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Fox News Seemingly Loses Another Democratic Candidate Debate
Three major candidates have pulled out — so the debate is effectively a non-debate or, at best, a limited debate. You get the feeling that the next shoe to drop is some GOPers pulling out of a CNN debate to make the same point and also score some points for Fox.
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27 Responses to “Fox News Seemingly Loses Another Democratic Candidate Debate”
Good. Let Fox do the republican debate and let Jerry Falwell ask all the questons.
I’m more than willing to concede the Fox network leans to the right. But have major Republican candidates done this same thing regarding appearing on NBC/ABC/CBS/Public Broadcasting/MSNBC/CNN?
I think this very one sided refusal to engage media deserves slightly more prominence than you give it, Joe. Republicans are simply NOT doing this. And Democrats seem to be doing so en masse.
This is testimony to the power of the nutroots in the Democratic Party.
It is an easy call, the Dem. candidates think, in primary season.
However, afterwards, it will be interesting to see what the nominee does.
Will Obama or Clinton decide to stick to their principles and shun Fox and its audience entirely?
Hey, we don’t need no stinkin white working class voters….
I am reminded of that candidate-defining picture of Kerry sitting in a bar with a Bud in front of him looking mournfully uncomfortable…as Maureen Dowd observed in the NYT…as if he was desperately wishing it were a sherry.
Is the next step the banning of Fox reporters from Democratic campaign buses?
This should send a signal to FOX that no Democrat can expect to be treated fairly by the network. The candidates are right to refuse to let its blatant bias color the debates. Let them hold the debates for their own candidates, since they have chosen the side of the conservatives.
I think this very one sided refusal to engage media deserves slightly more prominence than you give it, Joe. Republicans are simply NOT doing this. And Democrats seem to be doing so en masse.
It is not necessary that Republicans do the same thing- the Democrats are taking the lead. It sends a message that needs to be sent to the network that loves Hannity, O’Reilly, Coulter, Cheney and Bush.
This is not about the Democrats, it’s about the FOXs lack of impartiality.
People don’t expect FOX to be able to be anything but what they are and what they are, is not an impartial ‘middle ground’ for canidates to meet and debate one another.
Can’t figure why anyone thinks they can make anything more out of it… FOX has made it’s bed, and it’s livelyhood. on who they are and how they act.
Yeah, but it was Fox and the CBC. That seems to send the right message: Fox on the right, the CBC on the left. It’s pretending Fox is an impartial arbiter that was the problem. This seems a bit silly to me. I’ll bet Hillary’s pissed.
Also, the point is true: Whatever the reality, conservatives consider CNN to lean left. (Editorial note: Ha!) Would it be smart politics for them to pull out of those debates? Probably not, unless they got concrete concessions, but I don’t think there’s much smart politics going around here.
I think it is smart- it shows that Fox lacks the journalistic credentials – that it is basically part of the Republican smear machine, that has never taken a position that was not the conservative one. It shows them up for what they are- right-wing tabloid TV- I don’t see CNN in the same journalistic category.
What everyone seems to miss is that this is not a “Fox” debate. It’s a Fox & Congressional Black Caucus debate.
One wonders if kritter and SteveK have ever seen an actual debate. The people doing the debating do 95% of the talking. The only talking not done by candidates are moderators who only ask questions. So, how, exactly, is Fox going to influence or spin the debate?
This is just a case of spineless candidates caving. If I were the CBC, I’d be mighty pissed about now.
carpeicthus,
A candidates reason for debating is that a debate allows them the opportunity to put out their message and show the differences between themselves and their opponants in an effort to get votes.
When it comes to Dem. v. Rep. debates what you suggest should be used in at least one debate BUT to think putting in a moderator who favors a ‘side’ that’s not participating in the debate is just silly.
Would you objection to Air America and CBS hosting a Republican debate?
Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and MSNBC (with the exception of Olbermann) are all conservative networks. They have to be. They get their advertising from large corporations that are conservative by nature.
Fox just seems to go out of its way to not actually report anything resembling fair news. But maybe the blunt approach is better than the more subtle pro-government/big-business bias we get from the other networks?
Entropy,
If you’d ease off of your condescending attitude and look up the word ‘moderator’ you’d probably be able to answer your own question.
This will likely feed in to the right wing view that Democrats are pu**ies, but so be it.
CBC is left? I don’t think so.
White Agent.
To try to claim that the Congressional Black Caucus is not extremely leftist is just water carrying for the leftisit. There is probably not a more liberal group in politics that the CBC.
Of course, if you listened to the “impartial” reporting of CNN, MSNBC, and the three networks, one would barely know that the CBC exist, let alone the amount of power it has or how liberal it is.
Maybe he thought we were talking about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
I can just see the headlines now. “CBC exists!” Oy.
Yes, I have seen an actual debate. I still agree with the Democrats, and with Chris’ point that Fox goes out of its way to report unfairly. If the decision is in reaction to that, I approve wholeheartedly. Why treat them as a legitemate news organization, when everyone knows how slanted they are?
Fox does not simply lean to the right. If there were an honesty in labeling law for networks Fox would have to subtitle everything “The Official Network for the RNC”.
Jim S— touche!
The Dims’ (liberals’) actions are laughably transparent.
> Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and MSNBC
> (with the exception of Olbermann) are
> all conservative networks.
Black is white, too, then.
“Corporate right-wing media” is the distorted lie of far-left extremism.
“Corporate right-wing media� is the distorted lie of far-left extremism.
Ok. I’ll buy that if you admit that the liberal MSM is a canard of the right, which they use to discredit any media story they find unflattering to their positions.
Kritter,
The so-called MSM do lean left – that is well established. It’s not nearly as left-wing as the right wing claims, but it’s to the left nonetheless. This is particularly true with editorial content.
Why do you think Fox news is so popular? Why do you think their ratings trounce almost everyone elses? It’s because they are serving an audience that the MSM has neglected. Some of the traditional media outlets have realized this – notably CNN with the hiring of Glenn Beck. If the traditional media would add more conservative voices, they might hurt Fox’s numbers and force them to move more toward the center.
Personally, I think bowing out from this debate hurts the democrats and makes it appear they can’t face a potentially hostile forum. I don’t understand how the candidates could be made to look bad since the debate only has Democrats. Unfairness in a debate usually means that the debate favors one debater over another, but all the debaters are Democrats. Is the accusation that somehow Fox will favor one candidate over another? It doesn’t make sense. If there were Republicans participating I could understand that accusations of bias might be logical, but in this case? No. The netroots hate Fox and until the primaries are over, they have the candidates by the short-and-curly’s. Once one jumped shipped, they were all obliged to in order not to lose favor. Pretty sad, actually.
Potentially hostile forum? Please. What an understatement. There is absolutely no purpose for any Democrat to appear on Fox for a debate concerning the primaries because the typical Fox viewer will never vote for any Democrat. There are no regular Fox viewers voting in the primaries or attending Democratic caucuses. Or at least not enough to matter.
As far as what is bad about appearing on Fox it’s not that they will favor one over another. The job of the moderator of that “debate” will be to phrase all questions in such a way as to make all the candidates look bad. It is the only goal that Fox could possibly have in mind. Then they have the footage to use against whoever does wind up being the candidate.
Jim,
Democrats appear on Fox News shows all the time, sometimes singly, sometimes with a Republican. Those Democrats seem to have no problems answering the questions posed to them. If there’s an obvious slant in the tone or wording of the questions, it does not seem to affect them.
Perhaps many Democrats don’t watch Fox regularly, but that is immaterial. For a one-time event like a debate, anyone interested in the primaries would watch, regardless of network.
And let’s be clear, if it were not for the complaints and threats of the netroots, every one of those candidates would have appeared on that debate and I bet they would have comported themselves well.
> I’ll buy that if you admit that the liberal MSM is a canard of the right
It’s no canard. The liberalism and the liberal bias of reporters and editors is beyond (legitimate) question. Add to that the frequent comments from “journalists” who defend and advocate “crusader” or “activist” journalism just as icing on the cake. It’s no canard.
Fox happens to be less liberal than the others and even provides conservative programming and as a result is loathed by the rest of the “journalistic” community as heretics and traitors.
Fox (like conservative talk radio in past years) has served a market that has existed but which the liberal media neglected (refused) to serve.
And this will make sure it stays that way.
The last two Presidental elections were pretty close. Yeah I suppose your right Jim, it won’t matter if you could peel some votes away from the republicans.