Fox Attacks Edwards -- Message From Edwards

[Emit]

It will be very interesting to see what impact all of this has on Nevada Democrats -- activists like me who are involved in the party here, and the early caucuses that we have planned. I predicted something like this (see bolded below) in an earlier thread on the subject.


Vie email:

Dear Emit,

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 "runs a real risk of losing the voters."

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:

http://johnedwards.com/r/7157/250548/

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:

http://johnedwards.com/r/7159/250548/

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.

You can send that message by contributing today, and remind Fox News that in this election, Democrats won't take their spin lying down:

http://johnedwards.com/r/7161/250548/

Thank you for standing up for what we believe in.

Jonathan Prince
Deputy Campaign Manager
John 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.

[Bonobo]

1. Can I send support without sending money? That would be nice...

[Emit]

2. lol. Yes, that would be nice

if they (meaning all candidates, not just Edwards) could just send an email without asking for donations. I have yet to receive an email from any of them in that didn't ask for donations!

[Cameron27]

5. I get emails from Ted Kennedy

with petitions that require no donation and Wes Clark also sends messages that don't require a donation before sending.

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. Yes you can!

Just wait for one of those postage-paid envelopes to arrive in the mail and send it with just a slip of paper upon which is written, "Support" :hi:

[benny05]

8. You can support without a donation

He's just wondering if you have some change. If you don't, at least you know where he stands.

[NDP]

9. Yeah, that would be nice if political campaigns weren't all about appeasing the corporate media who

use "ability to raise money" as a way to determine credibility, when they are the ones who will be receiving that money, so they are really saying, "we don't think they are credible because they won't be able to pay us to cover them."

[MethuenProgressive]

3. He asks three times for donations?

A donation to Edwards sends a message to FOX? Last week it was 'sends a message to Ann Coulter"...:shrug:

[Emit]

4. They all do...

Kerry did it all the time, even in his emails after 2004. Barbara Boxer does it, too. Come to think of it, so does MoveOn... Shit, they all do it!

[Lisa]

7. Even PBS!

It's one of the hazards of being involved with progressive-type causes. (The corporate-supported ones generally don't need the $ -- though that doesn't stop banks, credit card companies, phone companies, etc. from asking anyway!)

Our progressive political party is having a fundraiser next week, and I've already been hit up for donations multiple times -- buy a ticket, donate something to the auction, buy another ticket for an unemployed person -- I guess it just goes with the territory.