Fox News Rolls Snake Eyes in Nevada

Well, it's official: The Nevada Democrats have dumped the Fox news debate.

What's really funny, however, is Fox News' coverage of said dumping. So far, all they've published is a tiny item waaaaay down here:

The Nevada Democratic Party has canceled an August debate that was to be co-hosted by Fox News Channel, citing comments by the network's president rather than an online protest launched by activists and bloggers who believe the channel is biased.

The last 'graph is the only official response Fox News would post on its own site:

Fox News vice president David Rhodes said the party's decision Friday showed the online group [Moveon.org] owns the Democratic Party in Nevada.

Clearly, they're burying the story as much as possible, or at least waiting for Big Daddy Roger to come up with the official spin.

Of course, to find Mr. Rhodes' complete statement, you had to go elsewhere:

Here is FNC's official statement, from VP David Rhodes: "News organizations will want to think twice before getting involved in the Nevada Democratic Caucus which appears to be controlled by radical fringe out-of-state interest groups, not the Nevada Democratic Party. In the past, Moveon.org has said they 'own' the Democratic party -- while most Democrats don't agree with that, it's clearly the case in Nevada."

Well, what do you know, Fox News responds to criticism by attacking their critics instead of defending themselves apologizing. Gee, what a shame the Nevada Democratic Party didn't play ball with such a fair and balanced organization.

The best roundup of what happened can be found here (Daily Kos, of course):

And here is the official response of John Edwards, the candidate who really got the ball rolling when he turned down the debate:


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.