Congrats to everyone involved and great job, especially this site and dkos.  I think this may be a turning point in how the mainstream media perceives the power of the netroots.

Same here.  Congrats and thanks to Chris, Matt, and all the others here and elsewhere who worked hard to make this happen.  

We're having a good week.  Ann Coulter is getting kicked around, and our Presidential candidates won't be helping to legitimize FOX News.

Hallefuckinglujah....!

Kudos to Edwards and Richardson for their leadership on this.

Too bad Clinton, Obama and the others failed to acknowledge the importance of this issue.  They missed an opportunity to impress.

Yahtzee!

I'm very glad of it, but I wonder if it would have been cancelled if Roger Ailes had not opened his yap and spewed. Did that give Reid, et al. the excuse they needed, so they didn't have to look like they were acceding to progressive/netroots' voices?

I am dismayed Obama didn't take a stand. Sort of, anyway. I expected more of him, what with his earlier freeze-out of Fox.

I didn't expect anything out of Clinton, though. No surprise there. Christ, she's awful...

Obama looks really shitty right now.

Props to Edwards and Richardson.

Either Clinton, Obama and the others weren't willing to take a stand, or else this just wasn't on their radar screen. Either way they were out of the loop. Someone else took leadership, the mute candidates were followers, they had no say and the decision was made for them.

If you get a chance, stop by a one of the Nevada blogs this weekend and thank Nevada dems for doing the right thing.

way to go, charlie brown!

Get some extra Popcorn and Bon Bons folks. Put your seatbelts on, turn on Faux Not the News Tee Veee and watch their heads explode! Fun fun for everyone

Why not join as a cosponsor of the Reid 120-day redeploy plan?

This came to my e-mail a short while ago.

Really great job, guys!
For identifying something we could accomplish, and for getting it done. Very proud.

I don't, however, blame the indecisive candidates. I'm dubious whether the best use of each individual's voice is to publicly attack Fox. I do hope they weighed in privately though, and are encouraged by this successful grassroots campaign.

And bravo to the Edwards camp for regaining some clout with our community.

Let's do something else!

Excellent job Matt, Chris, and everyone that posts at MyDD.

And kudos to John Edwards for being the first one to stand up and say no.

This from an Associated Press story that was posted on the Las Vegas Sun website within the past hour:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/storie s/nevada/2007/mar/09/030910435.html

"Discussions continued Friday afternoon, even as MoveOn.org and other Web sites declared the debate dead. Collins said the reports were untrue.

"No, we're not canceling, I am not canceling. We're not dropping Fox," he told The Associated Press.

Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti said Friday Fox had not received word from the party about the debate."

Anyone know if a similar pressure will be put on the CBC debate, or are the circumstances different?

I find it ironic that the coultergiest's characterization of Edwards was apparently just a tad off.  I think he had THE biggest cojones re this issue.  He can say he had a scheduling conflict, but we know he wouldn't legitimize Faux News, and I applaud him for it.  Are we looking for a candidate that will be out in front in standing up for Progressive viewpoints, or waiting around to see what everyone else will do?  That is what I am asking myself tonight....will have to take a second serious look at the Edwards campaign.  

WOW! What a win!

Progressive Blue

Good news finally.

Thank you, John Edwards.

excerpt of Harry Reid's Letter to Fox News on http://www.solidpolitics.com

"... comments made last night by FOX News President Roger Ailes in reference to one of our presidential candidates went too far. We cannot, as good Democrats, put our party in a position to defend such comments."

Full Letter at http://www.solidpolitics.com

Good news but allow me to indulge in a minor nitpick:  it would be helpful if MoveOn's statement didn't begin like this: "Today, the NV Democrat Party decided to drop a FOX-sponsored debate scheduled for August,"

What in the world is a "Democrat Party"?

From Drudge report:
FOX NEWS OFFICIAL STATEMENT 9:15PM EST: 'News organizations will want to think twice before getting involved in the Nevada Democratic Caucus which appears to be controlled by radical fringe out-of-state interest groups, not the Nevada Democratic Party. In the past, Moveon.org has said they `own' the Democratic party -- while most Democrats don't agree with that, it's clearly the case in Nevada' -- David Rhodes, Vice President, Fox News...

My comment: That was lame!

Way to go John Edwards. I can't wait 'til you are in the White House, and you are providing the same kind of leadership.

Congrats guys, yippeee!!!!

You may have heard by now that John Edwards was the first candidate to officially say no to the Fox News debate in Nevada--and because of the hard work of so many grassroots and netroots Democrats, news is breaking tonight that Fox is out.

Fox has already started striking back at John for saying no. (There's a surprise--Fox attacking a Democrat.) Last night, Roger Ailes--the life-long Republican operative who is now Chairman of Fox News Channel--said that any candidate "who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake" and "runs a real risk of losing the voters."

And John's not their only target. Tonight Fox News Vice President David Rhodes is telling news organizations not to get involved in the Nevada Democratic Caucus because of "radical fringe" groups--meaning grassroots Democrats (that would be you)--who objected to Fox's long history of spreading Republican propaganda at the expense of Democratic leaders.

The whole right wing is getting in on the attack; the Drudge Report is blaring the headline: "War! Dems Pull Out of Fox News Debate."

Enough is enough. It's time to send a clear message to Fox News and their allies that their right-wing talking points and temper tantrums won't go unchallenged anymore--when it comes to what Democrats should do in the Democratic primary, we'll decide--no matter what they report:

http://johnedwards.com/r/7157/847971/

Fox News has already proven they have no intention of providing "fair and balanced" coverage of any Democrat in this election.

In recent weeks they have run blatant lies about Senator Obama's background. And Fox was only too happy to give Ann Coulter a platform to spew more hate a few days after her bigoted attack on Senator Edwards and the gay community.

Now it's time for Democrats to stand together and send a clear message to Roger Ailes, Fox News and all the rest of them: bias isn't balance, but turning tables is fair:

http://johnedwards.com/r/7159/847971/

The truth is, Fox News can "report" whatever they want. And when it works for us, we'll deal with them on our terms. But this campaign is about responsibility and accountability, and we need to send the message to Fox that if they want to be the corporate mouthpiece of the Republican Party more than they want to be an impartial news outlet, they shouldn't expect Democrats to play along.

You can send that message by contributing today, and remind Fox News that in this election, Democrats won't take their spin lying down:

http://johnedwards.com/r/7161/847971/

Thank you for standing up for what we believe in.

Jonathan Prince
Deputy Campaign Manager
John Edwards for President

P.S. -- If the folks at Fox wonder why nobody thinks they play it straight, they should take a look at what Roger Ailes said about debates in 1988 when he was a top Republican spinmaster for then Vice President Bush: He told the Washington Post, "I don't know that we need to do more than one [debate]. There's no reason to think we'd need more than one." And he told the New York Times, "I don't think you learn anything about the issues" from debates. So please send Roger Ailes a message: Hypocrisy isn't fair and it isn't balanced; it's just hypocrisy--and we've had enough of it from you.

The debate was cancelled because of an attack on Obama.......Edwards had nothing to do with the cancellation, neither did the groper(Richardson)

I don't understand the comments I am reading. This idea that Barack Obama was supposed to come out and announce that he was not going to attend this debate by Fox News and because he didn't somehow , makes him look bad , is way off from reality. He has already froze out Fox. Not just for that one time, but for good. He's not dealing with them at all. Period. Why would he come out an announce something that he's already doing ?  Fox News doesn't exist to him. He was the only candidate immune from that demand because he already gave Fox News the boot. So, I'm not sure how he messed up.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community /post/deeannaroberts/CXtZ

Who are the Faux gnus sponsors, and how can we put pressure on them? Someone with more talent than myself should do a diary on this, and spread it over the blogosphere. Hit 'em where it hurts, in the pocketbook.

ps: the blogs have done fine work on this issue and the Libby trial, literally putting the MSM to shame. Keep it up, we readers are with you!

Did you all see this? Roger Ailes throws a little fit.

Snip:

"Recently 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...If you are afraid of journalists, how will you face the real dangers in the world?"

Awww.

http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/20 07/3/9/154658/4412

Congrats. Another grassroots success.

Ailes's comments just confirms what we would've had awaiting us. Having them host a debate between Democrats is kind of like a Jew hiring a Nazi to install gas lines in their kitchen.

This is a great victory for our the people of the Democratic Party. In all honesty I just wish they would have admited a mistake and responded to the pressure, instead of using Ailies attack as a cop-out on the debate. What Roger said was nothing new, basically repeating the same BS that Fox had just reported about Obama. It's a convient excuse for Tom Collins but the real reason this debate was canceled was because of the pressure of the netroots and because of candidates dropping out (Edwards, Richardson). If anything it sends a signal that we won't tolerate legitimazing a network which is nothing but the communications arm of the Republican party. To most of us this is such a no-brainer since we knew that the so called oppurtunity to reach a large demographic was counter-productive since Fox would pounce all over the democrats. The current ideological philosophy they are promoting is even fringe for most of the people watching the network.

  Harry Reid obviously had a big part in this. At least his opinion seemed to be affected as more and more people showed outrage. The same cannot be said for Tom Collins. Congrats everyone!

From John Edwards' website:

"Last night, Roger Ailes--the life-long Republican operative who is now Chairman of Fox News Channel--said that any candidate 'who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake' and 'runs a real risk of losing the voters.'"

I don't thinks so, Roger, you fat pig.  Any politician who stands up to FUX News has my vote.

I'm miffed that it was OK for Ann Coulter to make slurs against Edwards and gays, but only when Obama and Clinton, who evidently thought they weren't affected by such talk, got hit with Alies' comment (Obama we know), and suddenly, the NDP realizes that it could hit on any citizen there who runs for public office.

So it's still OK to call the f-word on Edwards?

Well, it isn't.  Period.  So much for Obama changing the rhetoric of politics.  He is doing zip, and only looking when it suits him, not taking a leadership role that he promised in Springfield last month.  He's a big disappointment so far.

And I'm sick and tired of Clinton and Obama not claiming it's not their problem by their silence.

Thank goodness for Richardson, who was the only one to say he would appear at the debate, to back away. He may have done so only when the perile was there, but we have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The leaders we are looking for are us..Edwards as the big platform pol, supported in general by the netroots of this place, MyDD, Kos, and Taylor Marsh.

Wow, that was a face saving out.  Thanks Rogers... We got our way and Collins and Reid can save face and Fox News is embarrassed.  EVERYBODY WINS!!!

If Republicans had ran away from every debate because they disagreed with the ideology of the network hosting it, there wouldn't have been a televised debate in the last 40 years or more. And they would have been called cowards by the likes of Mydd. But this is different, I'm sure.

This is not about Ailes making an "unacceptable" joke; this is about the Left's fear that if people see the other side of the story, they may begin to question what the Left has been telling them all along.

And that has been why the Left has attacked Fox News from day one. Propaganda only works if the other side is never heard.

I think that General Electric's NBC/ MSNBC - is the way to go with this debate. Either that or frankly we should have the debate broadcast on public TV