MSNBC Uninvites Kucinich To Vegas Debate

Mediabistro's TVNewser:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich won't be taking part in MSNBC's debate in Las Vegas on Tuesday. It certainly won't be the first time that Kucinich was excluded from a recent Democratic debate. But the difference is Kucinich was initially invited, and had met the criteria, for the MSNBC debate. Then, MSNBC changed the criteria and told Kucinich he was uninvited.

Alternet published a Kucinich press release, which said that 44 hours after Kucinich got a congratulatory letter and invite from NBC to the Nevada debate, they notified him of their changed criteria, and his exclusion.

In the press release, the Kucinich campaign took a shot at the media as a whole: "When 'big media' exert their unbridled control over what Americans can see, hear, and read, then the Constitutional power and right of the citizens to vote is being vetoed by multi-billion corporations that want the votes to go their way."

According to the Los Angeles Times, the original criteria for the debate called for the inclusion of the top four democratic candidates in national polling. With Bill Richardson dropping out of the race last week, that moved Kucinich to fourth place in polls. NBC decided to change the criteria, featuring the top three Dem. candidates: Sen. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama.

Read the whole story: Mediabistro's TVNewser

Comments

[h3mlf]

I did boycott MSNBC last night - now what people? On Monday and Tuesday I tried to donate money online to Kucinich and there was an error with their program - had to call to get it in. I wonder how much money they lost in contributions to this "glitch". Plan to vote for Edwards, but would love to see him stand up for Kucinich and freedom of speech. MSNBC???? We all need to e-mail all their advertisers and then the hosts and see if Olbermann will even address this. I think not, and will miss his program - can't watch that GE crap any longer.

GO HERE FOR CHRIS MATTHEWS VS KUCINICH ON YOUTUBE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzHfVWp_igg

[ceasenake]

Waaaah! Kucinich is a little cry-baby. On the bright side - when he drops out after wasting everyones time and money at least he has a hot wife to hang out with.

[representativepress]

Send this video to everyone you can: Boycott the MSNBC Democratic Debate On Tuesday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHTOzZzyhWU&feature=PlayList&p=E2768B55F22542D3&index=0&playnext=1

[kellygrrrl]

So NBC does not want the Anti-War candidate on their stage?
NBC does not care what the audience wants?

hmmm, how shall we respond to this?

[MaxBridges]

What is funny to me is how the Wizard's curtain is becoming so ragged, threadbare, full of holes, and falling down to expose the mechanisms behind the scene. More and more Americans (but admittedly not enough) are becoming more willing to see the frauds that are being perpetrated in front of their very eyes.

Rumors of computerized hi-jacked votes that go back to 2000, 2002, and 2004 are being taken seriously.

The exclusion of candidates from debates proves that MSM isn't "main-stream"; it is a corporate media with entirely different motivations than being objective or supplying the truth. A lie is more likely to keep the profits coming.

We've got administration lies about going to war in Iraq that are being rehashed in Iran.

We've been force-fed a whole slew of national security lies to justify spying on citizens (which started, by the way, before 9/11/2001).

The granddaddy lie of them all and the lynch pin that holds everything together is the government's version of 9/11. Given the length of time it takes to create computer animation like "Toy Story" or "Cars", you'd think that by now the government would release the gas station and hotel video tapes with the 9/11 Pentagon plane crash... all doctored up to prove their case.

The thing is, the aftermath of the Iraq war wasn't planned all that well. Neither was Katrina FEMA planning. 9/11 is fits into the pattern of poor execution to any thinking person with an open-mind.

Yes, thank God for the internet in exposing the mischief behind the curtains so we patriots can reclaim our country, our states, our communities, and our private lives.

[dadixon]

Folks, like myself, that live in MI should vote for Kucinich on Tuesday if they support Obama or Edwards. Don't vote for "uncommitted"! Think about this, putting Kucinich back on the board after he's been blocked from so many debates would "force" the corporate media to said SOMETHING about his campaign and add more diversity to the overall discussion.

[AnswerToJob]

Shocking. I'm an Edwards Supporter but agree that Dennis Kucinich should NOT be excluded. This looks terrible for MSNBC and I agree with a BOYCOTT (don't stop on Fox either) and pressure Olbermann, let's see if his stinks too.

It is EASY to boycott MSNBC. CNN isn't so bad and I love BBC. Who else?

[Andres]

Another example of corporations getting in the way of a true democracy in which we can all view and judge for ourselves. Kucinich is doing what most Obama and Edwards followers wish their candidates had the guts to do: Seek impeachment for the WMD lies which have cost so many lives on both sides of this conflict. True single-payer universal healthcare: Industrialized countries around the world believe good health is every citizen's right, and though democrats in general are tending towards this viewpoint, only Kucinich has the guts to face the wrath of the drug companies by offering a NON-FOR-PROFIT system. Immediate withdrawal from Iraq: The other Democratic candidates either Voted for the War in the first place, like senator Clinton, or seem to afraid to be labeled soft on terrorism. Nobody defends terrorism, but has anybody forgotten what this war was supposed to be about? Iraq's WMDs? Which they didn't have? Why doesn't the US go after the many other dictators which the US has ties w... right. Saddam was armed by the US and sadly so was Bin Laden. The administration relies on xenophobia, fear-mongering and the people's misinformation to shove false invasion motives down our throats... and if some one like Kucinich is courageous enough to stand up and call them on it, somebody can just pull the plug and un-invite him from the debates. So much for democracy. To those who support the other Democratic candidates I say I respect your choice, I personally feel we have a strong set of contenders this time around, but in the interest of fairness and full disclosure, shouldn't we all want to hear all the candidates still in the race? My admiration for say Obama and Edwards (my second and third choices)would be greatly boosted if one they stood for democracy and honest uncensored debates.

[VivaZapata]

MSNBC is wedded to a pundit opinion based debate. At least C(rappy)NewsNetwork came up with the YouTube bit of creativity (though they carefully tailored what got through). This is why they're so uninteresting. Russert above all wants to look knowledgeable, so his questions are skewed to answers he's capable of following up with. Brian Williams has zero personality. Enjoy the snooze.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Dennis should say 'no' to their debate, and then run out and go stencil 'impach' on the back of the news van, and just leave.

LOL

[CarolLee]

NBC parent company General Electric is a known war profiteer. Kucinich wants an immediate end to the war. GE will stand to lose billions when the war ends. It's that simple, folks. Kucinich's message is being ignored for a reason. Follow the money -- a weapons manufacturer owns the network.

http://knowmore.org/wiki/index.php?title=General_Electric_Company

[loki]

wasnt there once a thing called equal air time???
Whatever happened to that? It seems to have faded into history a while ago.

Shouldnt everyone running for President, no matter what party or what their financial status have a chance to let the people hear them and decide ?

American so called "democracy" is run by the two main parties themselves with the help of the Media. We are only a democracy because we get to choose from a small list of pre-approved candidates.

[Kungfublood]

NBC will have no candidate that might challenge NBCs support of the ongoing VOTE FRAUD as it might lead to Americans choosing a leader that puts America before Israel.

[ChiGuy]

Yes, he has interesting and valid things to say.

But it's time to call a spade a spade. He's toast.

But at this point, he would be a drain on the time allotted for the three front-runners to make their cases.

He should spend some of his campaign money to find and utilize other avenues forgetting his message out.

[rh654]

I don't like these news stations determing who the American people get to listen to and who they can't listen to during these debates.

While I wouldn't vote for Kucinich, he is running the Presidency, he is someone who holds public office and he should be on the stage as much as anyone else.