Over 200 Democratic Party activists crowded into a union hall in Newton on Saturday applauded former North Carolina Senator John Edwards for refusing to participate in a debate sponsored by FOX News.
Doug Bishop of Baxter brought up the issue during a question-and-answer session with Edwards. “I’d like to say thank you and I would imagine a lot of folks in this room would agree. Folks like myself feel that the FOX News Network is nothing but a mouthpiece for the Republican Party,” Bishop said and folks in the audience started to applaud. “We’d like to thank you for refusing to go the debate in Nevada.”
On Friday, Democratic Party officials in the state of Nevada pulled the plug on a presidential candidate debate which was to be broadcast by FOX.
Last Wednesday, Edwards had already said he wouldn’t go, but Edwards isn’t claiming credit for the cancellation. “I don’t want to take more credit than I actually should,” Edwards told the crowd in Newton.
“We have a bunch of forums and debates…but there’s a limit to how many of those things you need to do,” Edwards said. “I didn’t see any reason, under those circumstances, to give FOX News a forum.”
The FOX News channel’s chairman said this past week that presidential candidates of either party who think they can “blacklist” any news organization are “making a terrible mistake.”
Audio of Edwards’ comments below.
AUDIO: Edwards talks about FOX News, Nevada debate (mp3 runs 2 min)