Tony Allen-Mills, New York
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The 2008 race for the White House has been shaken up by angry exchanges over a joke about Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential contender whose name has been confused with Osama Bin Laden.
A televised debate between Democratic candidates scheduled for Nevada in August was cancelled on Friday after local party leaders took offence at a joke told by Roger Ailes, chairman of the Fox News network.
The row over Ailes’s remarks at a broadcasting awards dinner sharpened animosity between Democratic activists and Fox News, which was sponsoring the Nevada debate despite accusations of conservative bias.
In a letter to Fox, Nevada’s two most senior Democrats complained that Ailes had gone “too far” when he joked that Obama was “on the move” and that President George W Bush might have telephoned President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and asked: “Why can’t we catch this guy?”
Most of those at the awards banquet on Thursday interpreted Ailes’s remarks as a dig at Fox’s rival, CNN, which was recently forced to apologise after mistakenly broadcasting the caption “Where’s Obama?” over a story about the hunt for Bin Laden.
At the same dinner Ailes also made mildly derogatory jokes about several other political figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton.
But Democrats seized on the Obama remark as evidence of a supposed conservative conspiracy to damage the party’s chances of regaining the White House in 2008.
The choice of Fox News as the broadcaster of the Nevada debate had already angered Democratic activists who gathered 265,000 signatures for an online petition calling it “a mouthpiece for the Republican party” and urging Nevada officials to cancel. Many Democrats were furious that Fox had broadcast a story claiming Obama attended a radical Muslim school in Indonesia when he was six.
Obama’s team had no comment on the fuss, but Fox executives were unrepentant.
David Rhodes, vice-presi-dent of Fox News, blamed “radical fringe out-of-state interest groups” for stirring up the row.
Rhodes said other news organisations should “think twice” before getting involved with the Nevada Democrats.
Several commentators noted that the argument had provided the Nevada party with a convenient way of extracting itself from an embarrassing political mess.
The state’s Democratic senator, Harry Reid, said Fox had been chosen because it would allow Democratic candidates to reach a broader, right-leaning audience.
But the decision was attacked by liberal bloggers and by MoveOn.org, an internet activist group. Eli Pariser, an executive director of MoveOn.org, declared the Nevada decision should “set a precedent for all Democrats” in their dealings with Fox News.
Yet other Democrats were alarmed at the prospect of friction with Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, which owns Fox. The company is also the ultimate owner of The Sunday Times.
Party strategists acknowledge that whoever wins the White House in 2008 will need to connect with middle-of-the-road voters, many of whom watch Fox.
The party has recently been on reasonably affable terms with Murdoch, who has described Hillary Clinton “a very impressive, able woman”.
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I don't know. Who, Pam?
Pat, Atlanta, Ga
Pamela Dekker is European circa 19th century, not American.
Justin, New York,
Obama is a christian. Where did you get that he is muslim? He goes to my local church.
T. Hartnell, Chicago, IL
Hey Tony from Charlotte, you are just another person who cries and moans that anyone who disagrees with you is a radical racist. You can't even spell "et al" correctly!! Next time you post a message for all the world to see, try spelling your words correctly. Maybe you will look intelligent.
Robert, Croton on Hudson, USA
To Pamela,
Which one of them is a Muslim? It's NOT Obama!!!
Marjorie Raunig, Seattle, WA
Fox is just a mouthpiece for the right, and until that news station decide to start reporting news in an unbiased manner, Fox News should not be allowed to host major news events.
Oh, and for those of you who are confused about Barack Obamas faith, he is a devoted Christian. If you thought otherwise it means you need to stop watching Fox News!
L Kohl, Raleigh, NC
Bararck Obama is from Illinois and is a baptist
melly, chicago, illinois
In response to those that say the demos are whiners and complainers I would like to say that at lease Democrats are not mean spirited and racist. I also do not think we have ever had a President who was more of a whiner or complainer not to mention paranoid, than Nixon was and I voted for the guy. Why is everyone so mean sprited about politics these days? The Ann Coulters of the world do not help. It seems to me that a rational debate would be more profitable than all the name calling and back biting. We will never solve the important issues this way. Where are the truly great leaders today? Staying out of the fray would be my guess. Too bad.
June Hartnett, Lake Helen, FL
The mere fact that folks like Bill O'Reilly, Shawn Hannity, Rush, at el of the radical racist movement cannot understand that the joke was directed at Obama. Denial is what these fellows seem to do best.........
It was directed at Obama guys; not Bush!!!
Tony, Charlotte, USA
As we all know, the Democratic party is nothing but a long line of whiners and complainers that feel compelled to exact an apology from anyone that doesn't agree with them. Reporting the news should be just that, REPORTING the news. I don't NEEDor want to hear anyone's opinion unless I ask for it. It is amazing to me that the very terrorists that have invaded our country and killed thousands of Americans are muslim and who do we have potentially running for our countries highest office. . .a muslim. Please continue to report the news even if the Democrats want to see the demise of this incredible country we call Land of the Free. By the way, who do they think will be the first to go when we are invaded and taken over . . .
Pamela Dekker, Canton, GA
I watch the fox network all of the time but beening unprofessionl should not be in the media. Especially anyone president that is a head of such wide news agency making those kinds of remarks to anyone is wrong.
Lamont, Chicago, Cook
The planless democrats are tossing all kinds of childish temper tantrums over the small things
They want America to live like a Norman Rockwell calendar ignoring reality of times.
john cress, Asheville, NC
Wow. Could this column be more left leaning without just falling over? I doubt it.
Wouldn't it be nice to have some news outlets other than Fox actually just report the facts, and not opinions? It's sick, but it's the way things are. Boohoo. Democrat crybabies.
How about reporting what Mr. Obama stands for once. I live in IL and I don't know anything about him other than: He likes football, did coke, and is a presidential possibility.
Oh yeah, I'd sooner vote for Satan himself before even considering that phoney crone Clinton
R, Wheaton, il