An interesting article on the division within the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) as to whether or not to pull out of an agreement with Fox News to sponsor a Democratic presidential primary debate on Sept. 23 in Detroit.
A couple of points worth noting:
Kilpatrick, the chairwoman of the CBC, said she supported the agreement with Fox, even though it is likely to result in a debate among candidates considered long-shots to win the nomination.
“First of all, all the networks have a certain bias,†said Kilpatrick, who emphasized that the CBC Institute and not the CBC itself is sponsoring the debate.
Speaking of Fox, she said, “It’s the largest cable network in America. They have over 70 million subscribers. I don’t think at this point we pull out. The question we have to answer is, Do we want to reach as many Americans as we can?â€
Kilpatrick also noted that the CBC Institute will retain a large amount of control over the debate’s format.
I’m not so sure that the Dems do want their message to reach as many Americans as possible; they’re much more interested in pandering to the nutroots and their big-money bosses at MoveOn.org
The “FOX News will make us look bad” fears are completey un-founded. The CBC is in charge of the format and in selecting the moderators. FOX News can’t put words in the mouths of the Dem candidates. There is no way to take out of context a live debate.
I think that this point better refutes the nutroots’ claims of an inability to have a fair debate on Fox News than any facts that the nutroots put forth themselves that they can’t:
CBC leaders feel some sense of obligation to Fox because it was the only news network that agreed to televise a black caucus-sponsored debate before the 2004 Democratic presidential primary.
“The ask was sent out to everyone,†Kilpatrick said. “Four years ago, Fox was the only one that stepped up and they did a great job.â€
Where was CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC back in 2004?
Did you hear that? Fox News is capable of stepping up and doing a great job of hosting a Dem debate. Or do you think the CBC are a bunch of rightwing shills? Or just a bunch of liars?
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UPDATE — it looks like some on the Left are going to go with the “they live in a Fantasy world” spin (in effect calling her a liar and an idiot. Nice touch, Pam.):
Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI) makes these fantasy statements to try to justify the partnership…





“Big-money bosses at MoveOn.org”?
In any case, what’s it to you where Democrats feel they should get their message to voters?
Currently approximately zero Democratic voters watch Fox News. Why should the Democratic Party contribute to increasing Fox News ratings?
Left by Preston on April 26th, 2007 at 11:28 am