Fox News has announced the line-up for the first GOP presidential debate scheduled for Thursday night.  Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich made the cut.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Sen. Lindsey Graham, former New York Gov. George Pataki and Jim Gilmore are non-primetime debate participants.

Rick Santorum’s campaign issued a statement on the primetime debate diss saying, “The process employed by both FOX News and the RNC is incredibly flawed… they should not be picking winners and losers. That’s the job of voters.”

It should be noted that four of the presidential candidates have ties to Fox News. Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee and John Kasich are all former Fox News employees, while Donald Trump was a regular on the network.

The fact is, Fox News or any other news network, should not have the final word on who participates in a debate. The network is too closely linked to the Republican National Committee and the Republican Party in general. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee are favorites of the network.

Political news from The Hinterland Gazette.