In Hillaryland, Fox News > MSNBC

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I was upset when I heard this – as were many netroots Progressives.

Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson just announced that the campaign has accepted a Fox News invitation for a one-on-one debate with Barack Obama in Washington DC on February 11 — the day before the so-called Potomac Primary featuring DC, Virginia, and Maryland.

I think we all remember the fights over the summer, when Fox tried to hold two Democratic debates. John Edwards, to his credit, was the undisputed leader then, and Obama did follow in rejecting Fox. From the Edwards camaign.

“We believe there’s just no reason for Democrats to give Fox a platform to advance the right-wing agenda while pretending they’re objective,” said Jonathan Prince, Edwards’ deputy campaign manager.

Crossposted at DailyKos and OpenLeft.

Anyone remember Hillary’s response back then? Did she stand up for all the Democrats who’d been smeared by Fox? Uhh…

The Clinton campaign announced its intentions Monday after Obama had let it be known he would not be attending the Fox debate.“Were going to participate in the DNC-sanctioned debates only,” Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said. He added that Clinton already had commitments to participate in an upcoming debate in South Carolina and one hosted by Tavis Smiley, the PBS late-night talk show host.

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Thanks, Hillary, for standing up for us the, and now, feel free to take the lead in legitimizing the network we’ve fought against for years, and throw all of our hard work under the bus. Brave New Films put it best.

Really, Hillary? Are you this desperate?

Don’t you realize that for the past twelve years, FOX’s only goal has been to demonize you, your husband, and the democratic party? That they paint you and Bill as murderers? Don’t you know that FOX is the biggest player in “the vast right-wing conspiracy” that unfairly neutralized your husband with lies and trash? Did you know that FOX still blames Bill for 9/11 and anything bad that has happened in this country since 1992?

FOX viewers have been trained for years to hate you. Mention your name and they bare their teeth like the Pavlovian dogs they have been trained to be. For over a year, FOX has been pronouncing you to be so detestable and evil that even the weakest republican field in memory would trounce you. For FOX viewers, you are Satan/Hitler/Mussolini/Castro/Media Matters rolled into one. That’s how FOX has been portraying you for the past 12 years.

By agreeing to be in a debate on FOX, you are telling the world that you think FOX is a place where democrats can be treated and portrayed fairly. You couldn’t possibly believe that. FOX’s legitimacy is in the garbage. Why do you want to exhume it? If you legitimize FOX by going on one of their debates, you are forfeiting the right to criticize them when they attack you with lies, smears, and distortions. After all, you already said they were fair enough to host a democratic debate.

I was upset, but not yet angry. Not, until I read this.

Top Hillary adviser Howard Wolfson suggested that there’s a “pattern” of
reprehensible comments by MSNBC personalities, and said outright that
the Hillary campaign could no longer “envision a scenario where we
would debate on that network given the comments that were made and have
been made.”

Wait. The candidate who refused to condone Fox News, is now condoning MSNBC? WTF? Now she is saying she prefers to debate on Fox News, the network responsible for so much misinformation and the general degradation of our mainsteam media, the network that led the charge to go into Iraq, the network that led the charge in Swiftboating John Kerry, that is pushing the disgusting false rumors about Barack Obama, over MSNBC?

I think we can agree that MSNBC isn’t great. Not at all, but compared to the filth on Fox News, it’s no contest.

Now, I’m not saying what David Shuster and Chris Matthews, both of whom I hate, is okay. It’s not. It terrible and they should be held accountable by us, the independent media. And they have, with Shuster being suspended, and MSNBC showing some true class. But Hillary, I want to ask you, is it okay to debate instead on a network that said these things about your opponent Barack Obama?

Guess how many FOX anchors have been suspended for their offensive words. Hillary, by accepting to debate on Fox, YOU ARE LEGITIMIZING THIS.

There is no comparison, and I wish that you’d been as virulent against Fox News over the summer as you’re now being against MSNBC. Instead, you might have just stabbed a dagger into the Progressive media movement. Instead, I can say only two words to you – HYPOCRITICAL and OPPORTUNISTIC.

To anyone who hasn’t yet, please check out the great Fox Attacks website from Brave New Films. And learn why Democrats must unite and destroy any legitimacy from the GOP’s media wing.

This article In Hillaryland, Fox News > MSNBC first appeared on NithinCoca.com.