Meanwhile, they're still cracking jokes about Obama and terrorism.  Good for Richardson, and even better on Edwards for showing real leadership.  Fox needs to be put in its place.

More from MyDD, re: Reid:

In addition to distancing himself from the FOX decision Thursday -- "I don't like FOX News" -- the Senate Majority Leader reiterated several times that the Nevada Democratic Party is independent and not controlled by him, at one point going so far as to say "I just don't know what's going on in the party."

[edit] Duh. Did I miss that update?  The debate is off???!!!???!!!

Dissent Protects Democracy.

Maybe one day Fox will actually mature into a credible fair and balanced network. Until and unless that day comes to pass, they should be dealt with at arms length.

Fox spends many hours every day trying to raise doubts about the Democrats. A lot of it's name games, digging up already discredited dirt and hoping the viewers don't know the bogusity. There is no reason the Democrats should give Fox the opportunity to broadcast the debate.

Might I add they should be dealt with at arms length with a closed fist.

To be fair that Obama joke speaks more to Bush's stupidity but FOX News needs to be exposed for what they are.

Nah, the hell with that. They are billing themselves as THE network for the 2008 elections.
Cut them off at the knees. They are not a legit news network. Sucking up to them gets you nothing. Ask Alan Colmes.

Roger Ailes really gave Dems cover to do this. Good for Richardson for pulling the trigger.

Maybe, just maybe, the Democrats are finally developing vertebra. Now, if they can continue that evolution and grow a pair we might have some "playas" here.

Edwards, for all the grief he takes for being the most boyish looking 50-something in the race, is further along the evolutionary path than the rest of his Democratic brethren. He didn't back down from the religious right when it came to his, admittedly ill-considered, blogger acquisitions. He told the hypocritical zealots to stick it. It was the right move and Edwards was left unscathed when his two bloggers graciously departed of their own accord. Following that, Edwards didn't recoil from the dreck spewed by the equine, transgender spokesthing from the right when it called him a "faggot." In fact, Edwards was shrewd enough to throw it up on his website and make some "Coulter-cash" from the dimwit. And then Edwards was showing the way when it should have been a no-brainer to everyone else in the party that this Faux Snooze debate was about as dumbass as you could get.

Edwards was out front immediately. He wasn't interested in a faux debate on Faux Snooze. Now Bill Richardson has awakened and has seen the light.

One question: what's taking Obama and Clinton so f'ing long to step up and speak out about this nonsense. Why were they not 30 seconds behind Edwards when he told Faux to, in essense, kiss his rear? We don't need Dems playing the angles, we need leadership, strength, and commitment. I see it in Edwards. What Obama's and Clinton's hesitation shows me are a pair of angles-playing, consultant-driven politicians. That's not the game.

And Harry Reid, WTF were you and the Nevada Dems thinking in the first place? Jesus H. Christ where's your head? Wait, don't answer that, I'm afraid I know. You better pull it out of there and start to focus Harry. You've got work to do.

Bravo Edwards. A total Dem boycott is the next step in the ongoing marginalisation of Fox to its rightful place. The masquerade of an arm of the GOP as a "fair and balanced" news organisation can be further undone no other way.

Appearing on Fox in the hope of putting facts in reasoned argument is naive idiocy. You'll likely come across as a loser, a wierdo, a moral degenerate, a pussy, an atheist, a socialist, a naif, or a danger to national security. If you somehow get past that, you'll go to the top of their smear list (or, if you're a Lieberman, their guest list).

Anyway, why seek to enlighten or persuade a base audience like Fox's? If any of them still want to hear from a Dem, as opposed to jeer at a Dem, they can always switch channels.

Put Fox off its game. A Dem boycott can only make it more strident or less extreme. Either way, that's a win.

Let's turn this around on them. Why not buy prime time spots on the other networks that explain straight out why the Dems pulled out of the Faux News debate, complete with video clips of Ailes and Coulter, Hannity and O'Liely?

Obama (nor Hillary) have ever said they would attend the debate!

What's your point? I doubt if John Edwards had agreed to participate. The point is, you seize the opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to principle. The idea is to perform an act of commission, i.e., tell Faux Snooze they don't matter. Forget about the omission, or choosing to simply ignore the opportunity and letting that stand as your statement. Don't you understand? The Dems have for too long practiced the idea of "ignore it and it'll go away." But it won't go away and the average American voter - who is, I dare say, not as tuned in as anyone might think they are - needs to know that Obama and Hillary, hell, the entire Democratic Party, condemns this Republican Ministry of Information masquerading as a legitimate news organization.

Stop already with the decorum. As Hillary said, you've got to deck your enemies. The Gas and Oil Party have known that for some time, but we Democrats have always been "gentlemen" about it. While I'd like to hold on to the principle of decorum, fact is, it just doesn't work. The British found that out the hard way marching in bright red coats and in rank during our revolutionary war.

Right now on FOX's "Cashin' In" investing program they're doing a segment called "$tocks for Barack". What should Barack Obama invest in? Yuck, yuck, yuck!

(Note to Stephen Colbert: we need a new word such as truthiness to describe the kind of "news" Fox does)

If we had such a partisan outfit it would spend weeks investigating Rudy's less than savory business ventures and cronies, and then deliberately miscast what they find, whether it's nothing or not, as a smoking gun. When their findings are debunked they'd keep repeating them as accepted wisdom and try to find a way to mention it in every segment, even the weather report, until their viewing audience
had ingrained in their lizard brains that Guiliani was mob boss, not mayor of NYC.

How do you think Hillary got saddled with an impenetrable 40% negative poll rating?

Obam has said he;s boycotting FOX. Anybody who sees this trach on FOX can autommatically think "oh they just don't like him" because he's boycotting them. There's plenty of media outlets. It's time we stopped dignifying FOX.

I'm very happy that the debate was called off, and I think the Dems need to fight back against Fox or at least expose it for what it is, but I think technically we do need to win the votes of some Fox viewers in order to keep the Congress and win the Presidency.

This is my point, FOX News can be best fought by ignoring them. Go on their shows and they'll simply bitchslap you for showing up, not to your face but forever afterward. Right now there's a youtube of Kucinich from last fall saying he loves FOX network to Neil Cavuto. It's obvious he's desperate for any airtime. It's moving like wildfire on the wingnut blogs. Obama is a sufficiently skilled advocate for his own cause to appear anywhere. Should he go on Rush Limbaugh's show? Hell no. He doesn't need to legitimize FOX.

And when they edit the tape to cut out the smart and tough responses and manufacture pinhead arguments against the candidate for weeks afterward? They'll run a snippet of tape with no sound saying "Dem X was on with with Brit Hume the other day and said he thinks (fill in the blank with typical distorted FOX BS). What say you Judy?"