Around The Sphere March 10, 2007
Our famous linkfest offering you a buffet of varying ideas and posts from all over the blogo-you-know-what. Links do not necessarily express the viewpoint of TMV.
Democrats Have Nixed Having Their First Debate On Fox and pulled out of it (which is curious, given the thoughtful perspectives on the party frequently offered by such serious thinkers as Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly). Could THIS have been the final straw that caused the Demmies to pull out? As we noted in an earlier post, this could mean some Republicans will want their candidates to boycott an invitation by CNN or MSNBC (especially if Keith O was involved). Fox News’ Roger Ailes insists it’s all about candidates being willing to take tough questions. But the larger issue is Fox’s overt partisanship which is evident to a jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce sitting on a shelf at Stop and Shop in New Haven, CT. Would Fox be as tough on GOPers as they would likely be on the Demmies? As some have pointed out, if they had originally co-hosted this with Air America in these polarized times it would have been a much wiser idea. (PS: Fox News clearly has some biased reports but not all of its reports and reporting are biased).
Who Won And Lost In This Broo-ha-ha? Daily Kos has some detailed thoughts HERE.
President Bush Is Now Shifting Gears — at least according to this report.
30 Years Ago Yesterday Iran Helped Liberate Jewish Hostages but it was a different world then as Kesher Talk points out.
It’s Truly A Horrible, Brutal War — The GOP vs GOP war in Massachusetts, that is.
Do You Know Who Nicolas Sarkozy Is? No, he isn’t the owner of those delis that you see in strip malls. He wants to be the next President of France. Pajamas Media has a great piece on this. A small smattering 4 U:
Sarkozy is the closest to a neoconservative, free market libertarian, pro-American, pro-Zionist, unapologetic nationalist, pro-globalization candidate who could make it onto the ballot in France. Though many Jewish voters will probably maintain their leftwing voting habits, a significant sector of the Jewish community loves him like a brother. Jewish people are prominent in French public life; some assert their identity proudly and others flash it as a permit to trash Israel, some soft pedal it to avoid charges of parochialism, some never mention it, some are Christian converts, many have Frenchified their names.
Read it all.
Egads…Now There’s Cosmetic Surgery On Everything as this adult-oriented link will prove.
So Is Pakistan A Safe Haven For Bin Laden? It doesn’t seem so any more. As Ed Morrissey notes here, the U.S. has now entered Pakistan in a bin Laden hunt. (There had been rumors after 911 that bin Laden was hiding in the United States, working at a 7-Eleven in Los Angeles…)
And If You Want To Cap Your Weekend With A Nice Wine check out Professor Bainbridge here. On this note: I just finished a turbulent and very depressing 4 weeks but during this time I wrote for this weblog steadily and did three shows a day for the full 10 day run of the Riverside County Fair (the third booking with them in some 8 years). Today I rewarded myself by stopping at a winery in Escondido, the Belle Marie Winery. I was heading back to San Diego and did a quick tasting and bought a bottle of Maestro, a “composition of two great varietals, 80 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Nebbilio.” I drink my (medically recommended) glass of wine at night before retiring — even though I’m too young to retire.
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12 Responses to “Around The Sphere March 10, 2007”
“Fox News clearly has some biased reports but not all of its reports and reporting are biased”
Examples, pls!
What would anyone want to vote for a future president who will need to stand up the militant extremist if they cannot stand to take questions from FOX?
That’s not the question. The question is: Why should Dems have an important debate at Fox channel, allowing right wingers the chance to promote the candidate they deem easiest to beat by manipulating the questions in his/her favor? This would really be stupid. And the US can’t afford another stupid president.
Interestingly, only Edwards, and now Richardson, too, showed intelligence and refused to participate in this kabuki theatre…
Gray,
A “smart” president candidates should be able to handle Fox News with ease. A weak presdiential candidates would be the ones who want to avoid anything but a friendly environemnt while campaigning.
Again, if they cannot stand up to Fox, how are they going to stand up to Iran, North Korea, Russia, Venezula, etc.
I think that ducking out of millions of dollars of free publicity in order to avoid a hostile environment is the ultimate expression of weakness.
“A “smartâ€? president candidates should be able to handle Fox News with ease.”
Sure. If he’s mano-a-mano with Hannity, O’Reilly or one of those other nuts. But this is about the debate among primary candidates, and the host would have every opportunity to support the views of candidates he ‘likes’ (i.e. that are weak) and attack those who might be a danger for their GOP counterpart. Again, unnecessarily fighting under such unfortunate conditions would be as silly as unnecessarily attacking a nation of 30 million muslims, many of them fanatics, without having a compelling reason to jump into this snakepit.
And if that were to happen, the candidates would have the opportunity to show how they would respond to such ‘attacks’. That is quite relevant in these polarized times. I would like to see how candidates respond to tough questions: will they politely point out bias and then actually answer the question (which would make the moderator and the host station look foolish) or would they take the low road and start slinging insults?
Personally I’d like to see the Democrats on Fox and the Republicans on MSNBC. I want to know how the candidates choose to comport themselves in an environment which might be hostile toward them. I don’t want to hear someone say (again) that he/she is going to be a uniter instead of a divider; I want him/her to prove it.
Each candidate can make up their minds about what debates they engage in, and the format for those debates. I don’t know how the format was for the FOX debate, I would hope that it wouldn’t be something along the lines of softball questions to the GOP, hardball to the Dems. If both candidates must answer the same question then CS is right, you can point out how the questioned is biased and then respond. In fact you could make FOX look bad if you are constantly pointing out bias, and the audience [at least those that do not view FOX regularly] will respond if they think FOX is “ganging up� on the candidate.
Pajamas Media writer on Sarkozy:
Sarkozy is the closest to a neoconservative, free market libertarian, pro-American, pro-Zionist, unapologetic nationalist, pro-globalization candidate who could make it onto the ballot in France.
Huh???
How can someone be both a “neoconservative” and a “free market libertarian”? The two ideologies are mutually exclusive. Neoconservatives are proponents of big government, militarism, and a strong executive branch. Libertarians are proponents of smaller government, noninterventionism, and limiting the power of the excutive branch.
That’s Pajamas Media for you.
The final straw in withdrawing from the debate on FOX was what Ailes said. He used the name Obama, instead of Osama, in a sentence about the hunting him down. Maybe it was a joke, maybe not. But it was a definite Ann Coulter moment, and Fox should be ashamed.
Why should they profit from the people they regularly demean?
Furthermore, there comes a point when it’s no longer about answering tough questions but about needing to deal with mudslinging, as the comment by Ailes, on the eve of the debate, illustrates.
No one should be requited to lie down in a mud bath in order to answer questions, tough or otherwise.
“Personally I’d like to see the Democrats on Fox and the Republicans on MSNBC.”
Sure you would like that, CS. O’Reilly for the DEms and Scarborough for the repubs. Great.
|-(
“Sarkozy is the closest to a neoconservative, free market libertarian, pro-American, pro-Zionist, unapologetic nationalist, pro-globalization candidate who could make it onto the ballot in France.”
Hmm, I guess he’s as ‘pro-American’ as a member of ‘la Grande Nation’ can possibly be. That is, not much.
France über alles!