DNC Needs to Stand Up to Corpstream Media on Debates

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By Dan Shafer (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Dan Shafer - Writer

It is past time for the Democratic Party to draw a line in the sand with corpstream media and demand that they invite the entire Democratic field to their debates or lose the right to broadcast them. This goes, as well, for Internet-based and sponsored debates. It should be the Democratic Party that decides which candidates America can hear from, not the media, whose only interest is in offering opinions only from those they approve and could control if elected.

Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate representing all of the views of a true Democrat:

immediate withdrawal of all troops from Iraq
No war with Iran
A national, not-for-profit health care system
Repeal of the Patriot Act
Full restoration of civil liberties
Cancellation of NAFTA
Rebuilding of U.S. auto, steel, aerospace, shipping, and manufacturing industries
Carbon-free and nuclear-free energy policies

And yet he is the only candidate being banned from the televised debates by a megalomaniacal media bent on ensuring that we the great Unwashed not be distracted by people with real ideas and real courage. Change? Please. Barack Obama can't define it, Hillary Clinton wouldn't know it if it walked up and slapped her, and John Edwards doesn't have a broad enough agenda to bring meaningful change to the country.

The networks and Internet sites need the candidates. If the Democratic Party put its foot down and instructed the candidates not to engage in any debate that doesn't include all candidates from the party, the broadcasters would knuckle under. The Party has the power: it's keeping the candidates from making any real effort to win delegates in Michigan and Florida because those states broke Party rules in scheduling their primaries.

This is no longer acceptable. It's time to demand that the DNC step in and stop this undemocratic thievery of voter alternatives.

http://www.danshafer.com/onemind

Dan Shafer is a long-time technology writer, political commentator and sports fanatic who has been on the Web since before it was called that and who has one of the longest-running blogs. A long-time liberal activist, Dan has recently begun turning (more...)

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