "conservative" than it is a simple propaganda network for Republicans. In any case, it is extremely disparaging of Democrats:

Insulting graphics, biased post-debate spin, loaded questions, conservative protesters -- none of that sounds very "unfiltered" to me. Further, how much of the debate will Fox cut off entirely in order to have their in-house pundits offer negative commentary while the Democratic candidates are still speaking? Four years ago, in typically unfiltered fashion, Fox cut away from the Democratic debate they hosted a couple of minutes before it ended, in order to give arch-conservative William Bennett the first shot at post-debate spin.

It's especially enraging as the Democratic Leader in the Senate is Harry Reid, of Nevada.

As a result, BlogPac set up a campaign to urge Democrats to freeze out Fox News.

John Edwards sent the following email to Daily Kos:

"We will not be participating in the Fox debate. We're going to make lots of appearances in Nevada, including debates. By the end of March, we will have attended three presidential forums in Nevada -- and there are already at least three proposed Nevada debates. We're definitely going to debate in Nevada, but we don't see why this needs to be one of them."

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Tagged as: edwards, election08, fox news

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.


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Hurray JOhn Edwards!!!
Posted by: Ellie1 on Mar 7, 2007 11:19 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I sent several e-mails to the DLC and Howard Dean urging Dems to ignore this network. No one with a brain watches it, and no voter with a brain has any regard for their information. Hey Dems, stop shooting yourselves in the foot.

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John Edwards-Big Up
Posted by: NoPCZone on Mar 7, 2007 1:14 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Thanks. No Democratic politician, or anyone with any respect for themselves should treat any Faux Newz employee as a member of the legit press. The same goes for the crime spree shit that their local O&Os (owned & operated) stations spew out as news. Tell them when they start to cover real news in a balanced way they will get some of your time. Otherwise- it's pool video all the time for them.

ABC started the downward spiral in TV news with it's happy talk format in the 1970's followed by the ABC Newz division- headed by Roone Arledge, straight out of ABC sports. Fox is even worse, but is nothing more than a continuation of the trend spawned by ABC back in the day and on steroids. The sad hing is that NBC & CBS have abandoned their great traditions to follow first ABC and now Faux down the same toilet.

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Might as well ignore Faux...how can it hurt?
Posted by: Rich Miles on Mar 8, 2007 4:51 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When I first heard of this trend - for it is indeed starting to look like a trend, not just one candidate - I wondered, wouldn't this hurt the candidates who "boycotted" Faux, by not giving them a chance to rebut the crap that was being said about them?

But the more I thought about this, the more it looked like an exceptionally wise decision: the Faux liars are going to spin and make stuff up and make the Dems look as bad as possible whether there is a Dem there on their shows to aim it at or not - so why not just let them do that, and not subject themselves (the candidates) to the discomfort of having to actually sit there on the "news" set and listen to the lies as they're being told?

This is brilliant and very brave of Edwards, and I sincerely hope the rest of the Dem candidates follow suit and tell Faux to shove it as well. So many candidates think that there is no such thing as "bad" TV coverage, but Faux has shown us that this is not true.

And by the way? I think Edwards is the man for 08. The only thing that could sway me from that belief would be if Gore gets into it.

Then, a Gore-Edwards ticket could kick butt. I know there would be a lot of people who would tell Edwards that running for VP twice is a bad idea - but America needs these two men, and if Gore runs, the best thing Edwards could do would be to be his VP candidate.

If Gore doesn't run, then it's Edwards-Obama. Clinton needs to get out of it before she seriously damages the Democratic Party for another 8 years. She is NOT the kind of Dem I want to represent me.

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FINALLY OUR POLITICAINS DO THE RIGHT THING!
Posted by: kc10ken on Mar 8, 2007 5:15 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
BRAVO!

Barrack Obama and John Edwards refuse to be seen on FAUX cable news.

Let's keep the trend going and freeze out FAUX news (aka GOP TV)!!!!

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Cool
Posted by: paschn on Mar 8, 2007 5:49 AM   
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Nice to see there's ONE Dem with testes. But, I'm afraid it'll be lost on the sheeple. As for it being a singular "faux" news agency, well.... since the geriatric swine Reagan started letting the corporations gain control, they pretty much ALL are "faux". You want to send a CLEAR message to doughy ooze like McCain and the next batch of whore-ish "leaders" to this country? Nationalize energy and communications. Our business "leaders" have shown they cannot be trusted with the PEOPLE's natural resources and airwaves, so take both from their clutches and use the new found wealth to insure yourselves and do REAL INDEPENDANT research on alternative fuels. Further, you can then alot X number of hours to candidates on the NATIONAL stations to get their messages to the sheeple which will all but eliminate aspiring "leaders" selling themselves to corporations to get elected. This answer seems so simple to me, yet there's no dialogue about it. If I'm missing something, please respond.

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Una voce
Posted by: m/r on Mar 8, 2007 5:56 AM   
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May I suggest a writing campaign to advertisers.....
I have written to Brooks Brothers and Barnes and Noble-
announcing a boycott until they stop adverting on
Fox and Glenn Beck show- TV and web sites.
Of course the reply is "we contract out - have no control over where our ads go...."
A writing/e mail campaign by alot of folks to individual companies will get the message out. Let them know you will not be BUYING their product until they remove ads: money will listen. This is something in which we can all participate. You can do it now. Watch for as long as you can and visit web sites- choose an advertiser and send e mail to PR or any appropriate address listed for that company. viva caesar chavez.

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Walkin' the Walk
Posted by: Geazer on Mar 8, 2007 7:12 AM   
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After getting alternet for a few months, I finally setup an account just to give kudos to Edwards for having the BALLS to take a stand against Fox. That kind of leadership is what the Democratic party needs. Fox is clearly a powerful force, especially if you are the person being reported upon. It takes brass ones to be the single candidate to stand up and draw a line in the sand. It is looooooooooooooooong overdue. By this one action, Edwards sets himself apart from the myriad of good candidates running.

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Ignore FOX NEWS at your own peril.
Posted by: dikaiosyne on Mar 8, 2007 8:09 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Personally I like FOX NEWS overall although they have lately been falling back into a more CNN like format where they seem to follow all the non-news that is fit for nothing(ala Anna Nicole Smith) and repeat it endlessly. You libs should know that FOX is bigger and has garnered better ratings than all the other lefty cable news sites combined. As a conservative I couldn't care less that you diss FOX and whine about the networks right wing bias. You see the ratings tell the tale. FOX RULES and lefties foam at the mouth because they have no answer to their success. The closest competition to FOX and it's news programs is some corpse on CNN named Larry that wears suspenders and a department store dummy masquerading as Wolfe Blitzer. Together these "top" shows don't garner the ratings of FOX's lowest rated news program. As far as John Edwards is concerned and his refusal to be part of any election debates on FOX......He'll be gone by next March (probably to get his hair done) to start looking for speaking fees from liberal institutions of higher propaganda. His search for political relevance will continue but ultimately will end in failure. A small footnote in the garbage bin of political histoire.

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Kudos and congrats
Posted by: reinaldok on Mar 8, 2007 10:55 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Congrats to Edwards and to his wife Elizabeth. People that truly understand what is going on. I frankly cannot fathom why some demos think it smart to show themselves on FOX. Do they really think they will convince the Ann Coulter type far rightfield Fox fans? No way Jose - By appearing on Fox these demos and others give a certain credence to the FOX party line spiel. Reminds me of the beautiful concentration camps the nazis set up to convince the SWISS and other inspectors.
The other guys on the block (CNN) are following the same yellow brick road. Two minutes of Beck and I am reaching for the remote. Wolfie isn't much better. What possible could CNN hope to gain from this smelly rubbish. And I thought the TIME crew of yesteryear (the LUCES) had all passed away.
My sincere advice to all progressive thinkers - stay away from FOX and their ilk.

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Fox Debate
Posted by: sefba@aol.com on Mar 11, 2007 11:38 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm glad the Democrats got out of the Fox debate. That was just a trap set by the ultra-conservative Republican spin channel - & the Democrats fell into it for awhile & got out.
I'm sure their mouths will talk about it for awhile , but it would have been a big mistake to have them hosting the debate & talking about it & trying to make all the Democrats look back.

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