Are Nevada Democrats Nuts?
22 February 2007 10:15 am by Taylor Marsh
Are Nevada Democrats Nuts? –updated below–
If Fox \”News\” is the Nevada Dems idea of a good media partner for
the \’08 debate season then the west will never go Democratic. Fox \”News\”
will make sure of it.
Dick Morris makes attacking Hillary his mission. He\’s reportedly doing a documentary
on Hillary in order to destroy her. He\’s a Fox \”News\” contributor and will not stop until he\’s ruined Clinton\’s reputation. Whether you like her or not politically, it\’s bad for Democrats in \’08. But we\’ve seen this tactic used before. It\’s featured on Fox.
Fox \”News\” was swiftboat central during the \’04 campaign. Remember
seeing John O\’Neill on Fox day after day after day? Ken doll Sean Hannity made
him a regular feature on H&C. Hannity worked hard to get the edited portions
of \”Path to 9/11\” so he could put them on his GOP show, \”Hannity\’s
America,\” as well as feature them on H&C. Democrats did nothing about it.
Remember Chris Wallace sandbagging former President Clinton?
Then there\’s the reality that Fox \”News\” thinks Alan Colmes is a
strong, progressive Democrat. I guess Colmes is the Nevada Democrats idea of a liberal. That in itself
should give you an idea of why Nevada picked Fox for the debate.
So to answer the title question…. Yes, but it\’s worse. Nevada Democrats,
at least those in charge of making the decisions, are also lazy. They haven\’t
done their homework and think rewarding Fox for all their insults against the
Democrats is a way to change their focus, but also evidently believe that giving Fox the Dem debate will inspire Brit, Sean, Morris and all the rest of the GOP propaganda meisters to give our Democratic candidate in \’08 a fair shake. Not. Going. To. Happen.
Doesn\’t work in foreign policy and it doesn\’t work in media relations either.
But if we\’re being honest about the Nevada Democrats choosing Fox, you have to come to grips with the fact that our candidates are likely for it. Harry Reid and the Nevada Democrats have been seduced. The Democratic \’08ers want as many different eyes on them as they can get. It\’s also a foreign policy crowd and a \”strong on terror\” audience, whatever that means, so it will benefit Biden and Richardson, though that\’s not to say the other candidates aren\’t good on foreign policy.
But you better get ready for the mocking potential after the debate because it will be large.
It\’s time to take
on Fox. However, dont\’ get your hopes up on changing the Nevada debate media partnership from Fox. Nevadans are a stubbon lot and they won\’t easily backtrack on their decision and admit they made a colossal mistake. Remind you of anyone?
The west may be going Democratic, but if it is it won\’t be through any help from Fox.
UPDATE (3:11 p.m.): Received this via email. I told you so.
Western Dems want Fox. They believe it\’s a reach out to voters that want to
hear the Democratic message. What the westerners don\’t seem to get is that Fox
will not aid us come primary season. They\’ll also own the footage to throw back
in our candidate\’s face.
Statement from Nevada Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirsten Searer on the
August presidential debate in Reno, NV:“A 50-state strategy means talking to every American. FOX is the most
watched cable news network, and Democrats need to talk to these viewers in
order to win. The debate in August is not an endorsement of FOX. Instead,
it is an effort to reach out to FOX viewers. We will not win elections if
we don’t win over new people.“The Nevada Democratic Party has negotiated live coverage of the August
debate in Reno that will allow the Democratic Presidential candidates to speak
directly to the Fox audience for ninety unfiltered minutes. The audience will
hear the views of our candidates without edits, commentary or interruption.
Each major decision about the debate – from the background on the stage
to the debate moderator – will be reached by ‘mutual agreement’
of the state party, Western Majority Project and FOX News.“The Nevada Democratic Party signed onto this debate – along
with Democratic parties from Arizona, Colorado, Montana and New Mexico –
because we believe it is critical for Democrats to engage voters, especially
those who have heard too little from Democrats in the past. We believe the
more people hear from Democrats, the better chance a Democrat will win the
White House in 2008.”
