Fox Populi
Enter John Edwards. The presidential hopeful has decided to skip the debate, in part, he says, because of the involvement of Fox News. And that, it appears, has Fox News chief Roger Ailes fuming.
"Any candidate for high office from either party who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake about journalists," Ailes said a Radio and Television News Directors Foundation dinner in Washington yesterday. He added that a candidate "who cannot answer direct, simple, even tough questions from any journalist runs a real risk of losing the voters." Ailes didn't mention Edwards by name.
He did add this, however: "The public knows if a journalist's question is unfair. They also know if a candidate is impeding freedom of speech and free press. If you are afraid of journalists, how will you face the real dangers in the world?"
Liberal groups, meanwhile, are pressuring the Nevada Democratic Party to drop Fox News altogether.