Monday, April 09, 2007

Obama Backs Out of Debate

Ian at Hot Air says Barak Obama is joining John Edwards in backing out of the CBS/Fox debate.

At first I was irritated, but now that I've thought about it, this is really exciting news. The Democrats are going to have a hard time genuflecting to the nutroots and then claiming that they are moderate enough for the rest of America.

This should be checkmate in the long chess game of racial politics that’s been played since the Dems abandoned the Nevada primary debate that Fox was supposed to host: first Fox approached the Congressional Black Caucus to co-sponsor a new debate, believing that the Dems wouldn’t have the stones to bail on the CBC; then grassroots black progressive groups attacked the CBC for working with Fox, which granted Edwards the racial cover he needed to cancel; and now, just 10 days after the CBC formally struck a deal with Fox, the Messiah himself has bestowed the imprimatur of racial authority on cancellation, thereby neutralizing the CBC and greenlighting the rest of the Democratic field to withdraw. Edwards’s surprisingly strong showing in the latest polls, doubtless spiked by sympathy for him and his wife, may also have Obama feeling nervous and more inclined to appease the nutroots.
Everyone wins, really — the Dems get to show how tough they are against an enemy who’s more their speed and Fox gets to tout itself as the network that frightens the left. The only losers are our friend Kirsten Powers and her centrist ilk, who have to sit there and pretend that the Kossack morons are still a fringe movement, that they don’t speak for the Democratic Party, and that it’s really folks like her who get hit pieces written about them in Salon who represent the “real Democrats.” Keep telling yourself that, KP.
Expect plenty more theatrical Fox-bashing from Democrats going forward, all of it coincidentally timed to incidents that hurt their standing with the fightin’-y fightin’ nutroots.

Always good to watch liberals shoot themselves in the feet.

UPDATE: Sister Toldjah says Fox should propose a debate against the eventual Republican and Democratic candidates for president, just to see if the Democrat will back out. Could be fun! :)