You’ve Saved My Netwuhk
Atrios fondly remembers CNN “debates” leading up to the Iraq war between the pro-war New Republic’s Peter Beinart and that reknowned Bush-hating peacenik Jonah Goldberg, and remarks, “CNN’s been more ‘fair and balanced’ than Fox for quite some time…”
The bipartisan CNN faux-debate has been a thorn in my side since the days when Clinton was on top and most of my impotent rage was focused on him. You could watch people on Crossfire spit bile back and forth for hours and never hear a word about the death penalty or drug policy, simply because the two fighting heads had no disagreement on those issues.
It’s always been my anecdotal observation that Fox News is more likely to air truly independent views. In other words, people like radical anti-prohibitionist Jacob Sullum (I’m pretty radical on the subject, and he out-radicals me by a mile) or a straight up communist are more likely to show up on Fox’s shout shows than CNN’s.
This kind of perspective is probably less beneficial to the Democrats, partly because it gives them less voice than a show like Crossfire, and partly because when people like Sullum are contrasted with conservatives, it makes certain people even more scared of the damn dirty liberals. Perhaps that’s the only reason Fox lets them on. But it definitely makes for better discussions.