Did Top Dems Make A Dangerous Right Turn?

Some supporters say Clinton, Obama had nothing to gain by appearing on Fox TV

Presidential candidates rarely turn down a network television interview, especially on a highly rated program. But some prominent liberals are wondering why Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama agreed this week to sit down for interviews on the Fox News Channel, for years the highest-rated cable news network and the bastion of conservative TV news analysis.

The dilemma for the candidates: Is appearing on Fox a smart political move before Democratic primaries in two largely conservative states - Indiana and North Carolina - or not worth the effort to court what could be a small amount of persuadable Republican voters.

“I understand the need to reach out to different audiences,” said Robert Greenwald, the director of “Outfoxed,” a 2004 film that described Fox as a Republican mouthpiece. He also produces an online series of “Fox Attacks” videos that chronicle the network’s coverage of African Americans, Obama and Clinton. “But this is a decision that will have virtually no gain for Democrats.”

MoveOn.org Executive Director Eli Pariser said Wednesday that appearing on Fox helps to “legitimize Fox” as a news source.

More: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/01/8637/
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I didn't see any clips from O'Leilly, but I watched the the smarmy Wallace interview on youtube, and it was as sorry a sight as I've seen this season.

Not only won't it win him any votes from that crowd, but any illusions that remained about Obama being a champion for progressive issues pretty well went out the window... either that, or he was talking out of both sides of his mouth.

One can only imagine that Hillary's interview was as bad or worse....

WTF are these two campaigns thinking?

post...No? :shrug:

Although it's in keeping with his rhetoric about reaching out across the divide. Hillary going on O'Reilly didn't bother me that much. Maybe because I expect her to be comfortable there, but primarily because if you're out of money, free airtime is a smart thing to to take advantage of.

Though I took fox news off the program list on my TV when I did the clutter cleanup of stupid stations I was never going to watch, there are people who watch it. It's nice to know everything they see isn't 100% Fox and Friendsesque.