Defense of Partisanship, Part 3

Last month top Democratic presidential hopefuls decided en mass to snub a scheduled debate on the Fox News Channel, co-sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute (not a conservative organization) that was scheduled to be held in Detroit September 23. This is the second time that the Dems have run from the mighty specter of Fox. The Nevada Democratic Party canceled another Fox co-sponsored debate scheduled for August. They have used some high-profile gaffes as excuses (see the end of the above linked story), but I like my Presidents to have thicker skin. The mainstream news media has come out with a series of election-influencing stories about Republicans at very convenient (or inconvenient) moments over the past decade and yet GOP candidates continue to frequent these outlets.

As proof I offer the Republican debate last night on, not Fox, but MSNBC moderated by Chris Matthews with commentary by Keith Olbermann. Let's review who are these two "fair and balanced" newsmen.

Chris Matthews has worked for 4 Democratic politicians including Jimmy Carter and has the dubious honor of being the author of Carter's "malaise" speech which likely lost him reelection. He is a relatively moderate guy if you ignore his knee-jerk anti-war sentiments. In listening to clips of his questions for the candidates, Matthews seemed to be probing not for the differences between candidates but for answers on issues which might be utilized later during the general election.

Update: I completely forgot to include the portion that was the main impetus for this post. Matthews asked every (I believe, but didn't hear each instance) top-tier candidate whether they were friends with Karl Rove and would they employ him were they to win the election. Karl Rove!?! Who cares about Karl Rove? He pressed them to disavow a non-cabinet White House staff member? Here's a few more:

Q. “Would it be good for America to have Bill Clinton back living in the White House?”

Q. “What do you dislike most about America?”

Q. “Will you work to protect women’s rights, as in fair wages and reproductive choice?”

Q. “Thousands of reputable scientists have concluded, with almost certainty, that human activity is responsible for the warming of the Earth. Do you believe global warming exists?”

In the realm of objectivity Keith Olbermann is a wholly different animal. Though a fantastically funny sportscaster during his ESPN days, his political commentary is beyond angry. His position as commentator is ludicrous being as he has labeled many of the candidates involved as "The Worst Person in the World" at some time or another. During the one year period from June of '05 to June of '06 he added Giuliani, McCain, Tancredo and one of Romney's head campaign advisers to the list - minus Tancredo (who has a decent underground following), this covers all three front runners. This is from a period of time in which many of the campaigners were not even in the media spotlight and thus not in the open to be criticised; I'd imagine that in the past year a few more have been named.

Let's finish up by doing a little comparison. The equivalent situation for a Democratic debate would see Peggy Noonan or Bill Bennett asking questions like, "Do you think it's a good thing that illegal immigrants pour across our border to commit crimes and utilize public services at much higher rate than their legal counterparts?" while Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity offer pre- and post-debate analysis.

What Fox offered - and had rejected - were debates (read free publicity), co-sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the Nevada Democratic Party that would have been FAR more balanced than that in which Republican candidates were fighting to be included last night. The point is once again that while a candidate may be reasonable and appealing, they will still be subject to the pressure of their party and its leadership and it is those people that you will be electing. I'll take Mitch McConnell and John Boehner over Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi any day of the week.