Soccer Dad: Crazy like a fox

April 13, 2007

Crazy like a fox

E. J. Dionne argues in Saying no to Fox News (or here )

The Fox debate saga is amusing, but it's more than that. It marks a transformation on the left driven by the rise of Internet voices and the frustration of liberals at the success of conservatives in using a combination of talk radio, Fox and the Web to propagate anti-liberal, anti-Democratic messages.

So most liberals (or most Democrats) won't participate in a debate of FOX even though it's being co-sponsored by the very liberal Congressional Black Caucus.

Later Dionne writes

I am an avid reader of conservative magazines such as National Review and the Weekly Standard. But if these two publications teamed up to sponsor a Democratic debate, would anyone accuse Edwards, Obama and Clinton of "blacklisting" if the candidates said, "no, thanks"?

I suspect no one would. But say one (or the other) had an in-print symposium and asked for views from all around the spectrum, would Democratic politicians stay away? I suspect not.

It's only FOX News where the Democrats are taking a stand. And at a time when the Democratic Congressional leadership has come back from a trip to Syria, has invited the Muslim Brotherhood to speak at Congress and is considering a trip to Iran all in the name of dialogue, doesn't it look a little petty to stand on principle when it comes to political differences?

UPDATE: More at Buzztracker.

Bullwinkle Blog writes:

What Dionne sees as a victory will eventually be hurt Democrats, they need all the moderate voters they can get and some Republicans to cross over in 2008 if they hope to win the White House. While it may be a crowd pleasing decision at HuffPo, Daily Kos and Moveon.org it�s preaching to the choir. To most moderates and the few Republicans who might have voted Democrat in 2008 it leaves them asking how any of the Left�s candidates could possibly stand up to terrorism when they don�t have the guts to debate on FOX.

It's a good point that I didn't address. Dionne seems oblivious of the difference between liberal and mainstream.
Romenesko seemingly finds Dionne's characterization of Ailes to be unlikely.

FOX News