Should the Dems cancel the next FOX debate?

[John_H]

Just thinking out loud, here. Of course, there should have been a loud public debate in advance about having FOX be the hosteven if the ultimate decision was made to go ahead w/ it. People should have leaked their suspicions to Howie and others. There should have been a LOT of public arguing --charges that it would wind up as a bash fest. That way, either Roger Ailes would have been sacred off and right now we could be doing a huge "I told you so" to put FOX on defense.

But can we still make it work for us? On one hand, canceling the debate just might put FAUX on the defensive: Was it a coincidence that FOX couldn't stop the "protestors" and the other debates could? We could bring up Roger Ailes's bio. Show clips from the after-debate whore-fest. The story would be, "Is FOX biased?" or "Did the wingnut media sabotage the debate?" Make them defend the indefensible. Could be a way to turn the tables on ol' roger and KKKarl.

On the other hand it would surely open us up to charges of wimpy crybabyness.

Certainly, some of our friends--Carville, Conason, MWO et. al. should make a huge deal out of it.

In any event, whoever couldn't think of an artful way to counter FAUX using an African-American group to get the debate ought to be sent packing.

[Demobrat]

1. No. They shouldn't cancel it.

But every single one of them should offer to help with security if Fox can't handle it. As publicly and loudly as possible, so that if it happens again Fox looks totally incompetent.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

2. Yes, yes...and, yes

Fuck Faux. The Democratic nominees should take their show elsewhere and deny Murdock and his cronies the advertising revenue. It should be explicitly stated by all nominees in a joint statement that they are boycotting Faux debate venues out of safety and security concerns. If the LaRouche nut-balls can get into a venue in droves, then how hard would it be to have a real violet nut-ball with a high powered weapon? If I were a nominee, I'd be afraid to show up for anything that the right-wing fascist cabal "sponsors".

JB

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. hell no! how else will these repukes hear some truth?

[skeptic9]

5. Exactly! Why would Democrats refuse free air time where...

... they could speak directly to the misinformed legions who vote Republican against their own self-interest?

If the original poster is suggesting there's a danger here that Democrats who hadn't been part of the Fox audience will tune in again after tonight, I agree, but doubt it will happen to any great extent.

It's no accident that Fox wanted to host the Black Caucus Democratic debate, just as Bush and company agreed to get air time on the Tom Joyner show hours before the midterm election. The right wing wants to try to win the hearts and minds of a few percent of African-Americans, and to try to convince most of the rest that they're not monsters.

That's the nature of "partnership cross-marketing". Most often, you can either gain market share or lose market share when you do a cross-marketing deal. Occasionally, there's a brilliant partnership opportunity that's guaranteed to be a win-win situation. For example, when Jay Leno (Tonight Show) and Katie Couric (Today Show) traded places, there was little danger they'd lose viewers to one another.

[fabius]

4. Nope.

A lot of "honest conservatives" still out there are getting ready to dump whistle-ass. Let them hear our candidates.

LaRouchies didn't really hurt, they let our people look mature and presidential. Imagine if Bush gets heckled what he'd do.

[Stuckinthebush]

6. Of course not

As right wing and biased as Fox is, they still get a segment of the population that are middle of the road and think that Fox is really a news channel. If some of these people tune in and see our candidates, perhaps they will vote for them.

A lot of conservatives are pissed at Bush right now.

[maggrwaggr]

7. Yes and No

Yes because of what comes afterwards, the "fair and balanced" bashing of one and all.

No because, indeed, it's a good audience to speak to. The people who still haven't figured out that Fox News isn't an actual news organization. They need to know.

They should do it but only if there's some actual balance to the post-show.