Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday pulled out of a second debate co-hosted by Fox News Channel, saying the cable network has a conservative slant.
The Edwards campaign said it will not attend the September 23 debate in Detroit hosted by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, but officials added that Edwards is "looking forward" to a different debate hosted by the institute and CNN in South Carolina in January 2008.
"We believe there's just no reason for Democrats to give Fox a platform to advance the right-wing agenda while pretending they're objective," said Jonathan Prince, Edwards' deputy campaign manager.
It's the second time Edwards has decided to skip a debate because of its affiliation with Fox News. Edwards decided in March that he would pass on an August 14 debate in Reno, Nevada, co-hosted by Fox News and the Nevada Democratic Party.
UPDATE: I've been reminded that the GOP presidential candidates are debating at the Reagan Presidential Library next month, with MSNBC -- the network of Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann -- doing the honors. As far as I know, there are no plans for the Republican candidates to flee the scene to protect themselves from MSNBC's bias (would you really want a president who couldn't stand up to Chris Matthews?), and you could imagine the rest of the media's reaction if there was an attempt at a boycott MSNBC.
UPDATE 2: In today's "Best of the Web" from OpinionJournal.com, James Taranto has an Edwards quote from just last week from CNN (not a network he's boycotting): "I think that what America should be doing on the issue of Iraq is dealing directly with both the Syrians and the Iranians, and I don't know precisely what Speaker Pelosi is going to do in Syria, but we as a nation should be engaged with both the Iranians and the Syrians directly in helping stabilize Iraq. Both countries have an interest in a stabilized Iraq. They don't want refugees coming across their border, they don't want economic instability, and they don't want to see a broader Middle East conflict. And I think it makes sense to not on some ideological basis not deal with them, but to engage with both of them directly."--John Edwards, CNN, April 3
