From Harry, er, Tom, with love

After locking themselves in a room with only ramens, a pbj sandwich and baby carrots, our veteran staff of Reid readers have attempted a translation of the Harry Reid-approved words that were assigned to Nevada Democratic Party Chairman Tom Collins Wednesday with regard to the increasingly fun and entertaining debate about the Fox News debate. Keep in mind that this is a rush translation, and as always when it comes to matters of a Reidian nature, subtle machinations and Machiavellian subterfuge can be easily overlooked: Original letter in plain text; translation in italics.

Dear Nevada Democrats:

Dear Moveon.Org and Kos:

As you know, the Nevada State Democratic Party has agreed to host a debate with FOX News that has caused some concern among some of our activist allies. Because FOX has such an editorial bias against Democrats, some of our allies believe that we should have chosen another media partner.   Senator Reid shares some of these concerns and has asked us to take another look at the parameters of this debate in order to ensure that all Democrats are comfortable as we move forward.

Until you said something, we actually thought Fox was a totally legitimate mainstream media organization perfectly suitable to host a Democratic debate. We didn't know.

Our objective in hosting the August debate with FOX has not been to endorse the FOX News Channel. Our objective with this debate is the same as our objective in hosting an early Nevada Caucus in general -- to have as many opportunities for Nevada voters and voters throughout the West to hear directly from the candidates for president as possible. That is why our first forum was hosted with ABC News as the broadcaster, our November debate will be hosted by CNN and the final debate in January 2008 will be hosted with another outlet.

Yeah, again, we didn't know. But we made a bunch of stupid arguments when you first brought it up and now we've sort of talked ourselves into a box, so for that and other reasons, we're going to go ahead with the Fox debate anyway.

In planning the debate, the Nevada Democratic Party has been aware of the intricacies of dealing with FOX and so we secured assurances from them that the details of the debate were mutually agreed upon such as format, panelists, set design, and the assurance of an uninterrupted broadcast without commentary.   FOX has also agreed to carry the debate live on KVVU, the affiliate in Las Vegas where most Nevada voters live. Other affiliates may follow. We believe that these details will assure that voters have the opportunity to focus on the candidates and the issues and not the panelists or commentators for an uninterrupted 90 minutes.

After all, Fox has cameras and stuff.

Since reaching that agreement with FOX we were heartened to hear from so many people who supported our decision to reach out to voters wherever they may be, including those watching FOX News. The state parties of Arizona, Montana, Colorado and New Mexico joined in support of our decision along with DNC Chairman Howard Dean, many members of the Nevada media and the leaders of the Nevada AFL-CIO, Culinary Union and Professional Firefighters Association. While one of our state party’s Executive Board members has been vocally opposed to the debate, several party leaders have expressed support, including:

• Chris Wicker, Washoe County Chair: http://dullardmush.blogspot.com/2007/03/carson-city-democratic-chairman-on-fox.html
• Tom Gallagher, 2004 candidate for Congress from NV-03 http://www.nvtoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=251&Itemid=49

Harry Reid is convinced -- and that's good enough for me -- that apart from some kooky environmentalists on the Birkenstock-wearing fringe, a few scattered radical feminists and a handful of loony gay-loving peacniks who teach in universities, if there are any Democrats left in the West, it's pretty much by history, by accident, or incredibly, they're still listening to a union. So naturally Harry and I are sure that the only way a Democratic candidate can actually win in the West is to trick voters into thinking the candidate is secretly a Republican. And it's not like we're alone. Democratic leaders throughout the West, along with real journalists (not you pajama types) who write for real newspapers feel pretty much the same way, because they've been hearing it for years on cable news networks like Fo... uh ... er, never mind. As an aside, 1) damned if we haven't put Howard Dean, to say nothing of the presidential candidates, in a bit of a tough spot, and 2) when people were making fun of me on the internet the other day for not knowing how to embed a url in text, or something like that, what were they talking about, anyway?

However we decided to take a step back and make our best effort to address the concerns that have been raised including:

• Many Democrats will want to watch or listen to the debate without supporting the FOX News Channel.
• There was a desire to include a panelist from a more progressive outlet, such as Air America, to ensure balance at the questioners table.
• There was also a desire to bolster a progressive media outlet, such as Air America or Politics TV that could use the opportunity to grow its constituency.

We're trying really hard to circumvent a head-on up-front discussion of the argument that, by hooking up with Fox, the Nevada Democratic Party is ennabling the network and lending legitimacy and credibility to its all-day every-day bias in favor of Republicans and conservative policies. See, Harry and I are convinced that to most god-fearin' gay-marriage-hatin' gun-totin' Americans, which is to say the mainstream, Fox is already a legitimate and credible news organization. The whole point of the Nevada caucus is to show the rest of the country that Democrats love god, hate gay marriage and tote guns, too, and so we're afraid to reject Fox's legitimacy out of hand. It might offend somebody. Or, as our commander in chief might say, it would send mixed messages.

In answer to these concerns, we have secured an agreement to invite KJFK radio, the local Air America affiliate, to air the event live and C-Span will be able to carry the debate twice in its entirety after the conclusion of FOX’s broadcast. Additionally, the Nevada Democratic Party has an agreement to invite a local progressive voice onto the debate panel. We will also offer PolitcsTV.com the ability to carry the live FOX News web cast feed on its site for one-time viewing. If PoliticsTV agrees, this will give national viewers who do not wish to watch FOX the ability to watch the debate live while bolstering a progressive leaning organization.

We've proposed a series of utterly inconsequential and insignficant actions calculated to do nothing whatsoever to cast doubt on Fox's legitimacy -- note, for instance, the agreement to let the Reno radio station air the debate, but nothing is said about feeding the signal to the Air America's markets nationwide -- a develpoment that Air America would be sure to market for all its worth, and that would make the blood vessels on Roger Ailes' forehead explode. No, Fox is not likely to notice any of this crap we're proposing, let alone mind.  Our fondest hope, however,  is that no matter how empty the gestures, there are enough of them to convince all you national internet activists or rootnuts or whatever you like to call yourselves that you have saved face, and that you can claim some measure of victory and go back to your America-hating ways. So how about it?

With these additions, we feel that we have addressed the concerns of our activists and our own objectives:

• To keep the debate focused on the candidates and allow unfiltered access for our viewers.
• To keep the debate focused on the issues important to Nevada voters.
• To ensure that the most people possible have access to the debate and the candidates.

With these changes, we believe we have made a good-faith effort to address the concerns laid out to us and look forward to working with the candidates and our local supporters to ensuring the best debate possible.

Come on, after spending a couple weeks pretending that you didn't know that the Senate Majority Leader runs -- hell, is -- the Nevada Democratic Party, you've finally and publicly acknowledged it. But you don't really want to spend a bunch of time kicking around your hero Harry Reid, do you? Truce?

Sincerely,

Now bug off, and I hope Harry never makes me deal with any of you weirdos ever again,

Tom Collins
Chairman,
Nevada Democratic Party

Comments

[texex]

So what became of the frikkin conference call?

Has the contract with Fux been voted on by the Exec Board and approved by them?

[Pedro]

That's funny stuff Hugh, nice work.

I still think this debate is stupid (and by no any means an effort to make Democrats appear Republican) but at least now it is somewhat entertaining.

[texex]

Jerome Armstrong on mydd (and on KOS):

"I polled several of the campaigns about whether they would attend the Fox News debate. Here are their paraphrased responses:

Edwards: No

Richardson: Yes

Obama: Decision will be made within the week

Clinton: Too early to make a decision

Dodd: They haven't decided yet

Biden: No response"
******************************************
That's 1 yes; 1 no; 3 undecided; and 1 don't give a damn. All in all, it don't look too promising for the August debate.

Gleaner loses. It's Richardson out there talking to himself the way things look.

btw, AirAmerica is only interested in CO-hosting the debate. According to Mark Green, President of AirAmerica, Collins failed to talk to him about it even though they would be interested ONLY in being a co-host. He's pretty firm on that if Collins thinks Air America is going to be relegated to the ladies bathroom.

Then if you do a search of 'nevada debate' on politicstv.com, you come up emptyhanded. So it looks pretty doubtful that's going to happen.

May not matter at all if Richardson is the only one to show up.

[Johnathan L. Abbinett]

Ah, the power of humor Hugh, well done!

[KidFromVegas]

Love love love it...thank God we have people like JLA to save our party...ughooografffeck...sorry, I just tossed my cookies.

[KICKBOXERMOMMA]

AS A COORDINATOR FOR MOVE-ON FOR NUMEROUS EVENTS I'M PISSED OFF. FIRST OF ALL THE POLL IS ESCHEWED. LESS THAN 10% OF MOVEON'S MEMBERSHIP HAS RESPONDED. THEY TOUT 3 MILLION MEMBERS. WITH RESPECT TO THE NEVADA MOVE-ON MEMBERS I HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH MANY OF THEM AND THEY DO NOT ESPOUSE MOVEON'S VIEW.OF MY MOVEON CONTACT LIST ONLY ONE PERSON HAS SUPPORTED MOVE-ON'S POSITION. MONDAY THE NEVADA HISPANIC DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO SUPPORT THE NEVADA STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.AS FAR AS THIS DEMOCRAT IS CONCERNED THIS IS A DETRACTING NON-ISSUE AND I DON'T LIKE BE PRESSURED BY MOVEON ON THIS.I'M SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING NOT ACTING AS A CO-ORDINATOR FOR FUTURE EVENTS AND PUTTING MY ENERGIES ELSEWHERE.

[Susan Nunes]

This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life.

Who the hell cares what network hosts a debate?

I want to be able to see the candidates in August, and this stupidity is screwing it up.

The nutroots needs to shut the hell up.

[Susan Nunes]

If Richardson is the only one who shows up, guess what? He'll probably win the caucus here.

[MTM]

Richardson doesn't have a choice but to say yes. Hillary has to make a decision on this fast because if she waits until Obama decides to boycott, she looks like an idiot.

[VegasFirst]

Great job, Hugh.

Obviously, the Dem presidential candidates are wary of being unnecessarily embarrassed while on a debate on Fox, given the paltry number of delegates offered by Nevada's caucuses, which might not be affected AT ALL by the debate in the first place.

The national story about the Democrats having a debate on the dredded anti-liberal, Scooter Libby-defending, pro-GOP-at-all-costs Fox is going to overshadow the value of it for Nevada voters, by far.

Viewers all over the country are going to watch will glee to see if one of the Dem candidates fouls up thanks to Fox.

A misstep by a Dem candidate, especially enduced by a Fox commentator, could spell disaster for their campaign. Why participate? So you can go down to Vegas and say, "Well, I was on, and he/she was not. So, there. I care more about Nevada..." How does THAT compare to the potential for a huge, national media problem?

You're a Democrat who gets embarrassed on Fox, so close to the primaries/money support season -- you're out, history.

Nevada's caucuses will have only a small effect on the momentum candidates get prior to the Super Tuesday of Feb. 5, when 19 states -- i.e. Calif. and NY -- have their primaries. But NV's caucuses, for the "winner," will amount to little more than icing on the cake after the more-significant (and delegate-richer) Iowa caucuses and (huge traditional media event) N.H. primary.

What are they going to say on say, MSNBC, when Clinton, Obama and Edwards are in the running, and say, Richardson "wins" the NV caucus? Wow, Richardson is going just SHOOT up in the polls and do well on Feb. 5? No way.

So, why bust your butt to appear at the Fox thing, especially when there will be other NV televised debates.

Edwards is the smartest on this one so far -- for the liberal wing he needs, rebuking Fox is damn good politics.

NV ain't worth all that friggin' trouble, Harry! Those union guys who allegedly watch Fox -- they are going to do WHAT exactly after watching a Demo debate on Fox? Show up to the caucuses, and vote differently? Who says it will do anything positive? More likely, the effect of the Fox debate will be negative.

Harry, you got the NV caucuses. Good. Now, stop gilding the lily, man.

Good post, vegasfirst!

Countdown had a good segment tonight on just how bad Fux judgement really is. Seems there's been a guy [sic] parading around on BillO and Hannity as a great American hero and also appearing this last weekend at CPAC, all kissy huggypoo with Ann Coulter. One of his names is Matt Sanchez. Another is Rod Majors, GAY PORN STAR AND MALE PROSTITUTE. Go watch the video - this is hilarious: http://thenewshole.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/03/07/84109.aspx

This is a riot with AC calling every liberal a faggot but her being all over the guy (or whatever IT is).

And this is the station that Collins is shoving down everybody's throat?!? Sure hope Collins is making a bundle off brokering the debate to Fux because this is really making Fux look like the asses they are.

[Johnathan L. Abbinett]

Excellent analysis "VegasFirst" some of the best writing I've seen from you yet - KUDOS!

[texex]

The folks in Carson City seem to have the gonads that others lack adopting this last night (cf: Taylor Marsh):

Carson City Democratic Central Committee
RESOLUTION OPPOSING FOX PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
March 7, 2007

WHEREAS, Fox News is not a neutral source of news – it’s a right-wing mouthpiece like Rush Limbaugh that smears Democrats and spreads blatantly false information; and

WHEREAS, Democrats granting Fox News the illusion of credibility would allow Fox to more easily “swiftboat” our 2008 candidates by pushing false Republican attacks into the mainstream media; and

WHEREAS, everyone supports reaching out to new people, but 1 day of Fox coverage is not worth legitimizing Fox’s misinformation the other 364 days a year; and

WHEREAS, plenty of better alternatives exist to Fox News – in Nevada, MSNBC plus its NBC affiliates, for example, get approximately double the viewers of Fox cable plus its local affiliates; and

WHEREAS, we believe that Democrats need to fight back against Fox News and the right-wing smear machine in the 2008 election cycle—not enable it.

BE IT RESOLVED, the Carson City Democratic Central Committee opposes the proposal to let Fox News host a Democratic presidential debate and strongly urges the Nevada Democratic Party to drop that proposal.

Thanks, Steve Platt and all you other wonderful people!

[RNS]

I hope none of the candidates show up! That just may send a message to the corrupt republocrats who head the party but, it's doubtful. Their heads are so far inserted they can see what they had for dinner.

[Pedro]

How do you think this would help a candidate in the General Election if they showed up and no one (of consequence) does.

For example if Edwards and Obama are no shows and Hillary attends, because she doesn't want to piss off her buddy Rupert.

Does this help or hurt her in the general?

I'm leaning towards help. Obviously not a ton but to some extent I think Fox viewers remember, not only that she attended but did so in the face of her party's wingers, and with the pressure of those who chose not to.

Other thoughts?

[Johnathan L. Abbinett]

Oh MY GOD! You're pulling my leg? You mean it worked to beg, and beg?

Some REAL Democrats actually put a REAL issue on their Agenda, wrote a RESOLUTION, entered into Debate, made the appropriate motions and actually VOTED democratically on a SUBSTANTIAL Question, and protected the rights of the minority and determined the will of the majority of their members - then PUBLICLY EXPRESSED THE WILL OF THEIR PEOPLE - IN WRITING?

I AM GLEEFULL SURPRISED, SIMPLY STUNNED & OVERWHELMED WITH JOY!

Democracy IS alive somewhere in Nevada? Just when I thought there was no hope for hope? Now, IF every County Centeral Committee did something even similar before the March 31st Elections, the NSDP State Executive Board would be hard-pressed to revisit the issue - and, who knows, miracles do happen and the NSDP State Central Committee might actually do something too?

Too bad Tom Collins and some County Chairs, like Liz Foley, don't care what the people think! You know, because they think "weeze be just wittle sheeples!"

It's time to take a damn stand and that begins with the power of the pen!

[texex]

Don't look for it to happen in Douglas County.

The DC/Collins neolibs are in total control here and are coming to the state convention to continue Collins policies and put Douglas County in full control of the NDSP. Clue: they are a mix of the colors red and yellow. More yellow than red because they are known for stabbing in the back.

[Dee Holzel]

I think it's funny there are still people in America attributing this memo to Tom Collins. Does he seem like the type of guy who has ever used the expression "media partners" in a complete sentence? Plus, there are compound words and complex sentences. No, I think the most Mr. Collins contributed to this memo was his name.

[Johnathan L. Abbinett]

"Dee Holzel" makes a mundane, but good point, and she's probably right - all Tom did was say O.K., yeah, put my name on it!

We've got a pretty good idea who does the writing for the Communications Directors at Harry's office and the NSDP (that would be Jon Summers and Kirsten Searer, and they are limited by the raw material they are given and the parameters that are set for them and, ultimately, it is Harry and Tom who are responsible for all content).

But, this goes to our fundamental questions, of trying to find out just who was actually involved in the decision making process - and who was shut out?

I hope Jon Summers and Kirsten Searer take the time to remind Tom and Jerry, er, I mean Tom and Harry that "the cover-up is always worse than the crime" and can finally convince Harry and Tom to just come clean and tell the NSDP General Membership the damn truth!

First we got "Shut Up" and "Go Away" then we got patronized and pandering - that is NOT what the people want - they simply want to know the facts and be treated like people NOT "sheeple!"

And therein is the real heart of the problem, we have so-called "leaders" that really do not want thinking people in the NSDP - they want "sheeple" that will allow themselves to be hearded in whatever direction is needed to get them to the next "slaughter!"

After over three years of working in the party (nearly four years), I'm convinced it is no wonder why the NSDP is so dysfunctional, way to small and they can't even get enough volunteers to join and be active and acutally elect our major candidates and win on issues?

Why would anyone in their right mind waste their valuable time, let alone years of their volunteer life-time, just to be treated so rudely and disrespected so often - then cursed for asking questions?

Until we elect new leaders that really care enough about the common everyday Nevada Democrat to listen and get enough good leaders to fill key chairs - "it ain't nothing gonna get much better" - and that's going to take a lot more than just one or two new leaders!

We will need dozens of brave Democrats to step up and say, "enough is enough" and we're cleaning this house, doing our dirty laundry and getting ready for our NEW MEMBERS and OUR '08 GUESTS!