(Politics) MSNBC Uninvites Kucinich to Vegas Debate

[paularoid]

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/73663/

MSNBC Uninvites Kucinich to Vegas Debate

Davis Fleetwood of the Kucinich campaign shows you how to take on the networks and the Democratic Party in order to fight back.

http://www.alternet.org/images/managed/media_smsnbcuninviteskucinichtovegasdebatelarge.jp g
(video available at the site linked above)

This is a follow-up from an earlier post, and a reminder that we all need to run up our phone bills today for the good of the nation. The Democratic "debates" which Kucinich has been uninvited from are tomorrow. Davis Fleetwood even put this video together to show you how it's done. What more do you want? Pick up your phone and make a few calls. As with all savage animals, they're more afraid of you than you are of them.

NBC/MSNBC

(212) 664-4444 Ask for the Comment Line Email: letters@msnbc.com

Subject Line: Let Dennis Debate

Howard Dean and the

Democratic National Committee

(202) 863 8000 Leave a message

http://www.democrats.org/contact.html

Partners in the Jan 15th NBC Debate

* Nevada Democratic Party

(702) 737-8683

http://www.nvdems.com/contact/

* US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

1-800-USHCC86

(202) 842-1212

Email: ushcc@ushcc.com

* IMPACTO (a Las Vegas Latin Chamber committee) Leave message for Tony Sanchez or Brian Ayala (702) 385-7367

* 100 Black Men of America

(404) 688-5100

Email: info@100bmoa.org

* College of Southern Nevada

http://www.csn.edu/contact/index.asp

-----

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/files/voteicon.gif

[paularoid]

Now if we could get the same thing to happen with all the other candidates in all the other debates. Paul, Gravel, Hunter etc. etc.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gDnNS8D2ehuX_-DVhFZ3z3WK1vtgD8U5V07G0

Judge Grants Kucinich Entry to NV Debate

http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2008/01/14/image3712577g.jpg

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada judge said Monday that Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich must be included in Tuesday's candidates' debate in Nevada.

Senior Clark County District Court Judge Charles Thompson said if Kucinich is excluded, he'll issue an injunction stopping the televised debate.

The judge sided with a lawyer for the Ohio congressman, who says debate host MSNBC at first invited Kucinich to take part and then told him last week he couldn't.

A lawyer for the network said MSNBC decided to go with the top three candidates after the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.

The judge called it a matter of fairness and said Nevada voters will benefit if they hear from more than just Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards.

The cable network and the Democratic Party are calling the 9 p.m. EST debate a chance to hear issues from Nevada's minority communities. Tim Russert and Brian Williams are moderating.

[hoops]

good work paul!! we have a choice!
peace
hoops

[paularoid]

good work paul!! we have a choice!
peace
hoops
Well maybe,... maybe not. Olbermann just announced that NBC intends to appeal the decision.

You know.... it just -might- be better if the judge -did- issue an injunction and prevent the debate from happening. It would sure bring things to the light and attention of the voting public. Turn the light on all the cockroaches so to speak.

[hoops]

i hear ya paul, but then, that would make things easy and it would keep us from pulling our hair out due to the sheer stupidity of others and we know that is far too much to hope for.
peace
hoops

[paularoid]

due to the sheer stupidity of others
A former member of this message board calls that "Willful ignorance". I think that label fits quite nicely. :rolleyes:

-----

-Update a day later-
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/15/6396/

Published on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 by The New York Times
Update: NBC Fights to Keep Kucinich Out of Debate
by Brian Stelter

Updated | 6:11 p.m. One hour after the Supreme Court hearing was scheduled to conclude and three hours before the debate was expected to begin, the court had yet to announce a decision, leaving it unclear whether Mr. Kucinich would participate in the debate.

4:13 p.m. MSNBC continues to promote tonight’s Democratic presidential candidate debate, while the cable news network’s parent company awaits a ruling from the Nevada Supreme Court that will determine whether the forum may proceed without Dennis Kucinich.

On Monday, prompted by Mr. Kucinich’s request for a temporary restraining order against NBC Universal, Nevada district court judge Charles Thompson issued an injunction stating that MSNBC could not proceed with the debate unless Mr. Kucinich was included.

In a petition to the state’s supreme court on Tuesday morning, NBC Universal requested an emergency hearing to review and vacate the judge’s injunction. Oral arguments were scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Eastern in Las Vegas. The hearing will last for 30 minutes.

The debate is scheduled to be shown on MSNBC at 9 p.m. Eastern. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards are expected to attend.

In his ruling, Mr. Thompson found NBC to be in breach of contract because Mr. Kucinich was invited to the debate on Jan. 9, only to be disinvited shortly thereafter.

What changed? On Jan. 10, after two other Democratic candidates dropped out of the race, NBC revised its qualifying criteria for debate participants, requiring that invited candidates must have finished in the top three in either the Iowa caucus or the New Hampshire primary.

The revisions were “in no way designed to exclude any particular candidate based on his or her views,” wrote Chuck Todd, the political director for NBC News, in an affidavit to the Nevada Supreme Court. Instead, it represented “a good faith editorial choice of a privately-owned cable network to limit debate participants based on the status of their campaigns.”

Mr. Kucinich’s complaint argued that, without the inclusion of all “credible candidates,” the telecast would be “effectively an endorsement of the candidates selected by NBC” instead of an actual debate. He cited the public interest provisions of the Federal Communications Act of 1934.

Responding on Tuesday morning, attorneys for NBC Universal argued that state district courts lack the jurisdiction to decide complaints brought under the act “because exclusive jurisdiction resides with the Federal Communications Commission.” The attorneys also argued that because MSNBC is privately owned by General Electric the news network should be allowed to “proceed with tonight’s debate under the format chosen as part of its journalistic discretion.”

On MSNBC’s newscasts Tuesday, Mr. Kucinich’s complaints were referenced in passing.

“It won’t stop the debate. They’ll let Kucinich go on if they have to,” the host Joe Scarborough stated, before positioning the debate as a “fight night” in Las Vegas.

David Damore, an associate professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, noted that the state’s previous Democratic debate, hosted by CNN on Nov. 15, included every candidate except for Mike Gravel.

“These situations create a real catch 22 for the candidates,” Mr. Damore said. “They don’t have much support, and they say they can’t get the support because the media won’t cover them. It creates a nasty circle for them.”

Mr. Kucinich has received 3 to 4 percent support in recent polls of likely Nevada caucus voters.

The flap was also the subject of discussion on the ABC daytime talk show “The View” Tuesday morning.

“What’s more surprising to me is that no one is screaming about the fact that people are trying to keep candidates out of these television debates,” the co-host Whoopi Goldberg said. “I thought it wasn’t until you had the nominee did everybody not have a shot.”

Co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck agreed, saying: “We deserve as the citizens here to hear everyone. If someone thinks he’s going to stir the pot and cause problems, we should see how these candidates deal with that. I want to see them dealing with Kucinich and his questions and ideas. I think that’s fair.”

Mr. Kucinich, widely considered a long-shot candidate, was also excluded from an ABC debate in New Hampshire earlier in the month.

[paularoid]

Just heard on Olbermann.....

NBC won their appeal and Kucinich will NOT appear in the debate tonight afterall. Corporate Amerika wins again.

[Bat]

I think that MSNBC, as a privately owned company/franchisee of the FCC RF airwaves, owned by us all, should have its license revoked by the FCC for not providing a complete public service! Bastards.

[paularoid]

From the Associated Press:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gDnNS8D2ehuX_-DVhFZ3z3WK1vtgD8U6M5V00

Court: MSNBC Can Bar Kucinich

By KEN RITTER – 22 minutes ago

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court said Tuesday MSNBC can exclude Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich from a candidate debate.

Lawyers for NBC Universal Inc., had asked the high court to overturn a lower court order that the cable TV news network include the Ohio congressman or pull the plug on broadcasting the debate Tuesday night with Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards.

An hour before the debate, the state Supreme Court's unanimous order said that blocking the debate unless Kucinich got to participate would be "an unconstitutional prior restraint" on the news network's First Amendment rights. The justices also said the lower court exceeded its jurisdiction by ordering Kucinich's participation even though he first requested and was denied relief from the Federal Communications Commission.

"It's a matter of being on stage and answering questions. That's the issue," lawyer Bill McGaha argued for Kucinich during a hearing before four justices in Las Vegas. Three other justices participated by closed-circuit video conference from Carson City.

Donald Campbell, a Las Vegas lawyer representing NBC Universal, accused Kucinich of trying to make a jurisdictional "end run" around the FCC and federal courts by suing in Nevada state court to be added to the debate.

FCC broadcast rules do not apply to cable TV networks, Campbell said, adding that forcing MSNBC to add Kucinich or not broadcast the debate amounted to prior restraint and would be a "clear and unequivocal" violation of First Amendment press freedom.

"Mr. Kucinich's claim ... undermines the wide journalistic freedoms enjoyed by news organizations under the First Amendment," Campbell said in his appeal.

Campbell said MSNBC decided to go with the top three candidates after the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. Kucinich drew less than 2 percent of the Democratic vote in the New Hampshire primary, after attracting little support in the Iowa caucuses.

[Bat]

Well, it's moot in any case, because the debates have already begun. I just think that Dennis would have had some very cogent answers to some very difficult questions that will doubtless go unasked. I just hope the other top runners will consider him for a cabinet post...he's a great watchdog!

[hoops]

damn, i'm doing an absentee ballot cause i will be in the hospital the day of the election here. and ya know, i just hope i know who would be the one to vote for

[paularoid]

damn, i'm doing an absentee ballot cause i will be in the hospital the day of the election here. and ya know, i just hope i know who would be the one to vote for
Well I can't advise anyone else really but if I HAVE to have a second choice it would be Edwards. I like them all at least to a certain degree but of the top three (at the moment) of the democratic party I like Edwards over the other two. Obama is too "pie-in-the-sky" let's all sit around and sing "Koom-buy-yah" non-specific for me, and Clinton strikes me as being (like Edwards described her) too "status quo" or "Bu$h Lite". I also still hold Clinton greatly responsible (if not directly responsible) for Lieberman still being in office, and we all know what a fiasco that is.

I'm going to my first ever caucus on February the 5th and I fully intend to stand up and fight like HELL for Kucinich! He's the ONLY one that has ALL the specific answers to ALL the specific problems - in MY mind.

To use the old saying, your mileage may vary.