If Edwards doesn't stand up for Kucinich (the little guy), will he be next to be "Kucinich-ed"?

[99th_Monkey]

There's a giant electoral elephant in our national living room: i.e. the outrageous and brazen assault on Democracy being perpetrated by the M$M to exclude candidates from debates at the last minute on a whim or for no reason at all, other than they simply want to "narrow the field" to ONLY include the M$M's own favorite bought & paid for status quo darlings. One needs look no further than Kucinich's recent 11th hour dis-invitation to the Nevada debate by MSNBC.

The only reason M$M's conspicuous corruption of our democratic traditions is not "news", is that the M$M says it isn't .. and so it goes.

My advice to John Edwards is to take this issue head-on, which after-all strikes at very roots of our democracy: the issue of whether the Democrats can take their own party back with truly democratic primary elections, includingn widely televised debates that are truly inclusive and fair. Now, Gravel and Kucinich are the "little guys" in the room, and have just been given the bum's rush to the back-door by M$M. What will John Edwards do? Will he hold a press conference with Gravel and Kucinich endorsing their right to be included in debates? Will he speak up for them in the next debate?

John Edwards is not stupid. It's hard to imagine that Edwards truly thinks he won't be next to be deemed "unelectable" and dis-ivited by M$M and forcefully shown the same Exit-stage-Left to join Gravel and Kucinich in the back ally...invisible to voters.

Calling the M$M on their meddlesome shit would be a bold move, and a risky one admittedly ... he would most certainly be painted as a "whiner, sore-loser", and he would have to be prepared for that and ALREADY KNOW how he's going to trump these cheap smears ... like I said, John Edwards is no dummy, he's a very bright tactician and up to the task.

Taking M$M's self-serving corrosive ways head-on -- given what we're up against here -- may well be the Democratic Party's last chance to be actually democratic; and it may well be Edwards' ONLY option if he expects to stay in the race and keep his message in the mix rolling into Super Tuesday. If John doesn't stand up for inclusivity and fairness, he's tacitly endorsing his own arbitrary exclusion not too far down the road ... If John doesn't speak up his fellow Left-of-center Dems here and now, and take a principled, forceful and effective stand for inclusivity, it may indeed be over for him.

Please don't get me wrong ... I'm a Kucinich/Edwards Dem. and as such really hope I'm wrong here , and that Edwards does do well and even wins the nomination, but I just have a bad feeling about how this has unfolded. I guess my hope is that Edwards is himself pondering this situation for what it is, is looking at all the options on the table (like any good President would do), and is making the very best decision for the country, for strengthening both the Democratic Party and his own chances of winning the Democratic nomination by keeping his actions congruent with his message.

[AndyA]

1. I'm sure Edwards has already thought about the points you mentioned.

We're all aware, as is he, of what the media is doing to his campaign. I'm certain he will do what he feels is best for the people of this country, and that will be no doubt to fight as long as he possibly can.

The more I see and hear from Hillary and Barack, the less I like them both.

[2rth2pwr]

2. People really do have short memories, Edwards is the one who was conniving to

narrow the people at the debate before Iowa!

[99th_Monkey]

3. I saw the video

and it is disturbing. John was not the only one complicit in this btw... and John's involvement in this is less disturbing (to me at least) than M$M's meddlesome ways. To me it's shameful than none of the "front runners" care enough about the party to stand up to M$M brazen manipulation of the primaries. ..of the "big three" I see no one doing this, and Edwards IMHO would be the most likely to do so; esp. since he's going to be next to go the way of Gravel and Kucinich unless he sees the light, and fights for inclusivity now.