Fox News Should Ban Giuliani From Debates, and Include Ron Paul

By any standards of participation in debates, Fox News should take Rudy Giuliani out, and put Ron Paul in.

There are two obvious standards for inclusion versus exclusion in debate, first the number of real voters in a real state vote, and second the amount of real money donated by real people to the campaigns.

In Iowa, the only real state that has voted so far, Ron Paul kicked Rudy's butt in the voting. In campaign fundraising, Ron Paul appears set to kick Rudy's butt again.

In my view, Rudy, Ron Paul and Kucinich should all be included. But if Fox News insists on playing the censor of democracy, Paul should be in, Rudy should be out.

Otherwise, Fox should be forced to declare the expense of their debates to the FEC as campaign contributions.

If Giuliani ever does better in a primary or caucus than he did in Iowa, he could then be brought back into the debates.

Fair enough?

Comments

[MrXfromplanetX]

Fox isn't the only one censoring Ron Paul and his supporters.

I was watching MSNBC tonight and Keith Olberman said twice Sean Hannity was being followed by angry Ron Paul supporters.

After that they stopped showing clips that showed the Ron Paul supporter signs, and started calling it a mob of angry Republicans. They would only show a few people who were closest to Hannity who weren't holding Ron Paul signs.

It's like Keith can't even say Ron Paul's name. I'm starting to think Keith Olberman should get one of his own "Worst Person in the World" awards for this one.

1. viewerserv­ices@msnbc­.com
2. [e-mail]
3. [e-mail]
4. KOlbermann­@msnbc.com
5. [e-mail] (Dan Abrams is now MSNBC's general manager)"

The only reason Huckabee moved up in the polls with so little money is the news media started giving him more coverage. If Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, or Chris Dodd got the free advertising from the news media the so called front runners get, they would be front runners too. Running daily stories on a candidate is giving them billions in free advertising, which all of the major networks have done to create the so called front runners. Sadly enough, Huffpo has done this too.

[goldcoastsailor]

I understand Ron Paul supporters chased Hannity back to his hotel room. He was so afraid, he left the blond woman he was with in the dust. You gotta love it.

[huffnpuffn]

Does Rudy Giuliani really have no concept of cause and effect? I can kinda imagine what's going through his mind:

Cause: We didn't bomb, invade them or otherwise ravage their country to prevent them from attacking us

Effect: They attack us

But it still seems a little simplistic somehow...

[jsmithson]

We already live in a self-reliant society.

The people you are conversing with have all made it on their own; like most Americans they had no choice.

Which raises a question. Why are the Ron Paul supporters so fanatical?

Statisitics apparently show they come from the upper-end of the economic spectrum.

Is this about tax cuts for the rich? Is this about ending the estate tax?

Is this about self-reliance for the rest of us? But a pampered trustafarian life for people like the Ron Paul supporters?

[BentCorner]

Unlike Ron Paul, I don't think Rudy Giuliani plans on running on a third-party ticket. I think Ron Paul is. He's been asked numerous times and it's about the only thing he is ever evasive on. Why wont he just deny it?

I think he is running as a Republican now to get the exposure. Once he resigns (again) from the GOP, he wont be invited to any of the GOP debates.

What else is he going to do with all that money?

[xtrabiggg]

Here's What SHOULD be done, Legally...

I hear talk of boycotts, protests and other measures, but in reality, there are some serious laws being broken here, and the violators whould be prosecuted.
First, sanctions and fines should be levied by the party against any candidate who participated in this travesty. FOX News should also be charged by the Federal Election Commission with violation of the "Electioneering' laws, whereby they are using pubilc airwaves to unfairly favor or disfavor one candidate over another. In addition, they should also be charged with violating Federal Campaign Finance laws, as instead of a News event, this would become an advocacy broadcast for the candidates appearing, and would, in effect, amount to an illegal campaign donation to the tune of MILLIONS OF DOLLARS to the campaigns of the candidates who appear on the boradcast.

Of course, this will never happen, as the FEC, the Justice Department and most of our government has been corrupted, politicized and taken over with billions in lobbyist dollars and patronage appointments by the very powers that are seeking to impose this un-American censorship- the multinational corporations who OWN the Media outlets, and who are profiting obscenely through the war and the monetary policies that Ron Paul advocates changing and eliminating.

This entire episode emphasizes how Un-American and un-constitutional both the media and the electoral process in this country has become. Money trumps rights, freedoms, the law and the Constitution in this country, as the billions of dollars showered on the politicians in Washington now yield TRILLIONS of dollars in payback, through government contracts, ability to influence and even WRITE legislation that provides unfair advantages, benefits, profits and powers to the Military Industrialists, the Banking Trust, the big Pharmaceutical Conglomerates and the Health Care, Insurance and Energy companies.
Thank you, Huffington post, for contributing to the free flow of ideas that the Corporate-­controlled Media do not want allowed.

xtrabiggg
+++++++++++++++++

[BurgersandFries]

Fox Corporate board includes war propagandist and Hillary fundraiser Rupert Murdoch; Viet Dinh, law prof and author of the patriot act; Andrew Knight of Rothschild; and Rod Paige, former head of Education for Bush.

[Haligonian]

Will this be known as "the snub heard round the world?"

[WorkingClass]

Disney decided that Kucinich would not be allowed to run for president. Rupert decided that Ron Paul would not be allowed to run for president. People with an I.Q. bigger than their hat size are realizing that the corporate media are our enemy.

[Haligonian]

Won't this eventually backfire on Fox News?

Doesn't censorship actually automatically draw public interest?

[Haligonian]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I would have a heck of a lot more respect for any candidate that had the decency to be excluded from Fox News...

Censorship in the USA? -- I am starting to suspect that Fox News may have a bias or something

[Spookcatcher]

I thought it was ignorant of "crash" McCain to sit laughing at Congressman Ron Paul who whether you like his social stands, has a real grasp of the money flow that is going through the Government and into the coffers of Corporations. RP knows that if you regulate small business and susidize big business it corrupts every social program and the oness you intend to level the playing field for are in fact the ones you enslave or discount from participation. Thompson tried to make fun of RP's economic assessment and it backfired on him. Anyone who did not see the Mormo-Fascist that Mitt Romney is by his exact statements is on the kooolaid and an Ameri-Fascist themselve.

[letsmakesense]

Many are coming to Dr. Paul's aid.
Monday night he will be on the J Leno show for 15 minutes.
J draws around 12 million viewers
Fox debate will not touch that number plus Dr. Paul will have more minutes of time on the Leno show than Fox would have given him.
Paul wins
Fox loses
And that's how it's gonna be from now on.
Freedom not Fox

[mcthorogood]

I really like the idea of Fox News Corporation having to report the cost of the presidential debates as a political contribution. Since corporations are legally considered to be persons, shouldn't they limit their contribution to $2300 like everyone else?

[aquapro]

Watching the Faux News debate. Chris Wallace just asked the candidates who will attract the youth vote, McCain or Obama. Paul wasn't even mentioned.

Fox News - We lie, spin and obfuscate. You decide.