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I’ve said it before: Democrats need to stay the hell off FOX. Not because we should be afraid of their questions, but because it legitimizes a clear and overt propaganda unit of the RNC. And frankly, when Democrats do stay off FOX, it gets under their craw, and forces them to do WATB tactics like the Obama Clock. And that worked well for Democrats until just recently, and then both Democratic presidential contenders appeared on FOXNews Sunday. Now it is DNC chairman Howard Dean’s turn to try to contextualize host Chris Wallace’s crowing that Democrats are now appearing on FNS. The problem is that he just didn’t do it strong enough.
Dean: No, I think it was the right thing to do (boycott Fox debates and appearances) because there are some things in the news department that really have been shockingly biased. And I think that’s wrong. And I’ll just say so right up front, but it is important also for us to not…we shouldn’t punish the viewers of FOX by staying away. Now those viewers have had an opportunity to look at the debates on other channels, now they’re going to have an opportunity viewing on this channel and I think that’s fair.
Are you kidding me? The network that aired the “Dean Scream” ad nauseam should be given a place in the Democratic primary race?
Wouldn’t it have been better if Dean had been tougher when he decided to go ahead and appear on FOX and said something to the effect of “the Republicans have done such a poor job of managing this country that their party is falling apart, and we wanted to go to the one network that we know caters to conservatives and try to get some truth on this network, so that the voters understand that conservative politics–such as FOX News advocates constantly–are not in their best interest. So I’ll give FOX a chance to show that ‘fair and balanced’ is more than a catchy phrase to fool their viewers.”?
Transcripts below the fold
Wallace: Governor, not to say that we’ve been counting, but it has been nineteen months since you’ve appeared here or on any FOX program. How do you explain the fact that in less than a week—and we’re very happy to have you—Governor Dean and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have all shown up on FOX?
Dean: Well, first of all, your audience is important to us. There’s…a lot of your audience are working class Democrats, the kind of people who will vote either way and we’d like them to vote Democrat. And second of all, you gave us a fair opportunity to talk about Sen. McCain’s record. The truth is, is if ordinary people in this country knew what Sen. McCain believed about the economy and about Iraq, they wouldn’t support him. And that’s one of the reasons the Republicans have put such a big fuss about our ads. It’s because those ads really move independent voters. Sen. McCain is an honorable person, he served this country with great honor during the war, but Sen. McCain is not the right person to lead America into the future…
Wallace: Governor, again, I’m going to bring you back. We give you plenty of time to bash McCain. The left wing of your party is in a snit, over all these Democrats appearing on FOX. In fact, the head of MoveOn.org had this to say about Democrats on Fox: “It legitimizes a right-wing network that is going to use that celebrity to smear them—the Democrats–in the general election.” He and the head of the DailyKos are using words about you guys showing up here as “weak”, “idiotic”, “stupid”, how do you respond to the left wing?
Dean: What I say is this: we stayed off FOX for a long time because your news department is in fact biased. But Chris, you haven’t been. We’ve always…you’ve always been tough, but I always thought fair and I still think that’s true. And we need to communicate with people who are going to vote in the Democratic Party. Hundreds of thousands of Republicans have turned their back on their own party to vote in the Democrat primaries in the last six months. We owe it to all the American people to reach out to those folks. So this is not about FOXNews, that’s not why I’m here today. I’m out because I want to talk to your viewers directly about why this election is important and what we can offer the American people.
Wallace: And let me ask you, and obviously it’s always about the millions of people who watch these shows. Looking back, do you think it was a mistake for the Democratic party to boycott FOX debates and all the other programs during the last year, and thereby boycott getting your message out to the millions of people who watch?
Dean: No, I think it was the right thing to do because there are some things in the news department that really have been shockingly biased. And I think that’s wrong. And I’ll just say so right up front, but it is important also for us to not…we shouldn’t punish the viewers of FOX by staying away. Now those viewers have had an opportunity to look at the debates on other channels, now they’re going to have an opportunity viewing on this channel and I think that’s fair.
Filed Under: Conservative Talking Points, Fox News Sunday/Chris Wallace, Howard Dean/DNC
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Republicans appear on MSNBC which is very pro democratic. The democrats look like total wimps for not appearing on Fox. You know the coverage on FOX is going to be biased but it is by far the largest cable network in terms of viewership and its really weak for the democrats to write it off.
Brian @ 1:
Stop drinking the kool-aid Brian. MSNBC pro-democratic my ass!
Yes, if Democrats go on FUX News, they should come armed with instances of bias, and go on the attack. Absolutely. It’ll even work with the FUX News viewers who like strong personalities who stand up for themselves. (As Bill Clinton said, Americans prefer strong and wrong to weak, but right.)
When Bill Clinton looked Wallace the Lesser in the eye, and told him off, he emerged the victor despite media’s attempts to brand him as having inappropriately lost his temper.
Why aren’t the Democrats doing so now? If I had to guess, I would say that the calculation is that, with Indiana and North Carolina coming up — two very red states — now is the time to capitulate a bit, and show those FUX watchers that they don’t write them off as unimportant. To attack at this particular time can only make FUX angry early, and risk a push back now instead of later.
Whether the calculation is smart is debatable. I just hope that if any Democrat goes on FUX News during the general election, s/he is in hyper attack mode.
Wright ‘08=Dean scream ‘04
Now that MSNBC is WORSE THAN FOX, why shouldn’t the candidates go on Fox. The propaganda for Obama on MSNBC is ridiculous. The O’Reilly’s interview with Clinton was super.
Obama’s turn!
Brian @ 1:
Republicans think that anything that is not explicitly for them is biased against them.
Only to people who buy what FUX sells them. To a lot of people, they look like wimps for being bullied into appearing on FUX News.
Its ratings are declining, thanks in part to a growing sense that it’s not real news. When Democrats learn simply to say, “It’s not real news,” and move on, that sense will grow.
Brian @ 1:
Where on MSNBC are they “pro-Democratic” , exactly , besides Olbermann and Rachel Maddow , who is a guest on various shows ?
Floridiot @ 4:
If it’s not Wright, it’ll be something else.
This just in:
NewsWeek
With friends like these who needs Republicans?
Karen @ 3:
Really ?
How many Americans prefer Chimpy’s idiotic (and illegal) invasion and occupation of Iraq now ?
It is beyond time that the American public learns that actions based upon stupid decisions has critical consequences ………………..
“Wallace: Governor, again, I’m going to bring you back. We give you plenty of time to bash McCain. The left wing of your party is in a snit, over all these Democrats appearing on FOX. In fact, the head of MoveOn.org had this to say about Democrats on Fox: “It legitimizes a right-wing network that is going to use that celebrity to smear them—the Democrats–in the general election.” He and the head of the DailyKos are using words about you guys showing up here as “weak”, “idiotic”, “stupid”, how do you respond to the left wing?”
I love the tone.Wallace(a “newsman”)characterizes Dean’s criticism of McCain as bashing.The Leftwing of the party is in a “snit”.Of course these are Wallace’s biased opinions.In the very next paragraph Dean pronounced FNC biased but quickly assures Wallace that he is not.Well no,Howard.He IS biased.Utterly.Biased.
At any rate,why is any of this news worthy?
Is Dean on FOX to be interviewed or to be interrogated?
Dean should have turned things around by asking Wallace how he “responds” to the charges of being a right wing “smear” out fit.FOX has sooooooooo much to answer for,yet THEY are demanding answers like this?
MCMetal @ 10:
Just so, and I’m deeply disappointed in Dean. He’s really screwed up by the fukin’ numbers with his toadying to Barry the Ignorant over MI and FLA and now this.
Just another loss to the Dead Loser Caucus.
Get ready for McSame….
Then maybe, maybe, the rank and file Dem Caucus will wake up to the fact they are being ‘led’ by wankers, idiots and fools.
hood @ 2:
MSNBC. Yes, that’s the network that has run at least 8 times so far according to my count since Friday, Dan Ambrams’ “Special Report” on Obama and Rev. Wright.
MCMetal @ 10:
I’m referring to campaign ethos, not post hoc analysis of actual decisions.
Yes, the vast, vast majority hate the war.
Does that majority match the majority by which either Obama or Clinton will beat McCain — or would even beat Bush were he eligible to run again? Nope. People will still vote for the candidate with their preferred ethos, policies and consequences be damned.
Brian @ 1:
Chris Matthews has claimed herr dubyah is Lincoln-like and said herr dubyah should be on Mount Rushmore. Chris Matthews said the only people that do not like herr dubyah are the far left crazies. Chris Matthews said America likes war and AMericans like this war and women like this president. He said women like a president with some swagger and who is simple. Yeah…..that’s a lot of Democratic propaganda.
A.Citizen @ 12:
Stop it! Stop injecting the bickering between the two Democrats’ camps into every friggen thread! Dean biased for Obama. MSNBC biased for Obama. Clinton getting a pass for bas behavior. Stop it already! It’s making C&L a very unpleasant place to be.
Why not just boycott the entire U.S. Corporate “News” Media for that matter? And if the old guard still offends…
No matter what FOX News says, we Americans will always remember GWB as this.
http://www.rollingstone.com/ne.....in_history
Kieth Olberman is pro Democratic Party but i am hard pressed to name anyone else.
Any help?
Should Republicans post on C&L?
xoites (Bitter before Country was Cool) defends Constitution @ 19:
Moyer? Maher?
xoites (Bitter before Country was Cool) defends Constitution @ 19:
Nope! Every once in awhile I got the feeling Schuster might lean slightly left but since he got his ass whooped by Clinton he is very neutral.
For a cable show, Fox draws lots of viewers. They vote. If you go on a military base, tv’s are EVERYWHERE, even in the commissary. And they are almost all tuned to Fox. If we want to win an election, we have to put forth a candidate who can win not just Joe- intellectual who follows the news, but Joe- average who watches American idol.
Most Americans don’t even have a clue who McCain is. We’d better have a candidate on Fox letting them know the other side of McCain.
Another liberal media lie….
No link.
More liberal lies.
Elite media feeding lies
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 21:
Moyer is PBS and a hero of mine. But he had to come out of retirement to fight the bullshit he sees in the Corporate Media. Maher is a Republican.
JTM @ 20:
If they can do so without using numerous expletives and Lies they are free to voice opinions anywhere. But they mostly just come on here to Flame and Troll for emotional responses.
Speaking of MSNBC, I wish they would take David Gregory off the air. The man can hardly sit in his chair when smashing Dems. How did he get from dancing with the Prez to being talking head.
It was Hillary Clinton that showed the spine to go on and talk to the millions of Americans that watch Fox News.
There is your real unity.
JTM @ 20:
Of course they should, but i would prefer it if they would stick around and have a serious argument rather than arguing in circles as so many of them have in the past.
xoites (Bitter before Country was Cool) defends Constitution @ 25:
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 26:
That wasn’t my question.
My question wasn’t whether C&L should allow them to post here.
My question was whether it would be in their interest to do so.
xoites (Bitter before Country was Cool) defends Constitution @ 29:
So do you agree or disagree with the idea that Democrats shouldn’t go on Fox?
Most suprising in this encounter was that Wallace didn’t come to the defense of his own network against the the charge that the network’s news department is totally biased. I’m sure Wallace will pay for his negligence. Forgo the limo for two weeks?
The reason Clinton went on Fox was because the shockingly Obama bias with Obama hacks like Jack Cafferty and Keith Olberman.
That is the real story.
right arm, Howard!!!!!!!!!!!!
getalife @ 28:
Uh, unity is forgetting all about the total and unrelenting way Fox News, Richard Mellon Scaife, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and numerous other mouth pieces tried to destroy you completely? IF Clinton is elected let’s just see how good Fox news and the above mentioned treat Hillary. Ya think they are going to be all embracing in a General Election?
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 30:
I watch him. He comes down squarely on the side of killing people in other countries as long as they are terror suspects. If that is the position of the Democratic Party i may have to end my short tenure. There are other things he says that can’t possibly be construed as Democratic. Sometimes i have to leave the room.
Aquarius2 - Gregory at least looks at both Democratic candidates to show their strengths and weaknesses. If you want a love-fest for your candidate, just watch Olbermann.
getalife @ 28:
What unity? She only proved once again that is in a far, far reich-winger. Faux is a well established propaganda arm of the reich-wing, and Hill gladly used the tool. SHe’s only distancing herself from the Democratic Party. congrats.
jmac @ 38:
I do LOL
Yes, Hillary is taking on Fox and Scaife and everyone else out there. And she’s winning them over. People have respect for you when you have a spine and look the bully in the eye.
JTM @ 32:
Oh, i really don’t have a serious opinion about