🚀 go-pugleaf

Daniel J. Bredy wrote:
> 
> "John D. Giorgis" <jxg9@po.cwru.edu> wrote:
> 
> >In case you missed it, Presidential Candidate Alan Keyes was detained by
> >police today for trying to participate in an a debate in Atlanta.  He
> >was driven to a parking lot twenty minutes away, and left there to walk
> >to his hotel.  Interestingly enough, Gov. Campbell came across him
> >walking the streets and picked him up.  Does the media have the right to
> >decide which candidates are viable and which are not?
> 
> Wether they do or not, the League Of Women Voters does it every time
> they hold a presidential debate, so don't pretend this action is
> unprecedented.
> 

The League of Women Voters do not pretend to be holding a debate among all 
of the "real" candidates for election.

> > I don't think so.
> 
> A lot of people were not allowed to participate in this debate,
> including Bob Dornan, Dick Luger, and many minor republican
> candidates, some of very questionable sanity (like the woman who
> said that if elected the first thing she would do is get rid of all
> computers). Should everyone who can afford the filing fee (not
> very expensive I'm told) be allowed to participate in a debate?
> 

I suggest that they use the standard of being a national candidate, which 
has tougher restrictions, but the qualifications are unambiguous.  This 
would leave us with the not unreasonable level of 8 candidates, Dole, 
Forbes, Buchanan, Alexander, Keyes, Lugar, Taylor, and Dornan.

> > From a legal basis, I would couch this on the same basis that an
> >employer does not have the right to hire only men for their business.
> 
> I would say this is more analogous to saying that every business must
> hire every one who applies for a job.
> 
> >By the same token, the media does not have the right to use "news" to
> >engineer the political process.  Sure, they should only allow legitimate
> >candidates in, but I believe that that responsibility should lie with
> >the Federal Elections Commission and the Georgia Republican Party should
> >decide that- not some television executive.
> 
> Then why didn't the federal elections commission or the Georgia
> Republican party stop it before it occurred?
>

The Republican party did protest strongly.  A complaint is being filed with 
the FCC.  I do not know why the FEC wasn't involved.
 
> >This brings me to another interesting point: exit polls continually show
> >that nearly half of republican voters wish "someone else would enter the
> >race."  In a way this is false.  I think that these people want another
> >candidate to enter the race whom the media will make them feel good
> >about voting for- namely voting for a "viable" candidate.  Alternatives
> >are out there, and the people should be given an equal opportunity to
> >hear Maury Taylor as Bob Dole and Pat Buchanan.

-- 
John D. Giorgis  jxg9@po.cwru.edu
Case Western Reserve University
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