Posted by Stephen Koff Get them out of the debates, he says in his latest online piece. They're taking valuable time away from candidates with a shot at winning. These guys aren't even long-shots, Rothenberg says. They're "no shots." "Yes, I know," he writes. "Excluding candidates from forums and debates will generate a barrage of complaints from those who are excluded and from critics of 'the establishment.' They'll moan and groan that the media (or corporate America) is silencing them, denying the platform that they need to be heard. Of course they can't win if the media 'silences' them, they'll say. 'It's "censorship!' they'll scream. "Oh baloney," he continues. "You could give Ron Paul and Mike Gravel an hour of free TV time from now until Christmas and they still wouldn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of being nominated by their respective parties." Then there's this: "Eliminating the five hopefuls from the upcoming debates might cost David Letterman a joke or two about Dennis Kucinich's wife, but that's about it." Without question, Rothenberg is part of the mainstream media establishment. The Nation, the progressive magazine, certainly sees utility in Kucinich's inclusion. Writer John Nichols made the case after last week's AFL-CIO forum, writing that Kucinich "proved the vital importance of including non-frontrunners in presidential debates that, without candidates like Democrat Kucinich and Republican Ron Paul, would be a lot shorter on ideas and a lot longer on empty political positioning." No word from the Kucinich campaign on Rothenberg's opinion. But when John Edwards and Hillary Clinton last month expressed their own desire to narrow the field in debates, Kucinich pounced. His campaign called it an attempt "to conspire to rig the election seven months before the first votes are cast." UPDATE: Kucinich campaign spokesman Andy Juniewicz has considered the matter and agrees that maybe someone should go -- namely, Stu Rothenberg. "Who exactly is Stu Rothenberg to decide what the American voters should hear and what they shouldn't?" Juniewicz asked in an e-mail. "Congressman Kucinich is driving and leading the presidential debate agenda on every issue of importance to the voters: the war in Iraq, universal health care, trade policies, education policies. "He's the only one who was right from the beginning on the war. He's the only one with comprehensive legislation to insure all Americans. While other candidates were silent on the North American Free Trade Agreement, he proposed canceling it -- moving the other candidates to propose "fixing" it. He was the first to propose educational reform that begins with free pre-kindergarten and extends to free tuition in state universities." He goes on, calling Rothenberg's column "ludicrous and preposterous. And dangerous to free speech." And he says, "Ask Mr. Rothenberg -- a 'frequent soundbite' according to his own website -- where the presidential dialogue would be without Dennis Kucinich. And, ask him if it's time for him "to go" because, in someone's opinion, not enough people are reading him.
on August 17, 2007, 9:50 pm
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Stuart Rothenberg, the political analyst and pundit, says it's time for them to exit the stage. "Them," of course, are Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel and Republicans Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul.
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