Fox Attacks (Edwards' deputy campaign manager on his blog)

[JohnLocke]

Fox Attacks
Mathew Gross in Diaries
3/09/2007 at 8:35 PM EST
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Deputy Campaign Manager Jonathan Prince sent the following email to supporters this evening.

You may have heard by now that John Edwards was the first candidate to officially say no to the Fox News debate in Nevada -- and because of the hard work of so many grassroots and netroots Democrats, news is breaking tonight that Fox is out.

Fox has already started striking back at John for saying no. (There's a surprise - Fox attacking a Democrat.) Last night, Roger Ailes - the life-long Republican operative who is now Chairman of Fox News Channel - said that any candidate "who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake" and "is impeding freedom of speech and free press."

And John's not their only target. Tonight Fox News Vice President David Rhodes is telling news organizations not to get involved in the Nevada Democratic Caucus because of "radical fringe" groups - meaning grassroots Democrats (that would be you) - who objected to Fox's long history of spreading Republican propaganda at the expense of Democratic leaders.

The whole right-wing is getting in on the attack; the Drudge Report is blaring the headline: "War! Dems Pull Out of Fox News Debate."

Enough is enough. It's time to send a clear message to Fox News and their allies that their right-wing talking points and temper tantrums won't go unchallenged anymore - when it comes to what Democrats should do in the Democratic primary, we'll decide - no matter what they report:

Fox News has already proven they have no intention of providing "fair and balanced" coverage of any Democrat in this election.

In recent weeks they have run blatant lies about Senator Obama's background. And Fox was only too happy to give Ann Coulter a platform to spew more hate a few days after her bigoted attack on Senator Edwards and the gay community.

Now it's time for Democrats to stand together and send a clear message to Roger Ailes, Fox News and all the rest of them: bias isn't balance, but turning tables is fair.

The truth is, Fox News can "report" whatever they want. And when it works for us, we'll deal with them on our terms. But this campaign is about responsibility and accountability, and we need to send the message to Fox that if they want to be the corporate mouthpiece of the Republican Party more than they want to be an impartial news outlet, they shouldn't expect Democrats to play along.

Thank you for standing up for what we believe in.

Jonathan Prince
Deputy Campaign Manager
Edwards for President

P.S. If the folks at Fox wonder why nobody thinks they play it straight,
they should take a look at what Roger Ailes said about debates in 1988
when he was a top Republican spinmaster for then Vice President Bush: He
told the Washington Post, "I don't know that we need to do more than
one . There's no reason to think we'd need more than one." And
he told the New York Times, "I don't think you learn anything about the
issues" from debates. So please send Roger Ailes a message:
Hypocrisy isn't fair and it isn't balanced; it's just hypocrisy - and
we've had enough of it from you.

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/3/9/20352/75748

[AshevilleGuy]

1. A widespread (or national) debate on Fox is long overdue.

Thanks to Edwards' stand this might happen now: the question can be, just how Fair and Balanced is Fox?? WE already know, but all voters need to hear about it. MSNBC and especially KO might be interested in broadening their ongoing war with Fox and it could all fit together.

Fox should be concerned: if Edwards makes it to the WH or VP, they know they will have a dedicated enemy there.

[Cha]

2. Scary!

:sarcasm: :scared: :scared:

[illinoisprogressive]

3. John better batton down the hatches. The ride is going to be very bumpy

I hope the other candidates band together on this with Edwards and not let it go unpunished.

[Old and In the Way]

4. oooh...a threat!

I'm sure that the 30% who believe Fox and George Bush will be outraged and more determined than ever to not vote Democrat. Big loss.

[calimary]

6. The ONLY way to beat a bully is to hit back, and hit back HARD.

I hope the Dems keep this up. It's GREAT! Let the damned door swing both ways! As it does, it'll smack 'em straight in the face.

The retort should be: "we'll play fair WHEN YOU DO." Taste of their own medicine. See how they like it.

[southerncrone]

5. Isn't Kucinich the new head of the FCC?

Also a 2008 candidate who tends to stand his ground, this could be bad news for FAUX NOISE, too.
Are there any acid tests on whether a "news" organization is actually "fair & unbiased"?
I feel sure Kucinich will pursue this.