Sunday, March 11, 2007

A Poor Decision by the Democrats

Democratic Party leaders recently decided to cancel a Nevada Democratic presidential debate that was going to be co-hosted by Fox News. The decision was apparently a retaliatory move in response to a recent joke by Fox News CEO, Roger Ailes, in which he said the following:

"It's true that Barack Obama is on the move…I don't know if it's true
President Bush called [Pakistan President Pervez] Musharraf and said, 'Why can't
we catch this guy?' "


The “deliberate confusion” (as charged by CNN) of Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden has outraged some in the party, and their anger may be justified depending on what you believe Ailes’ intentions were in making the remark. (Incidentally, the first person I shared the joke with thought it was a jab at President Bush… until I told them who said it.)

Regardless of Ailes intent, canceling the debate is an exceedingly poor decision. This is a priceless chance to get an unparsed Democratic message in front of a group of voters that rarely hear it.

Unfiltered political speech is increasingly rare on all the news outlets for either party today. For that reason, such opportunities must be seized and vigorously defended.

If you, as a Democrat or Republican, believe in your vision and your ideas, you should jump at chances to promote them – most especially to those who disagree with you. Safe, comfortable speeches to the already converted may make one feel good, but it does little to actually solve problems in a democratic political context.

Nothing good will come from this decision. Despite the foolish broader boycott being advocated by MoveOn.org, the withdrawal will not affect the conduct of Roger Ailes, or, more importantly, the economic performance of Fox News.

This decision only squanders a valuable opportunity to communicate with voters and contributes to the political polarization that is poisoning this country and frustrating any hope of progress on the major problems facing this country and the world.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Technical Issues

Readers,

Unfortunately, I've temporarily lost my laptop due to a hardware failure. That, combined with an upcoming vacation, means that posts will be few and far between over the next 2-3 weeks.

Just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't think I had run out of things to say :)

I will definitely be back by the end of the month, if not sooner.

- Jared