Obama Follows Edwards To Boycott Fox News

It took a couple of weeks but Obama finally got behind John Edwards and disavowed the Presidential debate sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus and Fox News who was to air the show. Of course this is the second debate that the two have joined together to oppose the propaganda-spewing Fox. The first debate was unanimously denounced by all the candidates, but this one was different.

The Congressional Black Caucus plans on having their debate September 23 in Detroit. The candidates generally want to look good for the CBC in order to woo black voters and for Obama, it was apparently a tough call to make. Thankfully he made the right choice. Barack has been a target of the conservative news outlet for some time and he is sick and tired of their crap.

Roger Ailes recently went on the offensive to address candidates pulling out of his channel's debates but ultimately proved that he has some sort of vendetta against Obama.

Check this out from ABCNews:

"Any candidate for high office from either party who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake about journalists," Ailes said at a Radio and Television News Directors Foundation dinner in Washington last month.

"Pressure groups are forcing candidates to conclude that the best strategy for journalists is divide and conquer, to only appear on those networks and venues that give them favorable coverage," Ailes said, adding that any candidate "who cannot answer direct, simple, even tough questions from any journalist runs a real risk of losing the voters."

But in that same address, Ailes joked about the similarity of Obama's name with that of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, saying, "It's true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don't know if it's true President Bush called [Pakistan President Pervez] Musharraf and said, 'Why can't we catch this guy?' "

Why any fair-minded voter would want to deal with Ailes, his cohorts in the message-machine department at Fox or the brainwashed dittoheads that watch FNC night after night is beyond me. I hope this CBC-Fox debate finally puts to rest where Fox sits on the partisan scale. It certainly isn't about journalism, they are down in the mud with the rest of their wingnut friends.

Moderate Republicans Wowed By Dem Majority

Although Congress is on vacation right now, there is something in the air on Capitol Hill. That something is a combination of 'hustle and bustle' and progress. The two of those together are creating legislation that moves the United States forward because the party of the people are passing laws that help all Americans. Despite the doomsday predictions by conservative pundits, the Democratic Party is doing what they said they would do all along and their actions are beginning to impress some G.O.P. centrists.

From The New York Times:

As the new Democrat-led House rushed to complete its business before adjourning for spring break this week, Representative Ferguson was marveling at the many bills that had been passed in Congress’s first 100 days, including one that would make it easier for unions to organize and another that would increase the minimum wage.

“Under the Republican majority, those bills would have never gotten to the floor,” he explained before heading back to his district. “Now they have been brought to the floor, and I’ve voted for them.”

Mr. Ferguson’s enthusiasm captures a peculiar political reality in the Capitol: many Republicans from swing districts in the Northeast are finding that life under Democratic rule has its advantages.

As the NYT points out in the article, many 'moderates' are going to have to support the Democratic legislation not only out of political beliefs, but for political necessity. Many moderates squeaked through last year and held onto their incumbency by extremely small margins. It is clear that in these swing districts, the voters want to see change and nearly replaced their representative last year. With November of 2008 in their sites, these Republicans are going to do whatever it takes to hold onto their seats....and the declining number of Republicans in the House.

Fox News Hates Black People, So Whats Up With The CBC?

Sorry Kanye, I had to borrow your line and ascribe it to Fox News. Like a good propraganda outlet for the right-wing, Fox is very good at attacking minorities and any other group that would threaten the wingnut power-base. If you don't believe it, just watch this video from FoxAttacks:



Now that you know the bias of Rupert Murdoch's cable news network, why on earth would the Congressional Black Caucus host a debate with Fox televising the event? Apparently some members of the CBC do not agree with the decision, but none have the courage to stand up to the Caucus.

I'll let Jesse Jackson take over from here:

Rev. Jesse Jackson today denounced the Congressional Black Caucus Institute’s planned presidential debate partnership with FOX. He called for yesterday’s decision to be reversed and for presidential candidates not to attend a FOX debate.

Jackson said, “I am disappointed by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute's partnership with FOX, and strongly encourage them to reverse that decision. Why would presidential candidates, or an organization that is supposed to advocate for Black Americans, ever give a stamp of legitimacy to a network that continually marginalizes Black leaders and the Black community? FOX moderating a presidential debate on issues of importance to Black Americans is literally letting the Fox guard the henhouse – FOX should be rejected.”

Fox’s smears against the Black community are compiled in Outfoxed director Robert Greenwald’s new YouTube video called Fox Attacks: Black America – which is located at www.ColorOfChange.org and has been viewed by over 230,000 people in two weeks.

Yesterday’s decision came after Black Members of Congress and the CBC Institute were contacted by thousands of members of ColorOfChange.org – a 75,000 member online citizen lobby for Black Americans. Privately, some CBC members expressed that the Fox deal was a bad idea, but not a single member would take a public stand like Jackson did today.

"The CBC cannot claim to represent Black Americans and at the same time legitimize a network that calls Black churches a cult, implies that Senator Barack Obama is a terrorist, and uses the solemn occasion of Coretta Scott King’s funeral to call Black leaders ‘racist,’” said James Rucker, head of ColorOfChange.org. “The CBC Institute’s decision is shamefully out of step with most Black voters -- and now Black voters will hold our leaders accountable and demand they end their partnership with Fox."

Today, an online petition is being launched at www.ColorofChange.org demanding the CBC end their partnership with Fox, and asking presidential candidates to reject the Fox debate in favor of CBC Institute’s CNN debate – which has already been announced.

Thousands of new members have joined ColorOfChange.org in recent weeks as the organization started putting pressure on the CBC not to embrace Fox – showing the high energy of this issue.

“Fox has a long history of treating Black people unfairly. They are not a trusted news source for most Black Americans,” added Benjamin Todd Jealous, former executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Associations (NNPA), a 98-year old federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers.