WFAA (Dallas ABC affiliate) fails to include LP candidate in gubernatorial debate

Publius · 08-12-2006, 02:21 PM

Yet they claim to be sponsoring a debate between all candidates.

Debate between all four Texas gubernatorial candidates scheduled

10:26 PM CDT on Thursday, August 10, 2006

By WFAA-TV Staff Reports

AUSTIN -- The fast-talking, cowboy hats, wavy hair and one-liners of the Texas governor's race will get jammed into a single TV studio somewhere in Texas this fall. The four main candidates for governor have agreed to debate the night of Friday, October 6th.

The forum will include Republican Governor Rick Perry, Democratic nominee Chris Bell and independents Richard “Kinky” Friedman and Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn.

The debate is sponsored by Dallas-based Belo, which owns The Dallas Morning News and the company’s television stations in Texas; WFAA in Dallas, KHOU in Houston, KENS in San Antonio, KVUE in Austin and the state wide cable system TXCN.

The location of the debate has not been decided. Other stations outside those markets will be able to access a live feed for broadcast. It will also be available on the Internet on Belo-owned Web pages.

An invitation was not even given to James Werner, the LP candidate. The Dallas Morning News has a history of snubbing LP candidates, and then after the fact lamenting the failure of LP candidates to involve themselves.

It amazes me how idiotic and biased towards the two major parties these news outlets can be yet they claim to be "fair and unbiased." If it weren't for the high level of publicity around him they wouldn't be including Kinky either (as for Strayhorn, she is a Republican that went independent when she couldnt beat Perry in the primary, she hardly counts as an independent).

ibThorgrimstrollsthisthread

motivez · 08-12-2006, 02:26 PM

I think there's a concentrated effort on the part of both major political parties to put pressure on media outlets not to include what they see as 'irrelevent'.. and it's really a disservice to the country and the people to actively work against allowing other people to have exposure for their ideas

You should organize a protest or something outside of the debate hall or try to get the media to cover the fact that it was left out.. maybe write an oped piece or call some radio shows

Try to frame it like the major parties are afraid of the appeal of the party or something to get people interested?

JaJae · 08-12-2006, 02:26 PM

Why doesn't this candidate fight to get on? What's he doing about it?

Thorgrim · 08-12-2006, 02:40 PM

I think you have to get a certain amount of support from polls before you are on...

Ofcourse they exclude the LP, they excluded Jose Aravena of the Socialist Workers Party, they are just as popular

JaJae · 08-12-2006, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

I think you have to get a certain amount of support from polls before you are on...

Ofcourse they exclude the LP, they excluded Jose Aravena of the Socialist Workers Party, they are just as popular

That's how they shut Nader out of the last election

Thorgrim · 08-12-2006, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by JaJae

That's how they shut Nader out of the last election

\

yep...you can't have every candidate who has 0.2% of the public to get a stage with those getting 40%+...you'd have 30 candidates on stage when 98% of American wants to listen to only 2

how do you have a real debate with 30 candidates?

motivez · 08-12-2006, 02:54 PM

and the problem with that would be...?

JaJae · 08-12-2006, 02:59 PM

Nothing at all.

The last time we had thirty people on stage running for a position... Arnold Schwarzenegger got elected.

kinggovernor · 08-12-2006, 04:11 PM

in other news I have launched a campaign for the governor of Texas, I want to be given my slot in the debate.

See how that works?

JaJae · 08-12-2006, 04:27 PM

Well if they're claiming they've invited all parties to speak, then they should let all parties speak. Could be a an error though.

6SpeedTA95 · 08-12-2006, 05:49 PM

Originally Posted by JaJae

Well if they're claiming they've invited all parties to speak, then they should let all parties speak. Could be a an error though.

Thats just it, they need a Rep, Dem, Ind, LP, Green...thats five....

Sheana · 08-13-2006, 12:21 AM

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

in other news I have launched a campaign for the governor of Texas, I want to be given my slot in the debate.

See how that works?

A candidate for an established party, in fact the largest "3rd party" in the country, is a bit different than a random guy saying "hey, i want to be governor, let me in"

--Publius

JaJae · 08-13-2006, 12:27 AM

Originally Posted by Sheana

A candidate for an established party, in fact the largest "3rd party" in the country, is a bit different than a random guy saying "hey, i want to be governor, let me in"

--Publius

Eh, he has about as much support as teh king would have gotten.

kinggovernor · 08-13-2006, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by Sheana

A candidate for an established party, in fact the largest "3rd party" in the country, is a bit different than a random guy saying "hey, i want to be governor, let me in"

--Publius

who decides what makes a party an "established" one?

motivez · 08-13-2006, 09:31 AM

If someone wants to run for Governor, and have an active campaign to seek the office, I have no problem with them being included in the debate. The reason we have a 2 party system is because there's a strong effort to keep any other opinions out of the public concious..

I don't buy into the reasoning that "the american people only want to hear from 2 people" because the only reason they want to hear from 2 people is due to the fact that they've rarely been allowed to hear someone else.

The LP party isn't more special than a 'random guy' wanting to run for Governor.. everyone has the right to run for office as they see fit.. and if they have a campaign going they should be included in the debates.

Let the people decide based on the merits of the issues, not the media based on who they see fit to attend.

Diesel66 · 08-13-2006, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

Thats just it, they need a Rep, Dem, Ind, LP, Green...thats five....

so the Consitutional party doesnt get to speak ?

Workers party ?
etc....

motivez · 08-13-2006, 12:10 PM

Originally Posted by Diesel66

so the Consitutional party doesnt get to speak ?

Workers party ?
etc....

I'm not sure why there's an aversion to letting people hear the ideas of all parties and then deciding on the merits of their positions rather than whether or not they currently have enough support or money to build a successfull campaign

How are they supposed to build that support without ever getting a real chance to be heard?

6SpeedTA95 · 08-13-2006, 12:32 PM

Originally Posted by Diesel66

so the Consitutional party doesnt get to speak ?

Workers party ?
etc....

No no, I think if there's a party running that has a real front runner for their party they should be allowed to speak. But if you have me come out tomorrow and say I'm running for governor as a libertarian why the hell should I get to speak in a public debate?

6SpeedTA95 · 08-13-2006, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

If someone wants to run for Governor, and have an active campaign to seek the office, I have no problem with them being included in the debate. The reason we have a 2 party system is because there's a strong effort to keep any other opinions out of the public concious..

I don't buy into the reasoning that "the american people only want to hear from 2 people" because the only reason they want to hear from 2 people is due to the fact that they've rarely been allowed to hear someone else.

The LP party isn't more special than a 'random guy' wanting to run for Governor.. everyone has the right to run for office as they see fit.. and if they have a campaign going they should be included in the debates.

Let the people decide based on the merits of the issues, not the media based on who they see fit to attend.

I agree, but there's got to be some sort of filter to get the gooberheads out of there, otherwise you widn up with a clusterfuck debate with 200 debaters. Nothing gets accomplished and the people see very little of the few candidates that may have a real shot at winning.