An interesting debate has emerged in the New York City media--why are the Democrats ducking Fox News?
On December 12, Jeff Bercovici, a smart writer/blogger for Conde Nast's Portfolio magazine, ventured into the touchy topic of why big-name Democrats, such as Hillary Clinton, won't go on Chris Wallace's "Fox News Sunday" show, and why it is that top Democrats frequently avoid Fox News--viz. the DNC pulling the plug on the Congressional Black Caucus presidential debate earlier this year. Bercovici slapped around Wallace pretty hard, but then reached his conclusion about the Dems:
They do it for the same reason they limit their press availability in general: because they're afraid of getting tripped up, caught in a flip-flop or a contradiction.
Then another blogger, Zachary Roth of The New York Observer,
weighed in with a response to Jeff:
But this isn't quite right, in my view. It's true that, as Jeff says, Democrats are more likely to get tripped up during an interview on Fox News than on other networks.
But then Zachary continues with more analysis, which doesn't make the Democrats look very good:
But they didn't start consistently snubbing Fox until liberal activists, led by watchdog groups like Media Matters, made it into an issue. (You can call that "pandering to the far left wing", as Mr. Wallace does, or listening to the wishes of your supporters, or whatever you like, but it's how politics works.)
Indeed, that is how politics works: The Democratic left has sought to anathematize Fox. And evidently that suits lefty Democrats, so that they can nominate lefties to office, and maybe even elect some of them.
But there's just one thing: What if the country is in a different place? What if the country is more conservative than liberal elites might admit, or even realize? That's the argument made by Jeffrey Bell in this compelling piece in The Weekly Standard, headlined, "Alive and Kicking: Reports of the demise of social conservatism are greatly exaggerated." Now The Cable Gamer is no policy wonk; but it seems to her that yes, indeed, the American people are a lot more conservative than the thought-leaders in NYC or LA. But take a look at the article!
And if Bell is right, then the Democrats have some serious rethinking to do. Harold Ford was on Fox News all the time in the last few years, talking about every possible issue. And while Ford did not win his Senate race in Tennessee, he came extremely close. For a black man in a former Confederate state, that's pretty good.
One could ask: Which one of the Fox-boycotting national Democrats has any chance of carrying Tennessee in next year's presidential elections? And if the Democrats write off the Volunteer State's 11 electoral votes, will they feel the same way about other similar states, such as Kentucky and Arkansas? And how different are Missouri and Virginia? Are they liberal? Pro-choice on abortion, pro-gay marriage? I don't think so.
TCG realizes that not everyone likes Fox, and that's OK. But if I were running for President, I would at least learn how to fake it.
