Howard Dean On Fox News Sunday: Your Coverage Is "Shockingly Biased" (VIDEO)

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday this morning, Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean said that Fox's news coverage has at times been "shockingly biased, and I think that's wrong and I just say so right up front." Dean also said he agreed with the netroots campaign to boycott the Democratic debates on the network.

Host Chris Wallace tried to get Dean to bash MoveOn and Daily Kos, saying they were "using words about you guys showing up here as weak, idiotic, stupid. How do you respond to the left wing?" But Dean avoided taking the bait:

DEAN: We stayed off Fox for a long time because your news department is, in fact, biased. But, Chris, you haven't been. You've always been tough, but I always thought fair and I still think that's true. And we need to communicate with people who are going to vote in the Democratic Party. Hundreds of thousands of Republicans have turned their back on their own party to vote in the Democratic primaries in the last six months. We owe it to our -- to all the American people to reach out to those folks. This is not about Fox News. That's not why I'm here today. I'm out because I want to talk to your viewers directly about why this election is important and what we can offer the American people.

Watch it:

Dean also said on Fox that Republicans are using "hate and divisiveness" to win elections.

Dean argued that the use of Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) former pastor Jeremiah Wright in GOP ads in local races is "race baiting."

"When you start bringing up things that have nothing to do with the candidate and nothing to do with the issues, that's race baiting," Dean said on Fox News Sunday in response to a question whether the Wright issue and his ties to Obama hurt Democrats down ticket.

"There's a lot of difference between the Republicans and the Democrats on issues, but the biggest issue of all is we don't use this kind of stuff. We never have used this kind of stuff, and we're not going to start now," said the DNC chairman. "America is more important than the Republican Party, and that's the lesson that the voters are about to teach the Republicans."

Transcript:

WALLACE: The left wing of your party is in a snit over all these Democrats appearing on Fox. In fact, the head of MoveOn.org had this to say about Democrats on Fox. "It legitimizes a right wing network that is going to use that credibility to smear them in the general election." He and the head of the Daily Kos are using words about you guys showing up here as weak, idiotic, stupid. How do you respond to the left wing?

DEAN: What I'd say is this: we stayed off Fox for a long time because your news department is, in fact, biased. But, Chris, you haven't been. You've always been tough, but I always thought fair and I still think that's true. And we need to communicate with people who are going to vote in the Democratic Party. Hundreds of thousands of Republicans have turned their back on their own party to vote in the Democratic primaries in the last six months. We owe it to our -- to all the American people to reach out to those folks. This is not about Fox News. That's not why I'm here today. I'm out because I want to talk to your viewers directly about why this election is important and what we can offer the American people.

WALLACE: Let me ask you, and obviously it's always about the millions of people who watch these shows. Looking back, do you think it was a mistake for the Democratic Party to boycott Fox debates and all the other programs during the last year and thereby boycott getting your message out to the millions of people who watch?

DEAN: No, I think it was the right thing to do, because there are some things in the news department that have really been shockingly biased and I think that's wrong and I just say so right up front. It is important also for us -- we shouldn't punish the viewers of Fox by staying away. Now those viewers have had an opportunity to look at the debates on other channels, now they're going to have an opportunity viewing on this channel and I think that's fair.

Comments

[RedWolverine]

Wallace did what the media is supposed to do, point out deliberate falsehoods by the DNC.

[disgusted48]

Dean was great on faux. You go boy!

[TheAdviceWeAllNeed]

Chris Wallace should be embarrassed that this is his place of employment.

Charlie Rangel was also outspoken on CNN take a look

http://www.crooksandliars.com/Media/Play/28938/1/le-ran gel-050408.wmv/

[cls105]

i love how there was no rebuttal

[RealityBaseCamp]

cls105 said:

"i love how there was no rebuttal"

There was no rebuttal when Bill Clinton laid into Chris, either. What they did then, and watch for it this time, was to have "experts" on their shows, ALL DAY, to "analyze" how Bill was angry, bitter, and unhinged. Fox's idea of a discussion is to wait for the guy who's right (and worse, prepared) to leave, and then attack him ad hominem.

[saltpeter]

I love how Chris Wallace didn't even try to dispute Dean in his assessment of Fox News' bias. It shows that even Wallace knows that Dean's correct in that assessment. Once in a while, you get the sense that the journalistic instincts of a Wallace, Brit Hume, and even Geraldo kick in and they realizing that there job is to no longer report anything resembling truth and simply to pander to a bunch of neo-con monkees and yahoos who can't stand to hear the reality of what's going on or anything close to that reality. As long as the viewers watch Fox alone, they can live in a fact-free zone where up is down and black is white. Fox is more than willing to indulge people in their delusions. Apparently, delusions sell.

[TheAdviceWeAllNeed]

Bushes talking pieces don't want to work for FOX either but it is a same that CNN employed these people, such a same.

[cla62]

Yes Dean as usual represented the far left like the champion he is. But as all other dem. hacks know, if you want to get in front of an audience that has anyone watching at all, you have to get on Fox. Sorry boys, it's just the facts, as much as the hacks all hate to admit it.

[VitriolAndAngst]

Well, from this point of view, Eisenhower was a far left champion. You should hear some of the things he said -- you know, back when Republicans were sane.

[lainey]

Love Howard Dean!! He did a great job representing real Democrats today. He stood up for our core values of decency in campaigning and voting. He stayed focused to the issues and the Republicans, just as he should. He said upfront that he did not think that they represented fair coverage and he didn't let up the entire interview. Dr. Dean is a very smart man. I appreciate his 50 state strategy and all that he has done. I believe with Dean as the head of the party and Van Hollen as the head of the DCCC, our super delegates will do the right thing--listen to the future of the Party and its core constituents. They will vote for Obama.

[pointus]

Not only will the superdelegates vote for Obama, they ARE voting for him. He's had a steady stream of endorsements (and even a few defections from billary) during the last few weeks, slowly but surely destroying HRC's lead in the superdelegate tally.

It's over for her; she's sunk. If she tries the "nuclear option" (pushing the fatally flawed FL & MI results through the Rules & Bylaws Committee), the party elders will smack her down hard. Unless they're really really stupid, which I don't think they are.

[llozano]

It is not only Fox News' bias but the mainstream media's lack of courage and sound journalistic integrity over the past few years. Local news if full of traffic, weather, entertainment and murder. National news is not much better giving only scant coverage to any issue and totally ignoring others. Their news departments are carrying shows in which prisons, child molesters and old crime investigations are using up all the resources rather than using the limited resources to do in depth coverage of issues of more importance. They did it before and I am sure they can do it again.

[oncethere]

Fox Newsmen strike me as a bunch of juveniles who, in the absence of any supervision or other adults in the room, make jokes at the expense of and/or vilify others. Then, when an adult appears they quickly clean up their act and play like their journalists.

[Koinania]

I personally have blocked out FOX NEWS on my TV. As an African American who had been watching the station for years, I have come to the conclusion that people like Sean and Hannity, Bill OReily and the other ipionated Fox Traps are presenting an unfair and unballanced view to society. The problem we have here is a failure to commnicate the truth with spins or angles. It is umistakenly obvious that the Foxtraps endorses the Repulican agendas. You may say they gave airtime to Hillary, Well i became convinced moths ago that the Clintons have AWOL from the Democratic party.

[sangsue]

And about those Superdelegates. Does everyone know why they were created and Harold Ickes (part of team Clinton of course) created those rules in 1980?

Jesse Jackson.

On the off chance that he'd get enough delegates to win (or any other person who they felt won delegates because voters were too stupid and ignorant to know what's good for them) the Superdelegates would be like the wild card that would trump it. Yes. It was created to keep Jesse Jackson out of the election.

Now, do you see why Team Hillary was counting on the Superdelegates so much? They figured that they'd do the job they were created to do, only instead of Jesse Jackson, it'd be Obama.

Too bad this is 2008 and not 1980.

Don't get me wrong. I know that even if Obama "technically" wins it with delegates and Superdelegates, there are enough people in the Democratic party that are either scared of the Clintons or obligated to them to push for a new law to overthrow the rights of the voters who don't know any better. So get used to it. Clinton will be the nominee. She doesn't care how.

But the bad thing about scorched earth is that nothing grows. And there aren't enough of pure Hillary people to win in the general election. The "Reagan Democrats" who are voting for her now won't bother in the GE. Why would they vote for her when they can get a real Republican like McCain?

[realitybase]

Don't you mean 1992? Or 1988?

[cathye]

They were created as a response to Carter and Kennedy, not Jesse Jackson and Mondale . . .

[Denni]

Thank goodness for Moyers giving Dems a shot of courage! Dr. Dean, maybe you'll consider speaking with Messrs. Rendell, Davis, and McAuliffe about how 'fair and balanced' THEY think the network is. They've been praising the network, tirelessly.

[Probus]

Dean spoke well and he represents dems well everywhere he goes. I hope he does the right thing by not letting Clinton steal the nomination from Obama in the rules committee. This would be unfair and it would disenfranchise voters a majority of which voted for Obama. If dems like Obama and Dean want to go to Fox than they have every right to do so.

[MadFae]

Way to go , Howie. ;) I knew you had it in ya.

[Anastasia]

Everyone's entitled to their opinion. But Fox has thrown perspective and detachment, into the drink, along with any facts that might get in the way of their point of view.

Rupert Murdoch has been the ruination of American news.

[RENREVARD]

HOWARD WOLFSON CHAMAIGN MANAGER FOR HILLARY REPRESENTS RUPERT MURDOCH AT HIS DAY JOB AT GLOVER PARK.THAT IS WHY THE TALKING HEADS OF CLINTON CAMP GO ON FOX AND WRITE OPED FOR THE WSJ.