Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer
CNN’s Jack Cafferty calls Dennis Kucinich a “feisty little dude” for taking MSNBC to court for excluding him from the Democratic debate tonight in Las Vegas. A judge agreed that it would be unfair to exclude Kucinich and ordered MSNBC to allow the Congressman to debate. MSNBC has appealed that ruling and the hearing is ongoing.
The viewer E-mail in the second half of the Cafferty File is interesting as well. One viewer suggests that war profits by MSNBC parent company GE were driving the effort to exclude Kucinich from the debate. And the final viewer email by Tony poignantly answers Cafferty’s questions about whether the courts should intervene in such cases:
To which Cafferty responds, “Yes they did”.
UPDATE: Glenn Greenwald has much more on the Kucinich debate controversy.
The courts obviously, after the hindsight of Bush v Gore, do not choose presidents well. The 5 vote majority in that case is equally guilty of the murder, mahem, and loss of good name the world and the US has suffered since their blunder.
So they should keep their participation to making sure that the states conduct fair elections and simply let the people speak.
Dear Tracie Lindeman, Clerk of the Nevada Supreme Court;
I read where MSNBC is planning to appeal the decision of Senior Clark County
District Court Judge Charles Thompson that U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich
be included in the Democratic Party debate.
I am unable to file a ‘friend of the court’ brief supporting Judge Thompson’s
decision but would hope that by writing you, the Justices can be made aware of
the correspondence that has occurred between voters and MSNBC.
I, and many others, wrote Chuck Todd, Political Director of MSNBC, urging MSNBC
to rescind their decision and reminding them that the airwaves are public
property and that broadcasters simply lease those properties.
What follows is my letter to Mr. Todd and his response:
Dear Mr. Todd; I have read your response to another writer concerning this
subject and it appears you need to be reminded that the airwaves BELONG to the
people AND it is NOT up to those who lease the airwaves to decide what is in the
best interests of the property owner.
Bruce Sims
San Diego,CA 92116
I understand your frustration with our decision. It wasn’t made lightly and
done, we believe, in the best interests of the voters.
————————–
Chuck Todd
NBC News
How can it be in the ‘best interests of voters’ when so many ‘voters’ are
indicating the desire for Kucinich’s inclusion? Additionally, while MSNBC’ is
‘sponsoring’ the ‘debate’, they are using the public airwaves to broadcast it
and make money from advertising during it, so how can they claim to have the
‘best interest of voters’ as their basis for restricting voices from the public
arena?
Please, somehow, let the Justices know what the actual voters desire. Thank You.
Sincerely,
The breaking-news banner on MSNBC.com says that the Nevada supreme court has overturned the decision, and Kucinich won’t be in the debate.
I guess that’s just an excuse to keep not watching MSNBC.
Dennis Kucinich has every right to be heard (as a presidential candidate). The media should not bar so called lower-tier candidates because it is the major media’s fault why lower-tier candidates rank low in the polls. The media pundits give more air time to their “endorsed” candidates such as Clinton & Obama. Why not let people make up their minds on who they want to be next President instead of giving the message that you should choose only among their “endorsed” candidates because they are electable. People are the ones who vote! The major media are undermining the process of democracy. Not everyone knows that Dennis Kucinich is the ONLY Democratic candidate who voted against the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act. He is the only one who will provide single-payer “not for profit” healthcare.
Breaking news: Supreme court ruled that NBC can exclude Dennis Kucinich. Another wrong decision by the court just like many of you guys say the court made a mistake in 2000 when they chose the President of the United States.
Thank you.