THE EYERANIANS

Let Mike Gravel Speak!!!

Writing by persiancowboy on Wednesday, 7 of November , 2007 at 3:41 pm

Corporate censorship has taken over the Presidential race. Mike Gravel was excluded unfairly from the MSNBC Debate at Drexel University the other week. Why? GE owns MSNBC and NBC. Last minute, they claimed he did not raise enough money. Just as they did it to Ralph Nader in 2000 and 2004. Apparently you won’t be a credible candidate until you accept some GE and other stupid PACT money. I’m not sure if Gravel is the best candidate for president, however the debates will be lame without him. Mike Gravel has been one of the most outspoken anti-war candidates talking about the possible war with Iran. Now CNN is also eliminating Mike Gravel from their upcoming debate.

The fact is, Mike angered powerful people when he confronted Senator Clinton over Iran during last month’s debate. Up to that moment the Clinton juggernaut was rolling over everyone. Now Mikes paying the price for speaking truth to power. CNN says Mike must meet three criteria:

* Form a federal exploratory committee and officially declare his candidacy. (He did.)

* Poll at 1% or above. (He does.)

* Raise at least $1 million in individual contributions since January 1, 2007. (He has not.)

Once again, MONEY decides who gets to participate in America’s political debates.

But is this the only reason why Mike is being excluded? And why isn’t the Democratic National Committee standing up for him and our party’s tradition of fighting for the underdog? These debates are sanctioned by the Democratic Party, and this is a terrible reflection on the national party. I sent a letter to GE which owns NBC the other week and this is the bullshit response I got from Gary Sheffer, their Executive Director of Communications & Public Affairs:

NBC has offered Sen. Gravel many opportunities to get his message across, in both interviews and debates. However, with the election season approaching and more candidates vying for an opportunity to join the debates, NBC News felt it necessary to set minimum criteria for participation in the debate — including measuring the amount of time the candidates spent campaigning, as well as poll-standing and financial resources. These are similar to guidelines used by non-partisan organizations that manage the presidential and vice-presidential debates, and leaders and activists from both parties believe these requirements are fair. Unfortunately, Sen. Gravel did not meet these minimum requirements.

NBC News has a long history of editorial strength and independence and made this decision based on the abovementioned criteria.

Gary Sheffer
GE
Executive Director, Communications & Public Affairs
T 203 373 3476
www.ge.com/news

3135 Easton Turnpike
Fairfield, CT 06828 USA
General Electric Company

Since I’m not a US Citizen it is a crime for me to donate money to political candidates. So if you got a few bucks you can go to Gravel’s site. If he get a little more money, he might be included in the debates. http://gravel2008.us/

Category: Politics

• Add this post to
• Del.icio.us -
• Meneame -
• Digg
مطلب را به بالاترین بفرستید:

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>